99th edition of Le Tour de France got underway yesterday at the city Liège with a super short, yet blistering prologue. At the end of the day the results were predictable, though not without couple of trademark twists. Yes, as expected Swiss powerhouse Fabian Cancellara pipped tour hot favourite Bradley Wiggins to stage victory, but a few stage hopefuls suffered a taste of bad luck right at the start.

The verbal battle had begun even before the first rider was flagged off down the ramp at 1400 hrs local time. Asked to comment on Wiggins’ claim of exceptional data from his physiological tests, Cadel Evans retorted by saying, “We’ll see, we’ll see on the results sheet in Paris.” While that may well be the case on 22 July, however today’s time sheets show the defending champion 11 places below his chief rival.

Evans lost 10 seconds to the Brit rider from Sky, and while in the larger scheme of things it might be inconsequential, however the psychological impact cannot be denied. The Australian has Cancellara to thank though, cause had Wiggins finished in yellow right on the first day, it would have been a massive boost to his confidence.

There was a minor whiff of controversy as well, as few riders seemed to be unhappy with the TT clothing provided by race organisers. Wiggins’ team Sky indicating that the rider would rather prefer to don his team clothing than the official yellow jersey, were he to be in such position at any of the time trials. Cadel Evans too opted to ride the prologue in BMC colours and not the maillot jaune (though many defending champions have in the past refused to wear yellow on day one, till they have earned it on the road).

As the action began, the initial pace was set by Andriy Grivko (AST), the Ukrainian national champion covering the 6.4km course in 7min 28.47sec. Briton David Millar (GRM) came pretty close to beating the time, missing out by a mere 3 seconds, the effort all the more laudable considering he has been sick all week, and was not in his peak condition as he crossed the start line.

This year sees a record 12 entrants from Australia (no doubt buoyed by their country’s first victor last year), and they made their presence felt as Brett Lancaster (OGE) reduced the fastest time to 7’ 24” ambling at an average speed of 51.8km/hr. His reign at top of the leader board though would not stay for long as Wiggins’ Norwegian teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen finished just under a second of the Aussie.

But it was birthday boy Sylvain Chavanel (33) who really set a challenging time, coming in 4’ below Boasson Hagen, and led the day right till the very end. At the other end of the track a different record was being set, as George Hincapie (Armstrong’s ex-teammate) became the rider with the most number of starts in Le Tour, crossing the start line for the 17th time in his career. It was his compatriot Dave Zeriskie though, who brought some visual cheer to the fans, as he donned a “Captain America” skin suit, in-keeping with the fancy dress traditions of the event (though it’s the fans and not the riders who follow it generally).

We were by now reaching the business end of the day’s proceedings as Peter Sagan (LIQ) was the first among the day’s favourites to take to the course. It would not prove to be the Slovak’s day as he narrowly averted a crash while taking a tight left corner. He just about managed to stay on the bike, however the wobble cost him dearly as he finished in a disappointing time of 7’ 37”.

The other favourite, world time trial champion, Germany’s Tony Martin was on track till the first time marker to pip his teammate Chavanel’s time, however he too was spurned by lady luck and a puncture mid way forced him to change his bike. Despite the hiccup he finished in 7’ 36”, and would have been among the top finishers but for the mechanical problem.

All eyes now were on Wiggins, and while the rider was 6’ down on Chavanel’s time at the first marker, he put in a herculean effort to finish just under a second of the Frenchman, taking the tour lead for a short while. It was to be of no avail in the end as Cancellara, nicknamed Spartacus for his build and strength, set the short track on fire with an average speed of 53.2km/hr, finishing comfortably under the Briton’s time.

His performance prompted David Millar to tweet, “Holy shit, @f_cancellara is amazing.” That he certainly is, becoming the second rider in Tour history to win the yellow jersey on the opening day five times (2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012), equalling Bernard Hinault’s record. Conincidentally, he started it all right here in Liège back in 2004. “It’s phenomenal to win eight years later. So much happened since 2004,” said Cancellara, who plans to defend his Olympic time trial title in London next month.

Behind him the last rider, defending champion Cadel Evans finished a (relatively) disappointing 17 seconds behind, but crucially still within striking distance of his main rival Bradley Wiggins. The BMC rider said, “It’s 6.4 km out of 3,500, so in that regard it’s a small comparison. The real racing starts tomorrow.” Another GC contender Vicenzo Nibali (LIQ) from Italy finished just a second below Evans, keeping the battle very much alive.

Fabian though is not expected to stay in yellow for long, and may lose it today on stage 1 if the favourites do live upto their expectations. We move on through the Belgian countryside to Searing, covering a distance of 198km. Though listed as a flat stage, however its bumpy enough to unsettle traditional sprinters such as Mark Cavendish. Additionally it has a slight sting in the end with a short 2.5km climb, that after four category 4 climbs earlier in the route.

Today’s route then should then favour someone like Philippe Gilbert or even Cadel Evans. The Belgian champion won on stage 1 last year, and would be keen to repeat the performance in his native country this year. He has enough competition and two riders to watch out for would be Boasson Hagen and Peter Sagan, who have it in them to win the stage today. The top men would not be too fussed, especially considering most riders are nervous in the early days and prefer to ride it safe. It’s almost a cliché that the Tour cannot be won on day one, but it certainly can be lost (one only has to look back to Contador’s crash on the first day last year, though in fairness it is not what lost him the Tour).

Looking forward to a great day’s racing then, my money is on local boy Gilbert to ride the passionate home support to glory. And considering he is just 13” down the leader, he might finish fast enough to pull yellow at the end of the day. Let the racing begin…

ps: I missed it in my preview, but here is the official teaser for this year’s Tour