1st stage of the Tour de France 2009 – Wikipedia

Fabian Cancellera winner of the first stage of the Tour de France 2009

The first ^re Tour de France 2009 stage took place on Saturday July 4, 2009 . Monaco is the city of departure and the city of arrival. The route is carried out in Monaco (7.5 km ) and on French territory (8 km ) or a total length of 15.5 km . It is the first individual time trial. The route also borrows part of the circuit Formula 1 from Monaco. It was the Swiss Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) who won this stage and at the same time endorsed the first yellow jersey of this edition. He is ahead of the Spaniard Alberto Contador (Astana) and the British Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Chipotle).

The departure of this individual trial of 15.5 km , described as “selective” ^{[ first ]} , takes place at the Hercules port not far from the princely palace and runs the Casino de Monte-Carlo at its first kilometer. There follows a rise of 7 km Along the Mediterranean coast to the Beausoleil coast (classified as 4 ^{It is} category) in France which peaks at 205 m . The rest of the route is down and then the last three kilometers in false flat until arrival at the Hercules port.

From this time trial, the favorites are the Swiss Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank), the Spaniard Alberto Contador (Astana), recent Spanish specialty champion, the British Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) Or German Bert Grabsch (Team Columbia-HTC), reigning world champion.

The departure was given by Prince Albert II of Monaco in the presence of Rama Yade, new Secretary of State for Sports and Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour. Dutch sprinter Kenny Van Hummel is the first runner to set off

Lance Armstrong, septuple winner of the Tour, and of which it was the return after four years of absence, caught the attention of the media and the public ^{[ 2 ]} . Starting with the first runners, it will remain better provisional time about fifteen minutes before being exceeded by other competitors.

The American Levi Leipheimer occupies the head of this time trial over a long time with a time of 20 minutes and 2 seconds. Like Armstrong, he chose to go among the first to avoid rain announced at the end of the afternoon, which ultimately does not fall ^{[ 3 ]} . Then it was his teammate at Astana Andreas Klöden who managed to overcome it. He is also the first to descend within 20 minutes. Finally, the Swiss Fabian Cancellara won with 19 minutes and 32 seconds in front of Alberto Contador and Bradley Wiggins. He dug the gap in the descent: classified third at the intermediate time at the top of the coast six seconds from Contador, he left the last 24 seconds in the second part of the race ^{[ 4 ]} . It is the fourth stage victory of the Tour de Cancellara, the third on the opening time trial after the prologues of 2004 and 2007.

Contador, author of the best ascent of the Beausoleil coast, takes the polka dot jersey. He considers herself satisfied with his second place and having distinguished the other favorites to the final victory, which was his goal on this stage ^{[ 3 ]} . Menchov, caught up in Cancellara in the final, is considered to be the “big loser” of the day ^{[ 5 ] , [ 6 ]} . He is classy 53 ^{It is} , at 1 minute and 13 seconds of Contador. The title holder Carlos Sastre is 23 ^{It is} , at 1 minute and 6 seconds of Cancellara. He says he was embarrassed by his defective helmet but considers himself “happy with the result” ^{[ 7 ]} .

The Astana team places four runners among the first ten and heads the team ranking.

• Côte de Beausoleil, 4 ^{It is} Category (kilometer 7.5)

Point classification [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Mountain ranking [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Best young ranking [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Team classification [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

No abandonment.