The Latest: BMC favorites of Tour de France team time trial

PLUMELEC, France (AP) The Latest from the ninth stage of the Tour de France (all times local):

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Enjoy the rest, riders.

Monday is a rest day at the Tour de France, and after an intense start to the race marked by big crashes, strong side-winds and searing heat, it will be much needed.

And the respite won't last.

Tuesday's 10th stage, a 167-kilometer (104-mile) trek from Tarbes to La Pierre-Saint-Martin is the first of three straight days of climbing in the Pyrenees that get progressively more difficult.

Although there is only one significant climb, it is a notable one - a 15.3-kilometer (9.5-mile) grind up La Pierre-Saint-Martin, a mountain resort hosting a stage for the first time.

The ascent is known as an Hors Categorie (Beyond Classification), climb - the rating given to the toughest climbs. Wednesday's 11th stage is more difficult, still, up the category-1 Col d'Aspin and then an HC trek up Col du Tourmalet, a famed climb in Tour folklore.

A few riders might crack on Thursday's 12th stage: two category-1 climbs and an HC up Plateau de Beille to top things off.

''The race for the yellow jersey starts next week in the mountains,'' said Tour de France leader Chris Froome.

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5:55 p.m.

There have been some changes in the Tour de France general classification after the team time trial.

Chris Froome keeps the race leader's jersey although he lost one second to American Tejay van Garderen, who climbed to second overall, 12 seconds behind the 2013 champion.

Van Garderen's BMC teammate Greg van Avermaet is now in third place, 27 second back.

Following Tinkoff-Saxo's fourth place in the race against the clock, two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador is in fifth place, trailing Froome by 1 minute, 3 seconds ahead of Monday's first rest day.

Colombian climber Nairo Quintana has a 1:59 deficit and defending champion Vincenzo Nibali is 2:22 back before next week's punishing stages in the Pyrenees.

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5:25 p.m.

Taking long relays at the front of Team Sky blue train, Chris Froome has led his team to second place in the Tour de France team time trial.

The British outfit ended one second behind the BMC world champions.

Team Sky looked set for victory but Froome and Geraint Thomas went too fast for Nicolas Roche in the final climb and they had to slow down in the final 500 meters of the stage to wait for their teammate.

According to provisional results, Froome - the 2013 Tour champion - has a 12-second lead over BMC leader Tejay van Garderen in the overall standings.

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4:55 p.m.

Nairo Quintana has put 31 seconds into Vincenzo Nibali in Sunday's Tour de France team time trial.

Quintana's Movistar team, also featuring Alejandro Valverde, put on a strong showing to set a fastest time of 32 minutes and 19 seconds.

Quintana's team looked disorganized and split in two after the second intermediate check but the Spanish outfit quickly regrouped.

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4:30 p.m.

Vincenzo Nibali's Astana team has set a new fastest time of 32 minutes and 50 seconds over the 28-kilometer (17.4-mile) hilly trek through Brittany.

Twelve of the 22 Tour de France teams have reached the finish at the summit of the Cote de Cadoudal.

Astana's team went three seconds faster than IAM, but time trial specialists BMC and Team Sky have yet to start.

''We gave our best, let's wait and see,'' Nibali said at the finish.

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3:56 p.m.

Vincenzo Nibali's Astana team has just set off from the starting ramp, with the defending champion looking for a strong performance following a bad day on the Tour.

Nibali lost 10 seconds to his main rivals in the final climb of Saturday's stage and trails Chris Froome by 1:48 seconds overall.

Six teams have already reached the finish, with Italian outfit Lampre leading the provisional standings with a time of 33 minutes and 3 seconds.

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2:54 p.m.

Tejay van Garderen has a good chance of taking the yellow jersey from Chris Froome in Sunday's team time trial.

Van Garderen is trailing leader Chris Froome by 13 seconds but his BMC team has been the dominant force in races against the clock in recent months, winning gold at the world championships and finishing first at the Criterium du Dauphine, the Tour's dress rehearsal.

At the Criterium in June, BMC was 35 seconds faster than Froome's Team Sky over a similar distance but on a less challenging course. Sunday's course ends with a 1.7-kilometer (1.1-mile) climb at 6.2 percent - the Cote de Cadoudal.

It's quite uncommon that a team trial is held as late in the Tour and many teams are already missing riders through injuries. Etixx-Quick Step will be without former TT world champion Tony Martin, who crashed out of the race earlier this week with a fractured collarbone, while Trek Factory Racing is bereft of Fabian Cancellara. Orica GreenEdge, which finished runner-up at the world championships, has only six riders left in its team, including the injured Michael Matthews.

BMC will start the stage at 4:40 p.m., five minutes before Sky, the last team to set off.

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2:14 p.m.

Chris Froome will be wearing a tailor-made yellow skinsuit in Sunday's team time trial at the Tour de France.

The company in charge of providing the leaders' jerseys at cycling's biggest race sent two technicians to Brittany to take the 2013 Tour champion's measurements on the eve of the race against the clock. They then worked for two hours at Team Sky's hotel to create the aerodynamic outfit.

Froome has an 11-second lead over Peter Sagan ahead of the 28-kilometer (17.4-mile) hilly trek from Vannes to Plumelec. American Tejay Van Garderen is in third place, 13 seconds back.