2009 Tour de France Starts

The 2009 Tour de France started on Saturday. The opening leg of the race was held in Monaco this year, and was a time trial. Most time trials are held on a flat course, but this one was a little different. It was a 10 mile course and the first five miles was going uphill. The second half of the race was downhill and contained several very tight turns.

The time trial was won by Fabian Cancellara (pictured) of Saxo Bank. He has an 18 second lead. It looks like the strongest team this year will be Astana. They placed 4 riders in the top ten for the time trial -- Alberto Contador, Andreas Kloden, Levi Leipheimer (USA) and Lance Armstrong (USA). All four of these Astana riders are capable of winning the Tour, but the favorite has to be Contador (who won in 2007).

Other favorites include Cancellara, Cadel Evans of Lotto and Carlos Sastre of Cervelo (last year's winner). Right now, I'd put my money on Contador. Here are the standings after the first day:

YELLOW JERSEY (OVERALL LEADERS)
1. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank)
2. Alberto Contador (Astana)..........0.18
3. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin)..........0.19
4. Andreas Kloden (Astana)..........0.22
5. Cadel Evans (Lotto)..........0.23
6. Levi Leipheimer (Astana)..........0.30
7. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas)...........0.32
8. Tony Martin (Columbia)..........0.33
9. Vincenzo Nabili (Liquigas)..........0.37
10. Lance Armstrong (Astana)..........0.40

GREEN JERSEY (SPRINTERS)
1. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank)..........15 pts.
2. Alberto Contador (Astana)..........12 pts.
3. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin)..........10 pts.

POLKA DOT JERSEY (CLIMBERS)
1. Alberto Contador (Astana)..........3 pts.
2. Tony Martin (Columbia)..........2 pts.
3. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin)..........1 pt.

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Astana
2. Saxo Bank..........0.31
3. Garmin..........0.44
4. Liquigas..........1.25
5. Columbia..........1.46

Sunday's stage will be a 160 race from Monaco to Brignoles in France. It is neither flat nor mountainous. It has several catagorey 4 and 5 hills that will encourage some breakaways, but I figure the peloton will probably control any breakaways and it'll be a day for the sprinters to shine at the finish.