Cancellara time trials to win in Tour de Suisse opener

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Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) continued where he left off at the Tour de Suisse, winning the hilly 7.6km prologue course in Lugano with another powerful ride against the clock.

Cancellara won the final stage and took overall victory in last year's Tour de Suisse. He claimed this year's race is too tough for him to win again but had the strength to get up the climb mid-stage and then dived down the high-speed to the finish.

”We had studied the course thoroughly before entering the prologue but it was a technically difficult stretch on the slippery surface,” Cancellara said.

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“The profile looked most of all like a mountain time trial and it was really long for a rouleur like me. The climb explained why I was down at the intermediate time split but I gave it everything I had and I think it was my experience descending that gave me the win. It doesn't matter if you win by 10 seconds three seconds or one second. It's winning that counts."

Cancellara set a time of 10:21 for the tough course, beating Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) by one second. Germany's Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) was third at three seconds, while Kreuziger's young teammate Peter Sagan continued to impress in his debut season, taking fourth place, also at three seconds.

Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) was one of the riders who raced late in the afternoon and faced wet conditions for the final part of the time trial in the centre of Lugano. Armstrong avoided taking any risks, finishing 44th with a time that was 29 seconds slower than Cancellara's pace.

The results showed some indication of who could be an overall contender in this year's Tour de Suisse but the mountain stages later in the race and the final 26.9km time trial around Liestal will be far more decisive.

Thomas Löfkvist (Team Sky) was seventh fastest, 12 seconds behind Cancellara, Jacob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) was tenth at 13 seconds and Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) was 12th at 14 seconds.

Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) was 17th at 18 seconds, while Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) was 31st at 24 seconds. His brother Frank was 46th at 29 seconds.

Cancellara pulled on the bright Tour de Suisse yellow race leader's jersey and got the kisses from the podium girls. He will wear it during the 167.5km second stage Ascona to Sierre. The stage includes the long and high Simplonpass and a category three climb near the finish. A breakaway could get away and take the glory if the sprinter's teams and especially Mark Cavendish's HTC-Columbia team, do no control the racing.

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