Live Comments
18:45 - Thank you for joining us today and be sure to return for tomorrow's opening stage from Monaco to Brignoles. One for the sprinters, we think.
18:43 - Great rides from Liquigas youngsters Nibali (ninth) and Kreuziger (seventh), as well as Columbia's Martin (eighth). Solid from Evans (fifth) but a nightmare for Menchov, who lost over a minute and a half.
18:39 - With Kloden in fourth (#plus;22), Leipheimer sixth (#plus;30) and Armstrong tenth (#plus;40), there are four Astana riders in the top ten.
18:39 - So, Cancellara takes the first yellow jersey of the race, finishing 18 seconds ahead of Contador and 19 seconds clear of Wiggins.
18:29 - Sastre: The defending champion is not having a good day out there, coming home over a minute down on that extraordinary time by Cancellara. It was a question of damage limitation from the Spaniard.
18:27 - Evans: A very good ride by the Australian, who sets the 5th fastest time, 22 seconds down.
18:26 - Just Evans and Sastre on course now.
18:25 - Contador: The Spaniard knocks Wiggins down to third - by a second. An excellent ride for the Astana leader.
18:24 - Surely Cancellara will be in yellow tonight after that run! Unless Contador can match his first half with his second segment. But he looks to have tired...
18:22 - Cancellara: The Swiss is catching Menchov. Terrible for the Russian, but Cancellara is going to smash Wiggins' time. Extraordinary! Cancellara takes 30 seconds off Wiggins!!
18:21 - Wiggins: New best time at the finish for Bradley, who is 3 seconds clear of Kloden. An astonishing ride, but it may not be enough to hold off Contador...
18:21 - Menchov: The Russian must be having a problem because he's 45 seconds down.
18:21 - The rain looks like it will hold off. The times are coming through very sporadically, so apologies there.
18:18 - Contador: What a time by the Spaniard! He takes five seconds off Martin's time at the first check.
18:14 - Wiggins: Second fastest time for the Brit at the first time check, just one second down on Martin at the 7.5km check. Given he's no natural climber, that is a brilliant ride by Bradley.
18:13 - Roman Kreuziger, second at the moment, told Eurosport: "I knew I could do a good time in this first time trial but there are still a lot of riders out there. But I'll be a good shot for the white jersey."
18:11 - Now we wait with bated breath for the first time check.
18:09 - Last but not least: Carlos Sastre gets his 2009 campaign underway. The reigning champion is wearing the new all white strip of Cervelo and hopes to prove to all and sundry that he can win this race for a second consecutive time.
18:07 - It's a bit harsh calling him 'the eternal second' just yet, but two-time runner-up Cadel Evans is now on course. He'll want a perfect start to his race as he bids to go one place better and top the podium in Paris.
18:06 - Wearing the red and yellow of Spain's national time trial champion, Alberto Contador speeds down the ramp and gets his Tour 'defence' underway. Deprived of this chance last year, Contador will be well up for this...
18:04 - Off goes the favourite for today: Fabian Cancellara needs the weather to stay good or he will be up against it.
18:04 - There's the distant rumble of thunder as Denis Menchov, the current Giro champion, gets going.
18:01 - Britain's Bradley Wiggins looks well up for this as he gets his 2009 prologue show on the road. Just five riders now to start: Menchov, Cancellara, Contador, Evans and Sastre.
17:56 - Kim Kirchen and Franco Pellizotti are off.
18:55 - The weather looks ominous: it's really dark now on the south coast of France, with rain clouds gathering. If it does rain, those descents will be impossible to set a good time upon.
17:55 - Vande Velde takes 11th place, 35 seconds down. Not bad, considering that crash he had in the Giro.
17:54 - The riders are leaving at 1'30" intervals now and there are just 10 to go.
17:51 - Not a bad time for Nibali at the finish: 5th fastest, 15 seconds down. That will put him ahead of Lance Armstrong.
17:49 - Andy Schleck completes the first uphill section of this course with the 9th best time, 21 seconds off Leipheimer's reference.
17:46 - Tom Boonen comes home in 88th position. Still, it beats watching the race on TV, eh Tom?
17:45 - Christophe Moreau, like Hincapie riding his 14th Tour, is on course now.
17:43 - Andy Schlech is looking as lean as a catwalk model. In fact, he looks rather emaciated. We're talking thinner than Rasmussen thin.
17:40 - Big Thor Hushovd out of the block. Now we have just 20 riders left in the start zone.
17:38 - A beast of a time for Kloden! The German beats Leipheimer's time by eight seconds to move into the top spot. That's three Astana riders in the top five at the moment - and Contador still yet to get on his bike.
