Tour de France:Fabian Cancellara showed the dominance which delivered the world and Olympic time-trial titles as he took the yellow jersey on the opening day of the 97th Tour de France in Rotterdam today.
Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) completed the 8.9-kilometres prologue course in 10 minutes to claim his fourth prologue victory at cycling’s most prestigious race.
Germany’s Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) enjoyed a dry spell between rain showers to clock 10mins 10secs - a time which stood firm until penultimate rider Cancellara took to the course.
Briton David Millar (Team Garmin-Transitions) finished third, seven-time champion Lance Armstrong (Team RadioShack) was fourth, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) fifth and race favourite Alberto Contador (Astana) sixth.
Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) took to the road in a downpour and finished 77th on the day, 56 seconds adrift of Cancellara and 34 behind Armstrong, whose time-trialling prowess has waned as he approaches his 39th birthday in September.
Cancellara will wear the yellow jersey for tomorrow’s first road stage, the 223.5km from Rotterdam to Brussels, which is expected to end in a bunch sprint.