The 2012 Tour de France has its first yellow jersey (maillot jaune) wearer in Fabian Cancellara, who finished the prologue in Liege, Belgium, in 7:13. That crushed his nearest competitors, Bradley Wiggins and Sylvain Chavanel, by seven seconds.
Chavanel held the lead for much of the prologue, but Cancellara outpaced Chavanel's halftime ride by one second and extended it by another six seconds by the time he crossed the finish line.
Garmin-Sharp had a good start to the Tour. Ryder Hesjedal, the 2012 Giro d'Italia winner, finished in 15th place at 7:31, the same time as teammate David Millar came in. Tyler Farrar was three second behind at 7:34, good for 30th place. For full results, check out letour.fr.
Tejay Van Garderen, the fourth-place finisher, has the white jersey as the race's top youth rider. He is 23 until August.
Here is how the top 10 played out:
1. Fabian Cancellara, Radioshack-Nissan, 7:13
2. Bradley Wiggins, Sky Procycling, +0:07
3. Sylvain Chavanel, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, +0:07
4. Tejay Van Garderen, BMC Racing Team, +0:10
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky Procycling, +0:11
6. Brett Lancaster, Orica Greenedge, +0:11
7. Patrick Gretsch, Team Argos-Shimano, +0:12
8. Denis Menchov, Katusha Teama, +0:13
9. Philippe Gilbert, BMC Racing Team, +0:13
10. Andriy Grivko, Astana Pro Team, +0:15
SB Nation Denver is your source for 2012 Tour de France updates on Team Garmin-Sharp, and be sure to visit cycling blog Podium Cafe as well.
