Wiggins extends his TDF lead

Besancon - Britain's Bradley Wiggins tightened his grip on the yellow jersey after claiming his maiden Tour de France victory in the ninth stage time trial on Monday.

Team Sky team-mate Christopher Froome finished second at 35secs with defending yellow jersey champion Cadel Evans of BMC way off the pace in sixth at 1min 43sec.

Wiggins had taken a 10sec lead over Evans into the 41.5 km race against the clock between Arc-et-Senans and Besancon, giving the Australian hope of staying close ahead of the mountain stages to come later this week.

However the Englishman turned on the turbos from the start of the slightly technical rolling course to give the 2011 champion a small mountain to climb.

Ahead of the race's first rest day on Tuesday, after which will be the second summit finish of the race, in the Alps on Wednesday, Wiggins now leads Evans by 1:53.

And with the ever-impressive Froome moving up to third at 2:07 behind Wiggins, Sky have widened their tactical options.

Wiggins, who crashed out of the race on stage seven last year, increasingly looks like he will win this year's race.

Despite focusing on distancing his rivals, the Londoner was happy to soak up claiming his first win on the world's biggest bike race.

"I knew from the first pedal turn that I felt fantastic," said the 32-year-old.

"But to go from that to winning the stage, it's just fantastic.

"We came here and did a good reconnaissance of the course, which has lots of little bends and is quite technical at the finish.

"But today wasn't about winning. I was thinking more about the GC (general classification) battle with (Vincenzo) Nibali and Cadel. The stage wasn't my priority."

Nibali, who finished 2:07 behind Wiggins on the stage, is now fourth overall with Russian Denis Menchov, a former winner of the Tour of Spain and Giro d'Italia, in fifth at 3:02.

Despite distancing several of his rivals, Wiggins was quick to stress there is a long way to go to Paris.

"It's another day at the Tour but there's a long way to go," he added.

"After the rest day it will be a whole different ball game."

"And anything can happen, a bad day or a crash, so let's just take it a day at a time."

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara, a four-time world time trial champion finished fourth at 38sec, two seconds behind American Tejay Van Garderen of BMC.

Results from the ninth stage of the Tour de France, a 41.5km time-trial on Monday:

1. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 51min 24sec (average speed: 48.4 km/h)
2. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) at 0:35sec
3. Fabian Cancellara (SUI/RSH) 0:57.
4. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 1min 06sec
5. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/OPQ) 1:24.
6. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 1:43.
7. Peter Velits (SVK/OPQ) 1:59.
8. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 2:07.
9. Denis Menchov (RUS/KAT) 2:08.
10. Andreas Kloden (GER/RSH) 2:09.
11. Maxime Monfort (BEL/RSH) 2:15.
12. Tony Martin (GER/OPQ) 2:16.
13. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 2:20.
14. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 2:22.
15. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/AST) 2:26.
16. Jens Voigt (GER/RSH) 2:44.
17. Lieuwe Westra (NED/VAC) 2:45.
18. Tony Gallopin (FRA/RSH) 2:46.
19. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 2:52.
20. Jrome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 2:54.
21. Gustav Erik Larsson (SWE/VAC) 2:55.
22. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 2:58.
23. Nicolas Roche (IRL/ALM) 3:08.
24. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 3:08.
25. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 3:09.
26. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 3:09.
27. Michael Rogers (AUS/SKY) 3:20.
28. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 3:29.
29. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 3:39.
30. Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 3:47.
31. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/BMC) 3:47.
32. Levi Leipheimer (USA/OPQ) 3:48.
33. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 3:57.
34. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 4:01.
35. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 4:06.
36. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 4:14.
37. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/EUS) 4:20.
38. Dominik Nerz (GER/LIQ) 4:20.
39. Stephen Cummings (GBR/BMC) 4:23.
40. Eduard Vorganov (RUS/KAT) 4:25.
41. Chris Anker Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 4:26.
42. Laurens ten Dam (NED/RAB) 4:30.
43. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 4:31.
44. Frank Schleck (LUX/RSH) 4:32.
45. Pierrick Fedrigo (FRA/FDJ) 4:34.
46. Patrick Gretsch (GER/ARG) 4:35.
47. Marco Marcato (ITA/VAC) 4:38.
48. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/AST) 4:42.
49. Michael Schr (SUI/BMC) 4:44.
50. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/MOV) 4:44.
51. Daniel Martin (IRL/GRM) 4:46.
52. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 4:47.
53. Michele Scarponi (ITA/LAM) 4:50.
54. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 4:50.
55. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 4:51.
56. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 4:54.
57. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/RAB) 5:04.
58. Sergio Paulinho (POR/SAX) 5:05.
59. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 5:12.
60. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 5:13.
61. Robert Gesink (NED/RAB) 5:15.
62. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 5:16.
63. George Hincapie (USA/BMC) 5:16.
64. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 5:16.
65. Rafael Valls (ESP/VAC) 5:21.
66. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 5:22.
67. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 5:24.
68. Michael Morkov (DEN/SAX) 5:30.
69. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (ESP/MOV) 5:31.
70. Simon Gerrans (AUS/GEC) 5:31.
71. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 5:33.
72. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 5:34.
73. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 5:34.
74. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 5:37.
75. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 5:40.
76. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/MOV) 5:45.
77. Davide Malacarne (ITA/EUC) 5:45.
78. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/SAU) 5:46.
79. Bert Grabsch (GER/OPQ) 5:46.
80. Michael Albasini (SUI/GEC) 5:46.
81. Jorge Azanza (ESP/EUS) 5:48.
82. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/RSH) 5:49.
83. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 5:49.
84. Jrme Pineau (FRA/OPQ) 5:50.
85. Andre Kashechkin (KAZ/AST) 5:54.
86. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 6:04.
87. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/GEC) 6:08.
88. Brice Feillu (FRA/SAU) 6:09.
89. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 6:20.
90. Martin Velits (SVK/OPQ) 6:22.
91. Sbastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 6:27.
92. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 6:29.
93. Pieter Weening (NED/GEC) 6:29.
94. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 6:31.
95. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 6:33.
96. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 6:34.
97. Jelle Vanendert (BEL/LTB) 6:36.
98. Brett Lancaster (AUS/GEC) 6:39.
99. David Moncouti (FRA/COF) 6:39.
100. Rob Ruijgh (NED/VAC) 6:41.
101. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO/AST) 6:42.
102. Albert Timmer (NED/ARG) 6:42.
103. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/SAU) 6:43.
104. Kevin De Weert (BEL/OPQ) 6:46.
105. Peter Sagan (SVK/LIQ) 6:46.
106. Rubn Plaza (ESP/MOV) 6:48.
107. Dries Devenyns (BEL/OPQ) 6:52.
108. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 6:54.
109. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 6:54.
110. Bram Tankink (NED/RAB) 6:55.
111. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/LAM) 6:56.
112. Yuriy Krivtsov (UKR/LAM) 6:59.
113. Yann Huguet (FRA/ARG) 7:00.
114. Remy Di Gregorio (FRA/COF) 7:00.
115. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 7:02.
116. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 7:05.
117. Federico Canuti (ITA/LIQ) 7:06.
118. Luis ngel Mat (ESP/COF) 7:06.
119. Julien Fouchard (FRA/COF) 7:07.
120. Bauke Mollema (NED/RAB) 7:07.
121. Kris Boeckmans (BEL/VAC) 7:10.
122. Simone Stortoni (ITA/LAM) 7:10.
123. Aliaksandr Kuschynski (BLR/KAT) 7:12.
124. Daryl Impey (RSA/GEC) 7:14.
125. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 7:14.
126. Nicki Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 7:14.
127. Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP/EUS) 7:14.
128. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 7:16.
129. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/VAC) 7:17.
130. Mathieu Sprick (FRA/ARG) 7:18.
131. Francis de Greef (BEL/LTB) 7:22.
132. Romain Zingle (BEL/COF) 7:23.
133. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 7:26.
134. Matthew Goss (AUS/GEC) 7:27.
135. Sbastian Langeveld (NED/GEC) 7:27.
136. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 7:27.
137. Greg Henderson (NZL/LTB) 7:40.
138. Marco Marzano (ITA/LAM) 7:46.
139. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 7:53.
140. Giampaolo Caruso (ITA/KAT) 7:56.
141. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/LIQ) 7:58.
142. Vincent Jrme (FRA/EUC) 7:58.
143. Joan Horrach (ESP/KAT) 7:59.
144. Kenny van Hummel (NED/VAC) 8:04.
145. Tom Veelers (NED/ARG) 8:06.
146. Pablo Urtasun (ESP/EUS) 8:07.
147. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 8:07.
148. Baden Cooke (AUS/GEC) 8:11.
149. Jan Ghyselinck (BEL/COF) 8:15.
150. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 8:17.
151. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 8:17.
152. Jonathan Cantwell (AUS/SAX) 8:18.
153. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 8:25.
154. Andr Greipel (GER/LTB) 8:26.
155. Koen de Kort (NED/ARG) 8:27.
156. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 8:30.
157. Mickal Cherel (FRA/ALM) 8:31.
158. Sbastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 8:33.
159. Borut Bozic (SLO/AST) 8:36.
160. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 8:38.
161. Mark Cavendish (GBR/SKY) 8:43.
162. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 8:44.
163. Nick Nuyens (BEL/SAX) 8:50.
164. Roy Curvers (NED/ARG) 8:50.
165. Manuel Quinziato (ITA/BMC) 8:54.
166. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 8:55.
167. Matthew Lloyd (AUS/LAM) 9:00.
168. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 9:01.
169. Mark Renshaw (AUS/RAB) 9:07.
170. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 9:07.
171. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/EUC) 9:08.
172. Daniel Oss (ITA/LIQ) 9:08.
173. Juan Jos Haedo (ARG/SAX) 9:15.
174. Christophe Kern (FRA/EUC) 9:22.
175. Karsten Kroon (NED/SAX) 9:25.
176. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 9:32.
177. Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR/FDJ) 9:57.
178. Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA/SAU) 11:10.