It's time for the 96th edition of the Tour de France. During the next three weeks, 20 teams and 180 riders will race through Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy.
The startlist of the Tour de France is the strongest you can get. The entire world's cycling elite is present, and there are lots of star riders in all diciplines: Sprinters, time trialists, breakaway specialists and GC riders, plus some who are good at everything. Here are Discovery Channel's main rivals in the Tour de France:
Alberto Contador - Astana Cycling Team
The best stage racer in the world for the last two years is the biggest favourite to win the Tour. Contador is the best climber in the peloton and one of the strongest time trialists as well. He's helped by Vinokourov and Zubeldia, but the rest of the team is not something to cheer for. Contador could lose important time on the team time trial.
Andy Schleck - Team Saxo Bank
The youngest Schleck is the only one close to matching Contador's climbing skills, but he's lacking in TT abilities. Andy Schleck compensates by having a super strong team, with stars like Fränk Schleck, Jens Voigt and Fabian Cancellara. Just like his rival Contador, Andy doesn't have any great results from earlier in the season.
Cadel Evans - Silence - Lotto
The eternal runner-up from Australia, with two 2nd places in the Tour the last two years will be looking for revenge this year. Cadel Evans is a stubborn rider who never gives up, and will probably keep up with the best climbers. His team though, are not one of the best, and it's only Jurgen Van Den Broeck who is of any help in the mountains.
Roman Kreuziger - Liquigas
Liquigas' young starlet Roman Kreuziger is reliable both against the clock and the gradients, and brings one of the best leutenants in the Tour: Franco Pellizotti. The rest of the team is nothing to cheer for, but Kreuziger and Pellizotti should be kept an eye on.
Outsiders
Other riders with ambitions of fighting for a high placing in the GC are, among others, Garmin's Vandevelde and Wiggins, Katusha's captain Vladimir Karpets and Milram's German hope Linus Gerdemann. Team Columbia bring three men who can make a surprise bid for the podium: Kim Kirchen, Thomas Lövkvist and Michael Rogers. Of those three, Lövkvist is probably the most exciting, and the Swede did well in Tour de Suisse. AG2R's leader Vladimir Efimkin should also be mentioned as an outsider for a podium finish.
Tom Boonen - Quick-Step
The king of cobblestones is also present in the Tour de France. Tom Boonen has almost done a clean sweep in the classics this year, with victories in Paris-Roubaix and the Ronde van Vlaandern, as well as a 2nd place in Gent-Wevelgem. The Belgian is almost as fast on asphalt as he is on cobbles, and he's one of the favourites for the green jersey.
Discovery Channel have great ambitions for the Tour de France 2009. We bring our strongest riders for what is the season's greatest race for us. We have several goals for the Tour. We'll aim for the win in the team classification and on the team time trial. Egoi Martinez would really want to have another go at the polka dot jersey, and he is free to do that. The most difficult goal we have is the overall win. The rider meant for that job is Lance Armstrong, but both Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer are ready to step in if Lance gets into trouble. They will anyway be of great importance, as their job is to get Lance Armstrong as quickly up the mountains as possible.
Lance Armstrong
The man with a record seven Tour de France victories, aim for his 8th. Lance Armstrong is no longer what he once was, but there are still few riders who can match him, and with a great team, a place on the top of the podium in Paris should not be completely out of reach.
Andreas Klöden
Armstrong's luxury helper has had a strong preparation for the Tour, with a second place in the Tour de Suisse and victories in Tour de Luxembourg and the German national championship. Klöden will therefore ride in the German champion jersey, and we hope it motivates him even more to do his best in leading Armstrong to a good result in the GC.
Levi Leipheimer
Levi is here to lead the team in the team time trial and to help Armstrong in the mountains. He has a second place in the Tour of California from earlier in the season, and his main goal is the Vuelta in September. Leipheimer is still in good shape for the Tour though, and will be an important asset to us.
Yaroslav Popovych
The man who won the Tour of California and was on the podium in Paris-Nice is far from anything that looks like captaincy in the Tour de France. Popovych will just be a part of the team machinery, but he will be an important part.
Egoi Martinez
The Basque rider Martinez is an attack-minded climber, and is the only one on the team who is occasionally relieved from teamwork. Martinez will go for the KoM jersey, something he has done in previous Tours. This year, we hope he succeeds.
Floyd Landis
The disqualified winner of the 2006 edition of the Tour is back and hopefully clean. Landis is not as strong as he was, but will be a good domestique, especially on the flat stages. His time trialing will be important for the TTT.