17:35 - Christian Vande Velde has just left and up next it's Andy Schleck, so strong earlier in the season during the sprint classics.
17:34 - Zabriskie takes 8th at the finish, 17 seconds down on Levi.
17:33 - Andreas Kloden (Astana) has completed the first part of the descent as he sweeps past Nicki Sorensen (Saxo Bank) with ease.
17:32 - Here comes Kreuziger... and how about this for a time... second fastest! Just two seconds down on Leipheimer. For a moment it looked like we had a new leader. Roman looks back at the time as he passes and curses when he sees just how close he came.
17:29 - Kreuziger beginning to pull away again from Roy as he enters the tunnel.
17:27 - It looks like Kreuziger is descending really well, but if that is the case, the Jeremy Roy must be having a stormer, because the Frenchman has taken back his place ahead of the Czech, who had caught him on the closing stages of the climb.
17:24 - Here's something many of us never expected to see: Tom Boonen on the start ramp, drawing a line under his recent problems and ready to race the 2009 Tour.
17:22 - Cancellara is on the rollers, warming up for today's prologue. Meanwhile Kreuziger catches and passes Jeremy Roy with ridiculous ease and passes over the summit in second place, just 3 seconds down on Leipheimer!
17:18 - Roman Kreuziger of Liquigas is on the road. A very promising young rider is the Czech.
17:18 - Here's Frank Schleck - and it not a good time for the Luxembourg rider: 36th place at one minute six seconds from Leipheimer. Already there are huge time gaps between Tour 'contenders'.
17:16 - Gesink sets the 11th best time, 45 seconds down on Leipheimer.
17:15 - Leipheimer still leads Martin by 3 seconds and Armstrong by 10. Mark Cavendish just crossed the line in 112th position, two minutes 44 seconds down.
17:14 - US national champion David Zabriskie's face is a picture of concentration as he is counted down prior to his start.
17:13 - Saxo Bank's Frank Schleck should be on course but we have had no pictures of him as yet...
17:12 - Big George Hincapie on the road now, all 38 years of him. It's the American's 14th Tour de France - incredible.
17:10 - Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) is next down the ramp. Looking rather shaggy (his hair is much longer than usual) and wearing a silver crucifix, the Spaniard 2005 Tour winner gets his 2009 show on the road, hoping for a happier race than last year, when he retired with multiple broken bones following a heavy fall.
17:08 - Cavendish is clearly concentrating on "just getting around" after passing the time check at the summit almost two minutes in arrears.
17:07 - Owing to injury Robbie McEwen is not racing in this year's Tour, but he still has a point of view: "If Fabian Cancellara doesn't win today I'll eat my own shorts."
17:03 - Dutch climber Robert Gesink is on course now. The Rabobank youngster will like the first half of today's route, that's for sure.
17:02 - Lance Armstrong spoke to Eurosport at the finish line a few minutes ago: "We'll see how the others are. I didn't have any big illusions coming into today. I wasn't going for the win or to try and take the yellow jersey. In relation to Levi and Tony Martin, both specialists, my time wasn't bad."
16:55 - Levi Leipheimer just spoke to Eurosport: "It's not the best day of my life, but I gave it my all and I'm glas I've got the fastest time. My mentality was to come in to the Tour a little fresh and hopefully get better by the 3rd week, but I still wanted to do well today."
16:54 - Mark Cavendish's 2009 Tour is underway! Today will just be going through the motions for the Manxman, whose Tour really gets on the road with tomorrow's first stage, which he will be favorite to win.
16:48 - Apart from Armstrong and Leipheimer, most of the favourite today are in action later on. The Astana pair chose to go early due to concerns about the weather - time will tell is the tactic pays off.
16:47 - Yukiya Arashiro (Bbox) zips down the ramp. He is one of two Japanese riders in this year's tour, the other being Fumiyuki Beppu of Skil-Shimano. No Japanese rider has made it to Paris before so this year could see that record fall.
16:38 - Hardman Jens Voigt comes home 52 seconds down at the finish. Leipheimer still leads from Martin and Armstrong. Take no notice of the time checks above in the graphic - we are currently experiencing replication problems
16:26 - The early threat of showers seems to have passed with the sun now shining down on the streets of Monaco.
16:23 - As is his custom, Levi Leipheimer has already Tweeted following his excellent rider today: "I finished a few min ago, got best time right now:) means I have to wait around until someone beats me, I doubt it will hold up."
16:17 - Millar sets the fifth best time, 18 seconds down on Leipheimer, at the finish. Gustav Erik Larsson (Saxo Bank) is in fourth, a couple of seconds quicker.
