Monaco, playground of the rich and famous, host of a F1 race, the second smallest country in the world and apparently about 16 Euros for a beer. Prince Albert has spent over $1 million to get the race to begin here and what we are offered is a fantastic course. Shorter than a prologue (for some reason the first stage has to be shorter than 8km to be classified this way) and not the easiest of Time Trial courses the 2009 Tour de France is going to be on from the start.
The length and profile of the stage mean that it is demanding. Starting by the sea the first half of the stage is uphill to the top of the Cote de Beausoleil, then back down into Monaco from France thorough the streets using parts of the F1 course. There are sections of the climb between six and eight percent which will test the riders and technical corners with a number of hairpins. The last 3km is flat with the famous F1 tunnel marking the start of the final kilometer.
So it's a course for strong riders, not necessarily TT specialists though. Cancellara, Rogers & Grabsch have won all the world TT championships from 2003-2008. I think the Garmin team might have this stage as a special assignment for a rider though, just as Française des Jeux did in 2003 when Brad McGees sole aim for the tour was to win the first stage - he trained for months for nothing else. Garmin - Slipstream have Wiggins, Zabriskie, Vande Vaelde and Millar who are all very good TT exponents. Their prices with TAB sportsbet are $13,$41,$67,$67 - value!
From the main riders Contador, Evans, Armstrong, Leipheimer and Menchov are the men most likely. The big guns are going to have to go all out here, with a lack of TT kilometers in the 2009 edition it negates the advantage that the really good TT's have over the others so they have to make it all count.
Too tough to pick a winner of a stage like this however there is massive value in looking outside Cancellara (who is the Best TT rider in the world) - he and Contador who are the only riders under $10. Both have awesome TT form this year and are the ones to beat, but it may well happen, in fact im betting that one at odds can get into the top 3.
Stage 1 Betting.
The bets i am looking at are all each way (win / top 3)
Quoted odds from Betfair at 4.15pm
Leipheimer $36 /$8.00
Zabriskie $80 /$17.50
As for every stage on the tour we are going with $10 bets, todays outlay is $40.
$40 loss on the betting.
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