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Tour diary: Garmin-Slipstream's Tyler Farrar says he's hoping for a field sprint on stage 2

By Tyler Farrar
Published: Jul. 4, 2009
Farrar in stage 1 on Saturday.
Farrar in stage 1 on Saturday.
Photo: Graham Watson

Editor's Note: Garmin-Slipstream's sprinter Tyler Farrar will be contributing daily journal entries to VeloNews.com throughout the Tour.

Well, here we go! The Tour kicked off today with a spectacular time trial
through Monaco. Cancellara won with an impressive ride, which I don't think
really surprised anyone. Brad (Wiggins) got our Tour off to a good start with a solid third place. I thought I was ready for the circus after riding the Giro this year, but it is insane here. I guess I know what they mean now when they talk about this being the biggest sporting event in the world. It's a zoo!

It was fun for me to come back to Monaco. I lived here the first year of my
pro career and it has been cool to spend a few days around my old stomping
grounds. I remembered it being pretty here, but I have to admit I was still
surprised when we got here.

So, now that we've gotten things rolling, it'll be nice to slip into a good
rhythm and get down to racing. Tomorrow should be an interesting stage. We
start off with a pretty tough climb up to La Turbie, which I am sure will
hurt like hell. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that things will stay
together and I can take my first crack at a bunch kick. We'll see....