Benjamin Noval
This spot was originally meant for George Hincapie, but when he got injured, Benjamin Noval had to be called in. Noval is a climber, but will not contribute as much on the TTT and on the flat stages as Hincapie could have done. Nevertheless, he is a good stand-in, even if he hasn't had time to reach the same level of form as his teammates.
Tactics meeting
A hot and sunny summer's day in Monaco is the setting for the start of the Tour de France 2009. We begin with a short time trial in the city centre. The first part of the course rises steadily up to the casino, before the riders head down to the harbour again. We are looking to place Armstrong as high up in the GC as we can, and hope to take the lead in the team classification.
Stijn Devolder set an early best time.
Garmin's British TT champion David Millar was a little disappointing. He was nowhere near Devolder's time.
Another disappointment was Fabian Cancellara. He had a bad day, and couldn't beat Devolder either. Provisional second place for the Swiss.
Vladimir Karpets rode a good time trial, and finished one second slower than Devolder.
The triple world TT champion Michael Rogers did a magnificent time trial in Monaco, and beat Devolder with six seconds. The lead for Rogers.
Just as his countryman Karpets, Denis Menchov also rode well. Rabobank's captain took a provisional 5th place, 10 seconds behind Rogers.
Cadel Evans struggled today. The Aussie time trial champion didn't have the legs, and crossed the line 37 seconds behind fellow Aussie Rogers. Evans was 28th on the stage in the end.
Levi Leipheimer continued his good form from the Tour de Suisse, and was in the lead at the intermediate time. He never slowed down, and at the finish, he was 11 seconds in front of Michael Rogers. Excellent by Levi!
Soon afterwards it was time for Andreas Klöden, and he did really well too. The German finished came in with the 7th best time so far, 23sec behind Leipheimer.
The it was the big Tour favourite Alberto Contador's turn. He wasn't the biggest favourite for today's stage, but he still managed a pretty solid 5th place, 18 seconds behind Levi Leipheimer.
The last to take the course was Lance Armstrong, who finally was back at the Tour de France after three years of absence. Our captain performed well, and finished with the same time as Klöden, 23 seconds behind the winner of the stage, Levi Leipheimer.
Today's winner
Results 1 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel 22'40
2 Michael Rogers Team Columbia - High Road + 11
3 Stijn Devolder Quick-Step + 17
4 Vladimir Karpets Team Katusha + 18
5 Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 18
6 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road + 20
7 Denis Menchov Rabobank + 21 8 Lance Armstrong Discovery Channel + 23
9 Andreas Klöden Discovery Channel + 23
10 Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank + 24
Points ranking 1 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel 15
2 Michael Rogers Team Columbia - High Road 12
3 Stijn Devolder Quick-Step 10
Youth ranking
1 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road 23'00
2 Tony Martin Team Columbia - High Road + 4
3 Roman Kreuziger Liquigas + 10
Team classification 1 Discovery Channel 1h08'46
2 Team Columbia - High Road + 9
3 Caisse d'Epargne + 48
It's great to start with the lead in both competitions we aim for, even if it's not Lance riding in yellow tomorrow. Levi has won every time trial above 10km that he's participated in this season, and today he was dominating. Klöden and Armstrong also showed some promise.
The first day of the Tour offered a few surprises. Fabian Cancellara, who has podiumed in all his time trials so far in the season, was disappointing with his 10th place, while Cadel Evans was as far down the list as 28th. He was the GC contender who did worst. Young Thomas Lövkvist surprised positively with his 6th place.
Now when we have to defend the yellow jersey from day one, the first week will be a bit more hectic than I thought in advance, but I'm not complaining!
Tactics meeting
Another extremely hot day by the Mediterranean sea, and we're moving eastwards along the coast towards Brignoles. Something other than a mass sprint is unthinkable, and we're just concentrating on keeping the yellow jersey on Levi's shoulders. The fight for the green jersey begins for real today, and it's the first stage where a KoM jersey will be awarded.
The breakaway master Jens Voigt was of course in the first breakaway of the Tour. He had with him strong riders like Johan Van Summeren and Benoit Vaugrenard. Despite the break leading with 9 minutes at one point, our workers in the pack had them under control.
One rider who lost control for a moment was Floyd Landis. He crashed about halfway through the stage, and because of the high speed in the peloton, he never got back. Not that it matters. He won't get any high GC placing anyway as a domestique far down in the hierarchy on Discovery.
