Chavanel leads Quick Step charge in prologue

Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) powered his way around the Zuiderpark in downtown Rotterdam to win the prologue of the Eneco Tour. He covered the 4.4 km in 4:55, one second faster than Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) and Quick Step teammate Tom Boonen. The latter two both finished on the same time of 4:56.

The French rider was an early starter, but his time held good. He had to wait an hour and a half to have his win confirmed.

"I wanted to win the prologue, and it worked out," said the 30-year-old winner. "And my teammate Tom Boonen is third, a strong performance for Quick Step."

He called his long wait to see if he had won "stressful, watching all the arrival times. The margins in a short time trial are always small." He won, in fact, by a mere .23 of a second.

"But eventually I got it. And I am very happy, " Chavanel said. "I had agreed with Tom Boonen in advance: either you or me. He ended up in a good third place."

The Frenchman is also looking to the closing time trial, and has thoughts of winning the whole thing. "I expect the battle for the final victory will be decided in the final time trial in Amersfoort. In between, it will be up to the sprinters to fight it out."

Many big names tried, though failed to break his mark. Andreas Klöden of Astana, Tony Martin of Columbia and Michael Rogers were among those unable to break the five minute mark. Last year's overall winner Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d'Epargne) came in at 5:01.

It wasn't a technical course, the profile forming an almost exact rectangle. The straightaways gave the guys with the big motors a chance to go all out.

Johan Coen of Topsport-Vlaanderen was the first to go off on this hot, sunny summer day. Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) set an early best time of 5:07. But his time was soon topped by Columbia's Edvald Boasson Hagen, who came home in exactly 5:00.

The Norwegian's time didn't hold long either, as Chavanel (Quick Step) became the first to break the five minute barrier with his 4:55.

One rider didn't take the start as planned, Artur Gajek of Team Milram. The team told Cyclingnews that he is suffering from severe back problems.

Newly-crowned Belgian time trial champion Maxime Monfort of Columbia came in with a time of 5:04. The short, flat course not suited to his strengths.

Garmin-Slipstream's Tyler Farrar, fresh off his win in the Vattenfalls Cyclassics, came very close to the leader, but missed out by a mere whisker. At 4:56, he was just one second behind Chavanel, however the young American now sits in second overall and is well placed to grab the leader's jersey in the sprint stages ahead.

Bradley Wiggins, also of Garmin-Slipstream, is a favourite to win the overall title in the Eneco Tour. The British rider came in one seceond behind Farrar at 4:57, to finish just off the podium.