Notes:  (latest notes always appear at the top, below sticky notes)

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- Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) won the Elite Men's event and the amazing Jeannie Longo won the Elite Women's event.

- Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme is in Les Herbiers today.  He was interviewed at length this morning on Radio des Nations (link at right) on multiple topics, including Alexandre Vinokourov (in the race today) and the reduction in TTs at the Tour.  On the subject of Vino, Prudhomme said "Vinokourov cheated, he served his suspension, and now he is back. That's life."  This might be an indication that A.S.O. may not try to bar Vino (Astana) from the Tour.  That remains to be seen and first Astana need to retain their ProTour license.  On the subject of TTs at the Tour, Prudhomme commented that TTs do not have the same role that they once had among overall contenders where good time trialists who lost time in the mountains made it up in the TTs while good climbers lost time in the TTs and made it up in the mountains.  Today, he said, climbers are good in the TTs and time trialists are good in the mountains.  He pointed to Fabian Cancellara as an exception and Cancellara unfortunately loses out with fewer time trials.

- Live video feed is buffering and comes and goes.  Live radio feed (French) is solid though, playing here without problems for several hours.

- The Elite Men's event is underway.  Start list and start times here.  (Alexandre Vinokourov scheduled to depart last.)

- The Elite Men's event (48.5km) is scheduled to begin at 14:56 CET (8:56am U.S. Eastern).

- The Grand Prix des Nations Time Trial ceased to exist a few years ago.  I photographed the last two editions of that event which was organized by TDF organizer A.S.O.  The Chrono des Herbiers was renamed the Chrono des Nations a couple of years ago, effectively merging the two events, though this is no longer an A.S.O. event.  Five-time TDF winner Jacques Anquetil holds the record of victories (in the GP des Nations): 9 victories in 9 participations!  -Pete

- Chrono des Nations LIVE now.  Links at right.

- 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 Chrono des Nations.

 Notes:  (latest notes always appear at the top, below sticky notes)

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- Video:  Giro di Lombardia final km here. (Sporza, 01:26)

- English Audio:  Eurosport English audio feed now playing Lombardy.  Not yet sure how this matches up, if at all, with video feeds, especially since they were not scheduled to be live.  Audio links in "Live audio streaming" section at right.

- Giro di Lombardia LIVE via Rai3. 

- Lombardy also LIVE via Eurosport.

- Tour of Lombardy LIVE. 

- Eurosport France has a live ticker now active.  (Google-translated to English)

- Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) did not start today.  He has had a fever for two days and showed up at the start in Varese wearing street clothes.  (AFP)

- More links to come...

- 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 Giro di Lombardia.

 Notes:  (latest notes always appear at the top, below sticky notes)

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- 2010 Tour de France route details, videos, official poster design, etc. now online here.

- 2010 TDF presentation LIVE now.  Links at right.  Official site, Versus, and France3.fr streams playing here...

- France3.fr have changed their start time to 11:30 CET (5:30am U.S. Eastern).  Presumably this is now the start time for all live feeds.

- The 2010 Tour de France will celebrate the centenary of the first stage into the mountains of the Pyrenees, the Tourmalet in particular.  Indeed, the Tourmalet has seen a record number of ascensions in the Tour: 73.  The 2009 Tour visited the Pyrenees before the Alps and in keeping with the tradition of alternation, the 2010 Tour will visit the Alps first, setting up what should be a spectacular final week of the race in the Pyrenees.  So the 2010 TDF will be all about the Pyrenees and a lot of special coverage is planned to commemorate the centenary, including books on the subject.  One such book is already out, published a few years ago:

Tour de France: 100 years in the Pyrenees

- Most of the riders in attendance will be French but Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck and Mark Cavendish are confirmed, as is Johan Bruyneel.  Bernard Hinault should be on hand for A.S.O. to assist in the ceremonies and other past Tour winners expected to attend include Jan Janssen, Bernard Thevenet, and Joop Zoetemelk, all present in Paris Tuesday when the French senate gave Contador a medal for his TDF victory.  The French "voice of cycling," Daniel Mangeas, usually introduces the speakers.  If you've ever been to a Tour stage start or finish, you've probably heard Daniel's voice over the loudspeakers.  -Pete

- The general route for the 2010 Tour de France was defined in May, the details were completed in September, and after race organizer Amaury Sport Organization (A.S.O.) reserved the necessary hotel rooms for the teams and race personnel, all that remains is to present the route to an invitation-only audience at the Palais des Congres in Paris...and, for the second consecutive year, to cycling fans online. -Pete

Each October, team bosses such as Patrick Lefevere (Quick Step),
left, and broadcasters such as Phil Liggett, join riders, sponsors,
media and special guests in Paris at the invitation-only presentation
of the next year's Tour route.
Copyright © Pete Geyer/www.cyclingfans.com

- More info and links to come before, during, and after the route presentation.

- The presentation is scheduled to begin Wednesday at 11:00 CET (5:00am U.S. Eastern) in Paris.  There will be opening remarks and speeches by a variety of officials, including A.S.O. president Jean-Etienne Amaury, Tour director Christian Prudhomme and local politicians.  There will also be award presentations such as the Jacques Goddet prize given to the author of the best article about this year's Tour de France.  There should also be approximately 12 minutes of video highlights of the 2009 Tour.  The actual presentation of the 2010 Tour route should begin at around 11:30 CET (5:30am U.S. Eastern).  Some live streams, such as Cycling TV's, are scheduled to begin at 11:30 CET.  Others are scheduled to begin at 11:00 CET.  -Pete

- 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 2010 Tour de France Route Presentation.