Welcome to live coverage of stage nine of the Tour de France, a 41.5km individual time trial from Arc en Senans to Besancons. With Britain's Bradley Wiggins and Australian Cadel Evans separated by just 10 seconds, this will give us a better idea of who the major favourite for this year's Tour de France crown really is.

Tour de France

Stage 9 | Flat | Men | 09.07.2012

Completed

Arc-et-SenansBesançon

Live

Live Updates

ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 09/07/2012 at 15:36 GMT

41.5k

Sandy Casar crosses the finish line in Besancon for eighth place, 53 seconds down on leader Tony Martin. Peter Sagan crosses a bit later, a whole 4:31 down on the top.

14:39

Italian Michele Scarponi (Lampre) is on course now. He's well over five minutes down on the GC after an incident-filled opening week.

16.5k

Sylvain Chavanel is riding very well - and he's only seven seconds slower than Cancellara at the first check.

31.5k

Cancellara is having a stormer: the Swiss is 1:09 faster than Martin at the second time check. He completes 31.5km in a time of 39:40.

31.5k

Casar is seventh at the second check, 32 seconds down on leader Martin.

14:33

Peter Sagan is passed by Sandy Casar, who is riding a very solid ITT. Sagan will be taking it easy - the Slovak no doubt fancies taking a fourth stage after the rest day. Next Saturday;s ride to Cap d'Agde on Bastille Day looks tailor made.

14:28

Cancellara has aleady caught Bauke Mollema, who started a full three minutes ahead of the Swiss maestro at Arc-et-Senans.

14:22

Of course, Martin did pick up a puncture just 2km from the start today, so that huge loss to Cancellara has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Still, we'll see how things play out.

16.5k

Wow: Fabian Cancellara takes a huge 39 seconds off Martin at the first check. The time losses at the finish are going to be vast if the Swiss keeps this up.

14:18

George Hincapie of BMC on the rollers after his ride today: "We're in a perfect position. With Cadel just 10 seconds down in the GC with two weeks to go - we couldn't ask for a better position."

14:17

Down the ramp rolls Sylvain Chavanel, the French national time trial champion. Chavanel was third in the GC after a strong prologue before fading a little in the past few days. "I think he has got a bigger chance of top five. But he is going to go for it," Omega Pharma - Quick Step sports director Brian Holm said.

16.5k

Peter Sagan crosses the first check in 38th position so there be no green jersey points for the Slovak today. Meanwhile, Frenchman Sandy Casar has ridden into second place ahead of Jens Voigt. The FDJ man is seven seconds down on Tony Martin at Abbans Dessus.

41.5k

Voeckler shows just how much time can be lost by certain riders today: the Europcar man comes home 3:06 down on Martin at the finish. Given Martin's puncture and wrist injury, it's safe to assume that whoever wins today will perhaps be almost one minute quicker than the German...

14:05

Cancellara is taking the shortest route possible at each tight or slight bend. He almost takes out a lady in pink trousers just then - she was standing very close to the edge of the road...

14:04

Vino is sitting on the fence when it comes to predicting a winner today. Following his ride, he said: "Personally, I think Cadel will go better today. But Wiggins's form is so strong, so maybe he'll win by 15-30 seconds."

13:55

Cancellara is ready - and the Swiss rolls down the ramp and gets his ITT under way. He's only won one long ITT in the Tour, in 2010 at Pauillac. The year before, he came second to Alberto Contador at Annecy. The Swiss is better suited to the short prologue ITTs. But he'll be motivated for a big ride today.

13:53

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara is priming himself in the start zone. The RadioShack man will be one of the favourites today. He's in search of his eighth career time trial victory in the Tour.

41.5k

Robert Gesink crosses the line almost three minutes down on Martin. The Dutchman has had another torrid Tour after numerous crashes in the opening week. Back to the drawing board for the Rabobank rider...

41.5k

France's Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) has just ridden into the provisional top ten at Besancon. He's 1:41 down on current leader, Tony Martin. Alexandre Vinokourov is one better than Riblon, 1:31 down in eighth.

13:45

On course now is Peter Sagan of Liquigas. Riding his debut Tour, the Slovak 22-year-old has won three stages in the opening week. He also has the green jersey: Sagan currently has 217 points to second place Matt Goss's 185.

16.5k

Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen crosses the first check point a huge one minute and 21 seconds down. The Norwegian is taking it easy today, knowing he will be required to work hard for the cause for the next fortnight.

1234567