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.

Jens Voigt, the oldest man in the peloton, is down the ramp to start his time trial. The German was in the break yesterday.

The Tour has had four time trials ending in Besancon in the past, with the last one being in 2004 (won by Lance Armstrong).

World champion Mark Cavendish earlier set a time of one hour and seven seconds. It's currently the 50th best time for the Team Sky sprinter, just under six minutes slower than leader Westra.

Sebastien Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge) is currently 32nd at the finish, 4:42 down on Westra. The Dutchman said: "It's not too windy out there today but it’s pretty hard – it’s up and down, with some technical parts and I think it’s a perfect time trial for Wiggins, Cancellara... and the normal names for these sort of time trials. It’s isn’t flat. There are some nasty parts... it’s actually pretty hard."

But Tony Martin looks set to spoil the Vacansoleil party: the German takes a large 23 seconds off Larsson's time at the second checkpoint. New target time at Avanne-Aveney is 40:06.

Recap: Vacansoleil holds the cards at every intermediate, and at the finish at the moment with Lieuwe Westra leading Gustav Larsson by 10 seconds. The Dutch team have had a bad Tour so far, hampered with terrible luck. Climber Wout Poels is still in hospital following his crash in stage six. The Tour is the only Grand Tour in which the Dutch formation is yet to win a stage. Borut Bozic (now at Astana) won in the 2009 Vuelta, while Thomas de Gendt memorably took a stage in this year's Giro.

Talking of Fabian Cancellara, the Swiss will roll down the ramp at 13:54 UK time, that's 14:54 local time in France. Whether or not this is a course for the specialists, Spartacus will be one to watch.

Millar said he "was hoping to go a lot better than I did" after his ride today. Asked about the course, he said: "It's actually harder than the profile shows. That little climb in the middle... for the GC guys, it's a really good course – if they can climb and time trial. I think for Froome it's a good course and Wiggo, obviously, and Cadel. I think it's not necessarily a specialist's course." So, perhaps Fabian Cancellara is not the man for today... we'll soon see.

Dave Millar has set the fourth best time at the finish, 1:29 down on leader Lieuwe Westra. The Brit was not pleased with his effort, saying: "It's awful when you wake up feeling okay but then have a bad ride."

Asked to give a prediction for the top three in today's ITT, Holm added: "I would be surprised if Tony is up there for the win but we’ll go there hoping... but the big battle will be between Cadel Evans, Cancellara and Wiggins – and hopefully Tony Martin up near them."

Asked by the Tour official website about Tony Martin's chances, Brian Holm (DS of OPQS) said: "We’re going to give it a try. He broke his hand but it hasn’t gotten any worse and so he’s optimistic about his chances and he’s going to have a good go today. He was quite disappointed after his prologue so he wants to try something."

It's a cloudy but sunny day in Besancon, with temperatures in the early 20s.

So, Martin leads at the first check - but it is early days: the German is just the 67th of 178 riders to pass through, and all the main contenders won't be on course for another few hours.

Monster time by Martin at the first check, the German shaving 13 seconds off Westra's previous leading effort. Time of 22:16 for the Omega Pharma-Quick Step time trial specialist, whose prologue hopes were ruined with a puncture and whose Tour GC hopes then suffered a massive blow with his crash and wrist injury in stage one.

Start times: the top 20 will zip down the ramp from 14:42, UK time (15:42 local time). Pierre Rolland will be the first, followed at three-minute intervals by the rest. Top six order: Froome 15:24, Zubeldia 15:27, Menchov 15:30, Nibali 15:33, Evans 15:36, Wiggins 15:39.

Millar stayed in fourth at the second check, 49 seconds down on the leader at that point, Larsson.

David Millar set the fourth best time at the first check in Abbans-Dessus, 19 seconds down on the target time at that state, set by Westra. Dave Zabriskie was a lot slower: the American crosses the checkpoint 1:01 down in eighth. Martin is approaching the first check, so his time will be confirmed shortly.

Germany's Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) is on course, as is Anders Lund of (Saxo Bank), David Zabriskie (Garmin-Sharp) and David Millar (Garmin). Some big names.

Vacansoleil-DCM's Lieuwe Westra roars into the lead after a strong final 10km. The Dutchman now leads Larsson by 10 seconds at the finish in Besancon.

Westra was 10 seconds down on Larsson and five second behind Sanchez at the second check at Avanne-Aveney after 31.5km.

It's a tough course: the roads are undulating most of the way, and the first checkpoint comes at Abbans Dessus after a short 10% climb. By now, the riders will have risen 145m since the start in the mining time of Arc-et-Senans. You'd think the favourites would be Bradley Wiggins and Fabian Cancellara. It will be interesting to see how Tony Martin fares after his bad fall in stage one: the German fractured a bone in his wrist.