MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - Yesterday evening at the Opening Ceremonies for the 2009 Tour De France, theirEarth took this photograph of America's Lance Armstrong as he took to the stage for the introduction of his Astana Cycling Team to a worldwide television viewing audience. Lance has won the Tour De France an incredible seven years in a row between 1999 and 2005. In 2009 he returns to try for his eighth win, and as he said yesterday he has a "heck of a lot of nerves" about him this year. He will have to learn about his competitors cycling traits all over again after four years away from the Tour.

The 37-year old Armstrong also said yesterday that there is an "extreme sense of excitement" within himself to be back again to compete, and he thought that Monaco was an incredible place to start his come-back from with the beauty of its roads and buildings as the competition landscape for the 'First Stage' of the 2009 Tour.

Armstrong's racing bicycle is manufactured by TREK and his team Astana are sponsored by a conglomerate of companies based in Astana in Kazakhstan. On Saturday, Armstrong will compete in the 'First Stage' of the 2009 Tour De France, which will take place primarily on both the streets of the Principality of Monaco and also on the surrounding roads of the high-elevation towns that border Monaco in France. The 'First Stage' will be a timed individual 'against the clock' event and the 15.5 km in distance will both start and the finish at the Port in Monaco. Lance Armstrong will then compete in the 'Second Stage' that starts on Sunday afternoon with an official departure from the Casino area of Monte-Carlo.

Lance Armstrong is a real fighter and has been through both the worst of times and the very best of times. He is a survivor of testicular cancer that was diagnosed in 1996 and which had spread to his brain. He underwent both operations and chemotherapy to fight the disease and emerged clear of it. He miraculously moved forward thereafter starting in 1999, to take seven consecutive wins at the Tour De France, something that no other Tour De France cyclist has ever accomplished in the history of the event. 

MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - theirEarth was at the Opening Ceremonies yesterday evening for the "Grand Départ" (start) of the 2009 Tour De France. The First Stage of the race will start on Friday and will be an individual time trial against the clock over a course length of 15.5 km. We photographed the Japanese professional cyclist Fumiyuki Beppu yesterday at the presentation of his cycling team Skil-Shimano at the Port in Monaco. The ceremonies were presided over by HSH Price Albert II of Monaco.

Fumiyuki Beppu brings the hopes of Japan with him to this year's Tour de France, and the 26-year old rider who hails from Chigasaki is very familiar with the European roads as he spends his time training in both in Lyon, France and Hengelo in the Netherlands. Beppu was #1 in the Asian Championship last year, and has both won or placed 2nd or 3rd in French and Italian stage races over the last three years.

Fumiyaki is working hard to have a professional victory this year, and he says he is feeling much more at ease with his abilities to perform this season. With the presence of Beppu on the 2009 Tour De France, the Japanese television viewing audience is bound to be large as they root for their star cyclist as he competes in France.

BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT, FRANCE - Renault released further details this week about their future electric car strategy and said that their Renault Kangoo 'be bop' ZE Electric prototype car (see photo) is now available for road tests by journalists. Renault also said that the electric car powertrain technology being demonstrated in the new Kangoo be bop ZE is the same as what will be released in their 2011 Renault production electric cars.

Renault says that the new Kangoo be bop ZE prototype specifications are a 44 kW (60 hp) electric motor powered by a 15 kWh battery. Renaults design engineers indicate that the current prototype Kangoo be bop has a range of 100 km (62.5 miles) on a full charge, but that for the 2011 Renault production car, the design intent will be to develop battery technology to an extent that the production model provides a range of at least 160 km or 100 miles. Renault says that their design timeline is the next 18 months to perfect their electric car technology and they are doing this along with their automotive partner Nissan.

One of the areas that Renault is focusing on is in achieving weight reduction for electric cars, because this brings improved efficiency and delivers greater driving range for the vehicle. Renault engineers are working hard on new car body structural engineering concepts for future electric cars, where the use of light weight 'fly by wire' control technology, and the minimization of functional components becomes essential. These design advancements will be significant contributors to achieving higher levels of efficiency in Renault's new 2011 electric cars.

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