Stage Details:
Last night was the Prologue, Liège 6.4 km (ITT)
At the end of the 6-km long route, marked out in the city-centre of Liège, the Yellow Jersey will reward the master of an athletic feat. Pure power will be the best strategy on the course’s long straight stretches. And the Belgian public, who is always present for the Tour, will definitely encourage the riders to achieve excellence. — Christian Prudhomme’s Analysis
- Prologue preview: Liège, 6.4 km (TT) [SteepHill]
- June 30, Prologue: Liège (ITT) 6.4km [CyclingNews]
- Prologue Depart – Saturday 30 June 2012 Liège > Liège – 6.4 km [EuroSport]
- prologue – Liège > Liège 6.4 km [www.letour.fr]
Live:
Telemetry
- ? Yet to find a working link for 2012
Tickers/Streaming
- SBS 2012 Tour Tracker [SBS]
- Tour de France – Liège – Liège “live match” [Eurosports]
- Prologue 6.4km, Liège / Liège “live” [www.letour.fr]
Results:
Prologue results
01 CANCELLARA, Fabian SUI (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN) 7:13
02 WIGGINS, Bradley GBR (SKY PROCYCLING) + 7
03 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA (OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP)
04 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay USA (BMC RACING) + 10
05 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald NOR (SKY PROCYCLING) + 11
06 LANCASTER, Brett AUS (ORICA – GREENEDGE)
07 GRETSCH, Patrick GER (ARGOS-SHIMANO) + 12
08 MENCHOV, Denis RUS (KATUSHA) + 13
09 GILBERT, Philippe BEL (BMC RACING)
10 GRIVKO, Andriy UKR (ASTANA) + 15
* Podcast: Tour de France prologue [SBS Cycling Central]
Cancellara was the first rider born in the 1980s to win at the Tour de France and that was in Liege eight years ago when he beat the eventual winner of the 2004 Tour, Lance Armstrong, by two seconds. This time around he beat one of the favorites for the title, Bradley Wiggins by seven seconds. Each time the Tour has started on foreign soil since he first started winning at the Tour, Cancellara has won on the opening day. He matches Bernard Hinault’s efforts of winning on day one five times. The four-time TT world champion will take the yellow jersey again (matching his efforts from Liege in 2004, London in 2007, Monaco in 2009, Rotterdam in 2010).
The defending champion of the Tour, Cadel Evans (BMC) finished in 13th place and his team-mate Teejay van Garderen will wear the white jersey after finishing the prologue in fourth place.
– www.letour.fr
World time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was cruelly denied a chance to take the first yellow jersey of the 2012 Tour de France but a puncture just after half way that forced him to change his bike. The 27-year-old German had matched the then best time, set by teammate Sylvain Chavanel, at the 3.5km checkpoint, but suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and dropped his bike against the barriers. — velonation
3.55pm: Peter Sagan has had a bit of a shocker, having a wobble on his way through the roundabout and almost coming a cropper. He had to take a foot off the pedal to keep his balance and has lost nine seconds. That’s bad news for him, but good news for those of us who’ve put a few quid on Bradley Wiggins to win this afternoon.
– www.guardian.co.uk
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