Hello and welcome to our 2012 Tour de France coverage!

For web users, here's a picture of Andriy Grivko crossing the finish line. Tyler Farrar is now on the course.

Apparently Cadel Evans will not be wearing a yellow jersey today, as he has the right to do as last year's GC winner. He thinks it is not aerodynamic!

Apologies for the technical problems with our flashy new live widget. You'll notice it isn't working. Our engineers are on the case and trying to fix it.

How they stand: 1-Andriy Grivko 07:28, 2-Vasili Kiryienka +10", 3-Simon Gerrars +14", 4-M Tjallingii +15", 5-Jan Ghyselinck +16", 6-Bernhard Eisel +17".

The race is now live on British Eurosport, with the ever-excellent James Richardson at the helm.

Sky stalwart Bernhard Eisel has just gone off. Also in the next group of riders, South Africa's Robbie Hunter and Yaroslav Popovych.

Good effort from Grivko, who shaves 14 seconds off Veelers' time. Not a bad time triallist, the Ukrainian. He was third on the Dauphine prologue earlier this month.

First man home! Tom Veelers, in 07:42, though Andriy Grivko is already eight seconds up at the half-way split.

The first 10 riders: 1-Tom Veelers (ARG), 2-Simon Gerrars (OGE), 3-Martin Velits (OPQ), 4-Andriy Grivko (AST), 5-Anders Lund (STB), 6-Vasili Kiryenka (MOV), 7-Maarten Tjallingii (RAB), 8-Cedric Pineau (FDJ), 9-Aliaksandr Kuchynski (KAT), 10-Johnny Hoogerland (VCD)

C'est parti! The 2012 Tour de France is under way! The Dutchman Tom Veelers is the first man off. It's a pretty much flat course with a few tricky hairpins. And, at 6.4km, pretty short.

Other notables to look out for: David Millar 13:59 UK time, Mark Cavendish at 14:39, Denis Menchov 16:04, Peter Sagan 16:50, Tony Martin 16:58, Vincenzo Nibali 16:12.

We are in Belgium for the opening stage, a 6.4km time trial through the streets of Liege. Tom Veelers of the Argos Shimano team has the honour of getting us under way. The big boys come later - Bradley Wiggins goes at 16:07 UK time, time trial favourite Fabian Cancellara at 16:16 and defending champion Cadel Evans at 16:17.