Fabian Cancellara won the 2012 Tour de France Prologue, taking the opening time trial and making it five career Tour Prologue victories for the Swiss time trial specialist. He finished a full seven seconds ahead of second place finisher Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), a massive time gap for such a short course. World time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) would have had a shot at defeating Cancellara, but in a bit of bad luck a flat tire cost him crucial seconds.
2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans (Team BMC) had a successful day, limiting his losses to seven seconds and finishing in 13th. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas), Denis Menchov (Katusha) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) all also had results they should be pleased with. Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan) and Levi Leipheimer are both likely disappointed, finishing 38 and 28 seconds back, respectively.
Sunday brings us Stage 1, a flat run from Liège to Seraing that's likely to see the Tour's first bunch sprint finish.
Stick with this StoryStream for previews, results and more from the 2012 Tour de France. For all things cycling, head over to Podium Cafe.