- Tour de France Teams Presentation photos, Monaco:  We're still waiting for pics from Sirotti but in the meantime you'll find pics here.

- TDF in Monaco videos:  It's not the first time the Tour de France has visited Monaco but it is the first time the Tour has started there.  Below are some historical video clips as well as videos from the 2009 TDF Teams Presentation.

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- Watch Lance Armstrong Eurosport interviews:

Armstrong 'nervous but ready' (02:25)
Mountain stages crucial (02:38)
Armstrong ready for pain (01:48)
Armstrong on potential winners (02:39)

- English commentary:  Eurosport UK LIVE audio here.  Can be played simultaneously with one of the live video feeds.

- Eurosport France also LIVE here.

- Tour de France Teams Presentation LIVE via Eurosport Poland here.  -Bernie S.

- Eurosport France video streaming LIVE now with the TDF Teams Presentation here.

- The 2009 Tour de France Teams Presentation is today, Thursday, and the event will be broadcast live on Eurosport.  Each team will be presented to the public, then will ride approximately 1 kilometer along the waterfront at the Quai and Boulevard Albert 1er.  We will have photos of the event later today.  Festivities are scheduled to begin at 18:00 CET (6pm CET or 12pm U.S. Eastern), with coverage in some Eurosport markets scheduled to begin 15 minutes earlier.  We will list any live feeds we find in this space.  Stay tuned.

Monaco weather

Map and Satellite imagery

Versus, the American cable television network, has announced that it will be offering live streaming video of Stage 2 of the Tour de France.

SBS of Australia has announced that it will be offering live streaming of the entire race.  Other TV channels around the world will also be streaming all stages live.  (More on that to come; cyclingfans.com will of course publish a full guide to Tour de France live coverage on the internet, every day of the race.)

Versus has long felt that by streaming the race live online it would hurt viewership on the TV channel, thus hurt revenues.  And yet many TV networks believe there is value in having online streaming which can ultimately help to grow the sport and create a bigger audience for TV broadcasts.  If you are a cycling fan in the U.S., please vote in the poll below.

- Quote of the day:  "We can't wait for the Tour to begin, especially with the start in Monaco and the return of Lance Armstrong.  I'd love to be a fly on the wall to see how Astana is going to approach the race..... (Everyone) is curious to find out if Armstrong's return will be successful.  Will it be like (Michael) Jordan, successful, or like (Bjorn) Borg?"  - Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France (in today's L'Equipe)

Armstrong and teammates to recon Montpellier Team Time Trial course twice

Flashback, 2003 Tour de France:  USPS on its way to winning the Team Time Trial.
It was the first-ever victory in a TTT for Armstrong.
Copyright © 2003 Pete Geyer/www.cyclingfans.com

- 2009 Tour de France:  The Team Time Trial is back after a 4-year absence and today (Tuesday) Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador and their Astana teammates will do reconnaissance of the Stage 4 TTT course (39km) in Montpellier near the Mediterranean.  They will then ride the course again on Wednesday morning before heading that afternoon to Monaco where the Tour starts on Saturday.

April, 2009: Montpellier, Place de la Comedie:  Site for the start of the
2009 Tour de France Team Time Trial (July 7).
Copyright © 2009 Pete Geyer/www.cyclingfans.com

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Watch Lance Armstrong on Vivement Dimanche (France 2 TV) with Michel Drucker

- Lance Armstrong was featured on the popular Vivement Dimanche program on France 2 television yesterday.  Hosted by the highly respected Michel Drucker, the program includes guest commentary and questions from a number of celebrities including 5-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx, 2-time TDF champ Laurent Fignon, Eric Fottorino (writer and director of Le Monde), and French writer Christian Laborde (longtime Armstrong fan and author of the book "Champion" about Armstrong).  Drucker recently travelled to Aspen, Colorado for the feature which includes highlights from Armstrong's career, accompanied by a variety of song clips from the Alan Parsons Project's Sirius (the music long used to introduce the Chicago Bulls players before home games) to John Denver's Rocky Mountain High.  The program is a full hour long and you can watch it online here. (Armstrong mostly speaks in English, sometimes dubbed in French, sometimes with sub-titles.)  Nicely done.

2009 Men's British National Road Race Championships:  British born and American raised (Texas),
Kristian House (Rapha Condor) wins in Abergavenny, Wales.
Copyright © 2009 Dave O'Nyons

2009 Men's British National Road Race Championships:  Peter Kennaugh (100% ME, third),
Kristian House (Rapha Condor, first) and Daniel Lloyd (Cervelo Test Team, second) on the podium.
Copyright © 2009 Dave O'Nyons

Many national championship road races are being run today.  Some are being streamed live online.  (Thanks Bernie S and Roberto)

France live ticker (L'Equipe) (Google-translated to English)

Denmark (fixed cameras)

Netherlands

Belgium (geo-restricted)  (Google-translated to English for ticker)

Belgium (geo-restricted?)  Belgium (confirmed playing in UK - Bernie S.)

