Monaco - Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara lived up to his own billing by easily winning Saturday's first stage of the 2009 Tour de France, a 15.5km individual time trial in Monaco. Cancellara, who had predicted the victory, covered the technically complex course in 19 mins 32 seconds, an average speed of 47.6 kph, 18 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, race favourite Alberto Contador of Spain.
Seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong celebrated his comeback to the race after a four-year absence with an impressive tenth place, 40 seconds behind the winner.
Armstrong returned to cycling to publicize his Livestrong foundation, which supports cancer research.
"I didn't have any big illusions, to win or take the yellow jersey," he said after the stage.
He noted that it was difficult to feel at home in the Tour after his long absence from the race.
"I was nervous, which is logical," he said. "It was like being in a foreign environment. It was like starting all over again."
Australian Cadel Evans stamped himself as one of the race favourites by finishing fifth, 23 seconds behind the winner but only 5 seconds adrift of Contador, his main rival for the championship.
The 28-year-old Cancellara, a two-time world time-trial champion, had announced his intention to take the race leader's yellow jersey on the first day of the Tour by telling journalists, "my rivals will want to get out their heavy winter coats for when I pass them. It will be hard to beat Cancellara."
After winning the fourth Tour stage of his career, he told France 2 television, "I'm very proud. To be in the yellow jersey again is a great thing for me, for the team and for my family."
He said he had come to the Tour to win the opening stage, and that his Saxo Bank team would do "everything possible to defend the jersey."
Armstrong and Contador's Astana team also lived up to expectations, placing four riders among the top 10 finishers.
Many observers had viewed the stage as a venue to determine the real team leader, but the 18-second difference between Contador and Armstrong in the stage resolved little.
Nonetheless, the 26-year-old Contador, who won the 2007 Tour, said relations within the team were good.
The big loser of the first stage was Russian Denis Menchov, who came into the race after winning the Giro d'Italia.
But the 31-year-old Rabobank rider finished a well-beaten 53rd, 1 min 31 sec behind the winner and, more important, 1 min 13 sec behind Contador.
Sunday's second stage, 187 km from Monaco to Brignoles, will be one of the few stages of this year's race in which sprinters will vie for the win. The Tour ends July 26 in Paris.
