Winners
Fabian Cancellara
A case of deja-vu from the prologue of the 2004 Tour (also starting in Liege) the Swiss superstar put in a superb 6.4km to take the first yellow jersey of the race. His first time trial victory since the Tirreno-Adriatico this will come as a welcome change in fortunes, particularly after being beaten twice against the clock in the Tour de Suisse.
Bradley Wiggins
Although the seven seconds between Wiggins and Cancellara is a relative chasm on such as short course, in the long term second place is perhaps the ideal result for the Brit. Team Sky will not be in danger of burning all their matches early trying to protect the yellow jersey from the gun, while the victory over the other contenders will not only giving him a little breathing space, but may also provide a slight psychological boost
Denis Menchov
The first grand tour in a while where Menchov has not been mentioned as even an outside contender for GC. The experienced Russian has been utterly anonymous so far this year, only registering on the radar with a win in the national time trial championships a week ago. 8th will be a welcome surprise and we may be seeing the beginning of some surprise form.
Tejay Van Garderen
The white jersey will come as a just reward for a good time trial for the young American and may well be something that he will be looking for in Paris should things go his way. However, Boasson Hagen lies one second back and may be eyeing up tomorrow’s uphill finish into Seraing, so Van Garderen must look to stay high in the group if he is to keep his jersey.
Losers
Frank Schleck
The worst performance of all the overall contenders, Schleck lost 31 seconds to Wiggins. If we extrapolate this loss over the course of the 53.5km test against the clock on the penultimate day it adds up to the loss of a massive 4 minutes 15 seconds. Unless he’s in unbelievable climbing form, a repeat of last year’s podium already looks to be tough.
Thomas Voeckler
Only five seconds ahead of Schleck, any lack of form should not really come as a surprise given Voeckler’s recent struggle with a knee injury. However even if a campaign for yellow may be beyond him, this may be a blessing in disguise, as he may be allowed in breakaways.
Tony Martin
Touted by many as the favourite for to take the first yellow jersey of the race, the world champion has set a good time at the first intermediate split. However, a mechanical-enforced bike change saw the German’s challenge fade as he came in an anonymous 45th. But with two long time trials still to go, Martin still has chances to impress
Peter Sagan
After his victory over Cancellara in the first stage of the Tour de Suisse, the prodigiously talented Slovak should have been a decent pick for such a short test. However, usually an exceptional bike handler, losing his back wheel on one of the roundabouts seemed to damage his confidence, coming in 53rd. However, expect him to be targeting stage wins all this week
Lampre-ISD
A highest placing of 78th would not have been the way the Italian team would have liked to begin their Tour. Last year you could have been forgiven for not knowing they were in the race, so let’s hope this is not the start of a repeat performance this year
Student Cyclist 