2012 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 10
The 2012 Tour de France began on 30 June, and stage 10 occurred on 11 July. The 2012 edition began with a prologue – a short individual time trial stage – where each member of the starting peloton of 198 riders competed against the clock – in Liège, Belgium with two more stages held in the country before moving back into France. The race resumed in Orchies for the start of the third stage; also during the first half of the race, the peloton visited Switzerland for the finish to the eighth stage in Porrentruy, and contested another individual time trial stage – having returned to France – the following day.
Prologue route
BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans, the defending champion, warming up before the stage. He eventually finished the stage in thirteenth place, seventeen seconds down on stage winner Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack–Nissan).
The peloton passing through Hotton, Belgium, in the first stage. Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack–Nissan) can be seen wearing the race leader's yellow jersey.
Team Sky's Mark Cavendish (pictured in stage eighteen) won the second stage from a bunch sprint.
Fabian Cancellara, nicknamed "Spartacus", is a Swiss cycling executive, businessman and former professional road racing cyclist who last rode for UCI ProTeam Lidl–Trek. He was born in Wohlen bei Bern, Switzerland. Cancellara began road cycling after falling in love with an old bike at the age of thirteen. After that, he began to take the sport more seriously and won two consecutive World Junior Time Trial Championships in 1998 and 1999. At age nineteen he turned professional and signed with the Mapei–Quick-Step team, where he rode as a stagiaire. He is known for being a quality time trialist, a one-day classics specialist, and a workhorse for his teammates who have general classification aspirations.
Cancellara at the 2010 UCI Road World Championships
Cancellara at the 2005 HEW-Cyclassics.
Cancellara winning stage three of the 2007 Tour de France whilst wearing the race leader's yellow jersey
Cancellara at the 2008 Tour of California, where he won the prologue stage.