Cancellara crushes in Luxembourg prologue

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Fabian Cancellara chalked up his first victory since the March E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke, blazing through the 2.7km technical prologue of the Tour of Luxembourg in 3:42. He topped the young Frenchman Damien Gaudin (Europcar) and Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) in the country's main city center.

"It's been a long time for me since my victory in E3-prijs Harelbeke. I feel very motivated now for all that is coming," said Cancellara before remembering his fallen teammate Wouter Weylandt. "I wanted to get a personal win and a win for the team, but I especially wanted to ride the perfect race after our loss a few weeks ago. This win is for Wouter."

The short prologue was riddled with obstacles, with frequent turns, cobblestones and one cobbled climb. Cancellara's Leopard Trek teammate Martin Mortensen set the early fast time, 14 seconds slower than Cancellara's eventual winning time.

Mid-way through the field, Engoulvent topped the Dane, but it wasn't long before Gaudin, 24, set a time nearly three seconds quicker. Gaudin remained in the hot seat until Cancellara came through more than an hour later.

"The problem with time trials is that when it's over, you always think about what went wrong and where you lost some time," said Cancellara. "Even when I win, like today, I always find something that I could have done better. The short effort required during a prologue like this one does not correspond with what we do during a normal race. That's why it's so interesting."

Cancellara will wear the leader's yellow jersey for the first full road stage, a 198.2km romp from Luxembourg-City to Bascharage, and Gaudin will be in the colors of best young rider.

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