The breakaway had been caught long ago, and during the last kilometers, the teams of the sprinters set a really high speed. Combined with some slight hills near the end of the stage, it made sure the sprinters couldn't get to the front. It was going to be the lead-out men who would fight for the victory.
The Russian powerhouse Sergei Ivanov had the best legs and won the first road race stage of the Tour de France quite convincingly. The victory gives him the green jersey for tomorrow.
GC 1 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel 4h39'25
2 Michael Rogers Team Columbia - High Road + 11
3 Stijn Devolder Quick-Step + 17
4 Vladimir Karpets Team Katusha + 18
5 Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 18
6 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road + 20
7 Denis Menchov Rabobank + 21 8 Lance Armstrong Discovery Channel + 23
9 Andreas Klöden Discovery Channel + 23
10 Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank + 24
Points ranking
1 Sergei Ivanov Team Katusha 35
2 Yann Huguet Agritubel 30
3 Kurt-Asle Arvesen Team Saxo Bank 26
KoM ranking
1 Nick Nuyens Rabobank 10
2 Alessandro Ballan Lampre N.G.C 7
3 Mikhail Ignatiev Team Katusha 5
Youth ranking
1 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road 4h39'45
2 Tony Martin Team Columbia - High Road + 4
3 Roman Kreuziger Liquigas + 10
Team classification 1 Discovery Channel 13h59'01
2 Team Columbia - High Road + 9
3 Caisse d'Epargne + 48
Except the unlucky Landis, who was 16th before today's stage, all top 30 riders in the GC finished in the peloton, so no changes there.
Tomorrow, there's another flat stage, actually it's flatter than today's, so we'll probably see more sprinters at the finish. Now we're heading for Marseille, the host of tomorrow's start, to get some rest after the hardships of today.
Tactics meeting
The Tour de France circus continues eastwards along the Mediterranean coast. The third stage is another sprint stage. Any breaks won't be allowed to get too far away from our Discovery train at the front of the peloton as long as the differences in the GC are so small. None of the great sprinters has got much points yet, so today will be a fight to get an early advantage in that competition. It will also be interesting to see whether Nick Nuyens will defend his KoM jersey or not.
Some of yesterday's breakaway riders were there for today's break as well, like Voigt, Vaugrenard and Van Summeren. One who was missing was Nick Nuyens with the KoM jersey, but his teammate Lars Boom made sure it stayed with the Rabobank team by being first over the last two climbs. The escapees wouldn't get any stage win though, as they were caught long before the finish.
There was a crash today as well. Stijn Devolder hit the road, and brought with him David Moncoutie and Andreas Klöden.
Cofidis let their entire team drop back to help their captain back into the peloton. Andreas caught the Cofidis train, but to be on the safe side, we sent back Martinez, Noval and Landis to help out. The unlucky crashers soon got back up to the main field, and no damage was done.
Towards La Grande-Motte, most sprinters were in good positions. Breschel was out on the left side of the road with Feillu on his wheel, while most others were in a big group to the right. Pozzato and Napolitano of Katusha were in the lead. Cavendish held Boonen's wheel.
Breschel started the sprint very early, with Feillu in his slipstream. Napolitano had been released by Pozzato, Garmin were coming fast on the outside, while Boonen was following Napolitano. Exciting!
When Breschel couldn't keep his speed up, Boonen launched himself from Napolitano's back wheel. He was looking strong!
And Tom Boonen took it! The Belgian didn't even have time for celebrations. Napolitano slowed down towards the end, so Romain Feillu and Anthony Geslin made sure two Frenchmen filled up the podium behind Boonen.
GC 1 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel 9h03'35
2 Michael Rogers Team Columbia - High Road + 11
3 Stijn Devolder Quick-Step + 17
4 Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 18
5 Vladimir Karpets Team Katusha + 18
6 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road + 20
7 Denis Menchov Rabobank + 21 8 Andreas Klöden Discovery Channel + 23
9 Lance Armstrong Discovery Channel + 23
10 Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank + 24
Points ranking
1 Tom Boonen Quick-Step 45
2 Danilo Napolitano Team Katusha 38
3 Sergei Ivanov Team Katusha 35
KoM ranking
1 Lars Boom Rabobank 11
2 Nick Nuyens Rabobank 10
3 Jens Voigt Team Saxo Bank 10
Youth ranking
1 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road 9h03'55
2 Tony Martin Team Columbia - High Road + 4
3 Roman Kreuziger Liquigas + 10
Team classification 1 Discovery Channel 27h11'31
2 Team Columbia - High Road + 9
3 Caisse d'Epargne + 48
Now the real sprinters have got going. Tom Boonen showed his strength today, and crushed the others in the sprint. His efforts are rewarded with the green jersey. He will keep it at least until the day after tomorrow, as there are no points awarded at the team time trial tomorrow. We experienced a slight scare with Klöden going down, but he got up again and finished in the pack together with our other GC riders.
