Martin and then daylight for Tour's first ITT

Image 1 of 6

Reigning World Champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) is the overwhelming favourite for Wednesday's 33km individual time trial between Avranches and Mont-Saint-Michel while maillot jaune Chris Froome (Sky) will be looking to maintain and perhaps even extend his advantage over his GC rivals.

Martin will be the 65th rider to leave the start house at 12:36 local time, and so will have a while to wait to see if his time stands with the German expected to cover the distance in around 38 minutes.

First man on course however will be six-time Paralympic Champion Jiri Jezek of the Czech Republic who will be riding as a special guest of the Tour. As for the first official starter, that honour goes to Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana) who will begin his ride at 10:28 with the next 157 riders leaving at two-minute intervals while the remaining 24 get a three-minute gap.

The reasonably flat, straight roads hold a distinct advantage for the powerful purists of the discipline, with last month's time trial at the Criterium du Dauphine a good point of reference. There, Martin again showed his dominance in the chrono, having recovered from illness, to win by 47 seconds from Garmin's Rohan Dennis, while Froome was a further five seconds in arrears to round out the podium.

"I feel pretty well," Martin said of his feeling heading into Stage 11, having battled the Tour so far with significant grazing after a crash on Stage 1. "I had a pretty good rest day. The injuries are quite okay now, not too much pain anymore. I recovered well and am really motivated for the time trial tomorrow."

Froome meantime, holds a 1:25 advantage over nearest rival Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and was planning a Tuesday evening recon for a detailed look at the task at hand. It's likely that Froome will have set a time fast enough to land on the podium once he crosses the finish line in the shadows of the monastery around 5:30pm but the Sky leader's biggest objective for the stage will be to extend his lead over his rivals for the top step in Paris on July 21.

Team Belkin, with Bauke Mollema (third at 1:44) and Laurens Ten Dam (fourth at 1:50) have ushered in the new era for the team at the Tour with a performance so far that has been big on consistency while largely escaping the spotlight. Mollema, while definitely a climbing specialist, is not at a complete loss against the clock, as recently seen at the Tour de Suisse where he finished third behind Rui Costa (Movistar) on the final day. The final 10km of that stage featured a steady climb where around 930 metres in height we gained, but the result should give the Dutchman confidence.

"I am in good form and I can usually ride a decent time trial then," Mollema said heading into the ITT. "I am going to scout the parcours one more time tomorrow morning and then I'll give it all I have. It's a flat TT and the GC riders around me are no real specialists so hopefully I can hang on to third. That would be very nice."

Currently sixth overall at 1:51 behind teammate Romain Kreuziger, Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) admits that Froome has the better of him against the clock, and like Valverde, will be keen to limit any losses.

"It [the time trial] will be difficult for me because it is completely flat, suitable for specialists and in this sense it's a disadvantage," Contador said on Monday's rest day. "What is clear though is that I'll give a hundred percent and we'll see what happens."

Start times, Stage 11