KEY POINTS:
LONDON - Swiss Fabian Cancellara won the 7.9-km Tour de France prologue through the streets of London yesterday.
The Team CSC rider claimed his second victory in the prologue by clocking eight minutes 50 seconds over the flat course which began at Trafalgar Square and ended in The
Mall.
"I had more pressure than when I won the Tour prologue in Liege in 2004 ahead of Lance Armstrong," Cancellara told reporters.
"This was a great day for cycling. It's just a shame I'm still waiting for my luggage which I lost at Heathrow Airport. But I have the (overall leader's) yellow jersey, it's what matters today."
The 26-year-old time trial world champion beat Andreas Kloeden of the Astana team by 13 seconds.
The German, third overall last year and second in 2004, underlined his ambitions by defeating his team leader Alexander Vinokourov by 17 seconds. The Kazakhstan rider finished seventh.
American George Hincapie of Discovery Channel was third, 23 seconds off the pace.
Bradley Wiggins, the prologue favourite, finished fourth in the same time while fellow Briton David Millar was down in 13th place.
"It was a magical day, two months ago I would not have even dreamt of finishing in the top 20," said Millar.
"It's fantastic. It's like a renaissance for the Tour. I have heard 'David, David' all along the course."
Tour director Jean-Francois Pescheux estimated that one million people followed the race through the streets of London.
"If this is not a success, I don't know what a success is," said fellow director Christian Prudhomme.
Two years to the day after 52 London commuters were killed in attacks on three underground trains and a bus, 5,000 police officers were deployed along the course which passed Hyde Park, Westminster and Buckingham Palace.
Sunday's first stage over 203-km will take the peloton from London to Canterbury in Kent.
Disappointing start for Kiwi
New Zealand cyclist Julian Dean finished 112th in the opening 7.9 kilometre time trial prologue stage through the centre of London this morning.
He is not happy about finishing over a minute down on the stage winner Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland.
Dean says he did not have a good day and was not on top of things - especially as he had ambitions of finishing in the top 15.
New Zealand's only representative on the tour, Dean says he was amazed by the atmosphere.
He says the ambience was fantastic as it was a great day and there were the biggest crowds he has ever seen for any prologue of the Tour de France.
- REUTERS, NEWSTALK ZB
