On July 4th 2009 history will be made with the start of the Tour de France departing from the principality of Monaco. Home to the exclusive, and to many professional cyclists over the years, Monaco, located between Nice, France and the Italian border on the Cote d’Zur, provides a great vacation and cycling location. Monaco is only .76 square miles but it is surrounded by beautiful Mediterranean waters on one side and mountains on the opposite side.
Cycling has a deep tradition in Monaco with riders such as Mario Cippolini, Tony Rominger, Alexander Vinikourov, Axel Merckx, Bradley Mcgee, Tom Boonen, Baden Cooke, Stuart O’Grady, and others taking up residence there over the years. Just outside of the principality, located near Menton, France, is the Col de Madone. This for many years was Lance Armstrong’s favorite climb to test his fitness and it’s no coincidence the name of Trek’s top of the line bikes. Just above Monaco is the Moyene Cornich and the Grand Corniche that traverse the hillside providing a beautiful roof top view of the city and waters far down below.
This will not be the first time the Tour has visited Monaco. The first time was in 1939 for the 12th stage between St. Raphael and Monaco. Monaco has also hosted the Tour five other times with the last time being in 1964 for the 9th and 10th stage. Not since then has the Tour de France been through this prestigious area that holds the beautiful Monte-Carlo casino and the Prince’s palace.
The start of the Tour, as it has done in the past, strays away from a short prologue but starts with a 15km time trial. Technically, this will be stage 1 and 7km of the course will be in Monaco and 8km will be on their neighbor’s roads in France. The first part of the course is uphill towards the Moyenne Corniche and the second part is the descent off of the climb until the flatter last kilometers. The last part of the course covers the same twists and turns of Monaco’s famous Formula 1 circuit. As the riders near the finish line they will exit from a tunnel, after coming off the Quai des États-Unis towards the harbor, they will cross the finish providing us with the first Yellow Jersey wearer of the 2009 Tour de France.