During the day we're travelling to Montpellier where we will ride the team time trial tomorrow. If the team is able to work well together, we can expect a good performance.
Tactics meeting
We're in Montpellier for the first team time trial in the Tour de France since 2005. The last one was won by Discovery Channel. That's a result we'll try to reproduce. Before the Tour, we targeted this stage, and I'm confident our team can take the win if everything goes according to plan. Some GC favourites is in danger of losing a bit of time today, especially Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador. They must take the matter in their own hands most of the time if they want to guide their teams to acceptable placings.
The third team starting today was Carlos Sastre's Cervelo Test Team. To start early means you're far down in the team ranking, which in this case means you have poor TT riders as the GC is almost the same as it was after Monaco. It didn't look good for Sastre. Cervelo beat the teams starting before them though, Euskaltel and Cofidis, but their time would probably not bring them a good result.
Cadel Evans' forces finished with a time that was one second slower than Cervelo. Where would that put Silence-Lotto on the final list?
One of the favourites today was Saxobank. Lead by Fabian Cancellara, Andy Schleck's team came in to a provisional first place, 29 seconds in front of Cervelo and 6 seconds in front of the surprising Bouygues Telecom.
The orange army from Holland, Rabobank, went quite fast on the roads of Southern France. Menchov & co got the same time as Saxobank at the finish, and shared the 1st place so far.
Garmin-Slipstream is a team filled with TT specialists, and that showed today. Their time was 21 seconds better than Saxobank and Rabobank, so Wiggins and Vandevelde could have a good position before we're entering the Pyrenees.
Quick-Step have no one to ride for in the GC, but they still did a good TTT. A provisional 5th place for Boonen's team, 44 seconds behind Garmin. Cervelo and Silence-Lotto were now down to 8th and 9th.
Then it was time for the most interesting team in the TTT. How would Astana do? Alberto Contador did actually get his minions moving, even though most of them are not really known for their TT qualities. The Kazakhs finished 7th so far, 46 seconds behind Garmin. Contador would lose some time, but probably far less than expected.
Team Columbia - High Road were one of the biggest favourites, and they didn't disappoint. The 2nd placed team in the rankings did well, and held the lead at the first checkpoint...
Our Discovery troops got a bad start, and at the first checkpoint we were 6th, 36 seconds behind Columbia.
The team starting before Columbia, Caisse d'Epargne, were a little disappointing. Valverde in his ProTour leader jersey lead the remains of his team over the line for a 5th place so far, 27 seconds behind Garmin who were still in the lead. Not far behind the Spaniards, Columbia and Discovery kept on pedalling...
Discovert Channel really got going during the last half of the stage. Armstrong, Leipheimer, Klöden and Popovych had blown apart the rest of the team. Floyd Landis, who had to cross the line for the clock to be stopped, was struggling to keep up while Leipheimer were catching the slowest riders of Columbia. When the clock stopped, it showed 1'11 better than Garmin and 52 seconds better than Columbia who had just taken the provisional lead. We had dominated the team time trial!
Youth ranking
1 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road 9h53'17
2 Tony Martin Team Columbia - High Road + 4
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia - High Road + 24
Team classification 1 Discovery Channel 28h00'02
2 Team Columbia - High Road + 1'01
3 Caisse d'Epargne + 2'26
Fantastic riding from our guys today, and especially the four who claimed the first four places in the GC. We have a perfect position before the Pyrenees, which we encounter in three days, with Leipheimer 1'54 in front of Denis Menchov who is the closest of the GC favourites.
The biggest loser today among the GC riders was Vladimir Karpets. His Katusha team came last, and he is 3'43 behind Levi Leipheimer. Efimkin, Sastre, Pellizotti and Kreuziger also lost a lot of time today. All of them are three minutes or more behind Levi.
Cadel Evans and Silence-Lotto finished two minutes behind Discovery in the end, and the Australian is now 50th in the GC, 2'51 behind the yellow jersey. That will be a lot to catch up for Evans. Except Denis Menchov at 13th (1'54 behind), all other GC candidates are over two minutes down in the GC. A successfull day!
