Stage 1 Monaco - Monaco 15.5km ITT

 

Monaco was the home of the Grand Depart. Johann Bruyneel the director sportif of Astana was setting his riders out at weird times with Leipheimer and Armstrong out early. Lance set the first Time to beat at 20:12 with a brilliant pace set before the first time check at the top of the Cote de Beausoliel. That time was soon eclipsed by Tony Martin setting a time of 20:05 over the course. It took to Levi Leipheimer to beat the time set by Martin. The time didn't fall by much only by three seconds. It took till another Astana rider to tumble the time set by Levi the it was the German Andreas Kloden. Cadel Evans the hope of Australia came in falling short of the mark set by Kloden. It was the Brit Bradley Wiggins who took the time to 19:51. Still out on course was Fabian Cancellara and Alberto Contador who were both firing. At the Climb Contador had a 6 second advantage over the Olympic Champion. However the Swiss descended like a rock and by the finish seven and a half kilometres later he had improved on Wiggins' time by twenty second to 19:32. Contador finished shortly after a massive 16 seconds later. The tour is so far currently living up to its expectations. Tomorrow a flat stage is facing the bunch and the sprinters will be sure to want to stretch their legs. Standings

1	033	Fabian CANCELLARA		SAX	00:19:32	00:00:00
2	021	Alberto CONTADOR		AST	00:19:50	00:00:18
3	058	Bradley WIGGINS		GRM	00:19:51	00:00:19
4	023	Andréas KLÖDEN		AST	00:19:54	00:00:22
5	011	Cadel EVANS		SIL	00:19:55	00:00:23