2009 Nevada City Classic:  Lance Armstrong's last race before the Tour de France.
Photos Copyright © 2009 Laura Alber and Carlos Rico/www.cyclingfans.com

VERSUS TO TELEVISE 2009 TOUR DE FRANCE IN HD FOR FIRST TIME EVER

NETWORK SET TO DELIVER MORE THAN 250 HOURS OF RACE COVERAGE

FEATURING LANCE ARMSTRONG'S SHOT AT RECORD EIGHTH TOUR VICTORY

- press release -

NEW YORK, N.Y. (June 24, 2009)- VERSUS, the exclusive television home of the Tour de France in the
U.S., will kick-off its ninth year of wall-to-wall coverage of the most intense and grueling
competition in all of sports on Sat., July 4, at 9:30 a.m. ET.  The network will begin its first day
of Tour coverage at 8:30 a.m. ET with a one-hour special chronicling Lance Armstrong's career and
his 2009 comeback season. For the first time ever, each stage of the Tour will be produced in full
HD.
 

2009 Tour de Suisse:  Tony Martin (Columbia-Highroad) wins stage 8 ahead of Damiano Cunego (Lampre), right.  Martin leads the mountains classification.
photo Copyright © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti for cyclingfans.com

2009 Tour de Suisse, Stage 8:  Riders on the final climb to Crans-Montana.
photo Copyright © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti for cyclingfans.com

2009 Tour de Suisse, Stage 8:  The lead group on the final climb to Crans-Montana.
photo Copyright © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti for cyclingfans.com

Notes:  (latest notes always appear at the top, below sticky notes) Follow cyclingfans on Twitter and never miss a race. Cyclingfans.com: The #1 source on the internet for live race coverage.   - More Tour de Suisse Stage 9 videos to come... 2009 Tour de Suisse video clips Stage 9 Highlights (01:46) Sporza Stage 9 - Final kilometers individual time trial (09:59) Sporza Stage 8 Highlights (01:06) Sporza Stage 8, Last Kilometer (05:21) Sporza Stage 8 - Climb to Crans Montana (1/4) (10:02) Sporza Stage 8 - Climb to Crans Montana (2/4) (10:00) Sporza Stage 8 - Climb to Crans Montana (3/4) (09:59) Sporza Stage 8 - Climb to Crans Montana (4/4) (10:01) Sporza Stage 8 - Final kilometers climb to Crans Montana (10:17) Sporza Stage 7 Highlights (0:52) Sporza Stage 7 - Final kilometers and climb to Vallorbe-Juraparc (10:00) Sporza Stage 7, Last Kilometer (02:53) Sporza Stage 6 Highlights (0:39) Eurosport Stage 6 - Final kilometers and sprint (06:25) Sporza Stage 6, Last Kilometer (01:19) Sporza Stage 5 Highlights (01:00) Eurosport Stage 5 Highlights (0:55) Sporza Stage 5 - Climb to Serfaus (Pt. 1/3) (08:30) Sporza Stage 5 - Climb to Serfaus (Pt. 2/3) (09:59) Sporza Stage 5 - Climb to Serfaus (Pt. 3/3) (09:40) Sporza Stage 5 - Final kilometer (02:35) Sporza Stage 4 Highlights (0:44) Eurosport Stage 4 Highlights (01:09) Sporza Stage 4 - Final kilometers (09:22) Sporza Stage 4, Last Kilometer (01:40) Sporza Stage 3 Highlights (01:29) Eurosport Stage 3 - Final kilometers and sprint (06:15) Sporza Stage 3, Last Kilometer (04:47) Sporza Stage 2, Last Kilometer (02:39) Sporza Stage 1 highlights (01:05) Sporza - More to come -     - Tour de Suisse TT also LIVE here. - Tour de Suisse also LIVE on Cycling TV and RTL. - Tour de Suisse LIVE on SportItalia.  Links at right. - Also on today:  Nevada City Classic live (live feed, videos, photos, articles)  More info and links to come. Tour de Suisse Stage 9 Profile - Tour de Suisse Stage 9, a 38.5km Individual Time Trial in Bern, is scheduled to start at 13:01 CET (7:01am U.S. Eastern) when the first rider departs.  If we get Start Order and Times, we will post them before or at race time.  Tour de Suisse live video streaming on Cycling TV is scheduled to begin at 16:25 CET (10:25am U.S. Eastern).  Tour de Suisse live coverage on Sporza is scheduled to begin at 16:30 CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern).  We will list other sources of Tour de Suisse live feeds as they become available. - We recommend you open our Twitter feed in a separate window now.  If ever we have a server outage, we will update on Twitter and direct you to a live coverage page on another server. - Welcome to our live coverage guide for the 2009 Tour de Suisse.

2009 Tour de Suisse LIVE Switzerland, June 13-21 Official Website (French) (Google-translated to English) Start List (.pdf)  Stage 9 start: 13:01 CET (1:01pm CET) Bern Bern weather Live video streaming: (16:25 CET (10:25am U.S. Eastern)) (North America) SportItalia   Alternative 1 RTL   (16:30 CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern)) (Geo-restrictions unknown) Sport+ (16:30 CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern))   ETB 1   (more links to come)   (more video links to come if available)   Live audio streaming: (--)   Live tickers: Official site live ticker (French) (Google-translated to English) sportal.ch (German) cnlab live (Live profile, webcam, Radio Tour data) (more tickers to come if available) News and photos: (cycling news) Yahoo photo gallery (AP/AFP) Graham Watson Photography   Copyright © 2009 www.cyclingfans.com