MONACO-FRANCE 4-26 July 2009 Tour de France starts in Monaco for first time

For the first time in its history, the Tour de France will start in Monaco. The 3500 km (2174 mile) gruelling race then passes through France, Spain, Andorra and Switzerland before finishing in Paris at the Champs Elysees. The seven times winner of the Tour, Lance Armstrong, will compete for an 8th win at the Tour, which has been tarnished in recent years by drug scandals. German broadcasters ADR and ZDF are ending their €7 million a year television contract with the Tour because of the scandals.

The race will be made up of 21 stages. There will be 20 major climbs, a little less than usual, with one of the toughest scheduled right before the finish. A climb up Mont Ventoux will be the setting for the penultimate stage. It is the first time in the race's 105-year history that a mountain has been climbed the day before the end.

Many people in France believe Armstrong used illegal drugs to win his first Tour, which he vehemently denies. He has challenged a report in the French sports newspaper l'Equipe in 2005 that new tests detected drugs in his urine specimens from the 1999 Tour. The 37-year-old Texan came out of retirement in January after more than three years out of racing.

In recent years, coverage of the Tour de France prior to the race has largely centered on doping. The media has made a sport of speculating on how many riders will be caught with forbidden substances in their blood each year.

The individual 15 kilometre time trial race at the start of the Tour will take place on a section of the famous Monaco Grand Prix circuit. The Principality of Monaco, with a surface area of 2 square km, is the second smallest State in the world after the Vatican City.

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