16:14 - Millar almost comes a cropper when his back wheel slips and he badly overshoots a tight corner, narrowly hitting the side barriers.
16:08 - Millar takes a big hair-pin bend on the descent rather edgily... the sun appears to be coming out, though.
16:03 - German time trial specialist Sebastian Lang is on course. Despite being No.13, the Silence-Lotto man is not turning his bib upside-down, as is the superstitious custom of many riders in the peloton.
15:59 - Leipheimer moves into the lead! The American is three seconds ahead of Martin, making him 15 seconds better than Armstrong. Is it too early to write off Lance for the Tour this year?
15:56 - Britain's David Millar bounds down the ramp to get his 2009 Tour on the road.
15:55 - Martin was 12 seconds ahead of Armstrong at the top of the climb, and so his lead came down a little on the descent. But it is still enough from the young German, who has ridden onto the top of the virtual leaderboard.
15:53 - Martin is tiring and has been overtaken by Mondory... but his time is a strong one: seven seconds faster than Lance Armstrong. We have a new leader!
15:50 - FdJ's Jerome Coppel goes into second place at the finish, 11 seconds down on Armstrong.
15:44 - Now we have some perspective: Columbia-HTC's Tony Martin has taken 12 seconds off Armstrong at the 7.5km check atop the climb. The German has even managed to catch Lloyd Mondory (Ag2R) in the process, although the Frenchman is holding his tail on the descent.
15:43 - Armstrong's Astana team-mate and compatriot Levi Leipheimer is on course now.
15:39 - Lance Armstrong comes home over the finish line half a minute ahead of previous leader Montfort: the American's time of 20.12:36 is the new reference point - time will tell if it's enough to mix it with today's favourites, such as Astana team-mate Alberto Contador.
15:37 - The 37-year-old Texan powers through the tunnel on the waterfront of the Port Hercule. Normally we see Ferraris and Renaults doing this kind of thing...
15:33 - Fastest man at the finish at the moment is Maxime Montfort (Columbia-HTC) with a time of 20.42:75 over the 15.5 km course.
15:29 -
Armstrong takes 22 seconds off Montfort as he passes through the check at 11:39. He'll now begin this winding descent back to sea level afer that tricky, punchy climb out of Monaco.15:25 - Maxime Montfort of Columbia-HTC is the early pace setter at the first 7.5km intermediate time check at 12:01. Armstrong will be coming through soon...
15:23 - The next man down the ramp after Armstrong was Britain's Charly Wegelius, who was drafted into the Silence-Lotto squad of Cadel Evans at the 11th hour after that retroactive positive doping test on Thomas Dekker.
15:19 - Some of the press photographers are really encroaching on the side of the road: dangerously close to the Astana man, who gets a slap on the back there too from one animated supporter as he edges up the climb.
15:17 - Armstrong's return to the Tour de France is underway! It's been four years since he last raced on the roads of France - and this is a sight we never thought we'd see again after the American retired from the sport on winning his seventh consecutive Tour back in 2005.
15:15 - Lance Armstrong is preparing himself at the start. He's early out of the gate today, with Astana chosing to let him go early because of fears about rain.
15:00 - The 2009 Tour de France is underway! Kenny van Hummel of Skil Shimano is first out of the start ramp for the 15.5km trip.
14:00 - Cancellara admitted he has not ridden over the technically-demanding Monaco time trial course, but the Swiss says if he is on form he will be difficult to beat. "I feel in good shape and that's all that really counts now. I know how strong I am and when I feel this strong, I don't need to go out and know the whole race course," he said.
13:00 - Also in contention will be Australia's two-time Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans, who produced some scintillating riding at the Dauphine Libere race. But with all the yellow jersey favourites keen to limit their losses on the first stage, most of them - including defending Tour champion Carlos Sastre, Lance Armstrong, the record seven-time champion, and Russian Denis Menchov - will hope to finish among the top ten.
12:00 -
Yellow jersey favourite Alberto Contador could strike a first psychological blow to his Tour de France rivals but the Spaniard is up against the might and determination of Swiss Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara.
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Comment 1 - 6 of 6
please can you turn on your live audio feed. thanks.
Please post link to listen to the Tour live in USA. Thanks
Lance will cause a big surprise
end of tour, Contador 1 st LA @ 2 mins Sastre @3 mins Menchov 5 mins, evans @ 10 mins head on block..any takers
Welcome back la tour. The main form of exercise for the next ten days from me will be watching from the sofa whilst recovering from a double-hernia operation. Thank-you to all hospital staff at Basingstoke DTC unit for making my visit pleasant and, above all, pain free.
Paul Cribb
Passfield Club
Liphook
Hants
England
Go Lance!
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