( CNN ) -- Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland claimed the first yellow jersey in the 99th edition of the Tour de France with a commanding victory in the opening prologue in Liege Saturday . Olympic champion Cancellara is a specialist against the clock and over a flat 6.4km course underlined his domination with a winning time of seven minutes 13.46 seconds . It left him seven seconds clear of the pre-race favorite for overall honors , Britain 's Bradley Wiggins , with Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel ( Omega-Pharma ) in third place . Team Sky 's Wiggins had edged out Chavanel by less than half a second to take the lead before RadioShack star Cancellara repeated his 2004 win in the Belgian city with another powerhouse performance . It was a welcome return to form for Cancellara , who had struggled in the early part of this year and made little impression in the spring classics . `` It 's great . I 'm really proud to have won here today eight years after my first Tour victory in Liege , '' Cancellara told Eurosport . The globalization of the Tour de France . `` It has n't been the best season for me , but this really helps make amends . '' Despite his defeat , Wiggins is left well-placed after the opening exchanges , gaining nearly 10 seconds on reigning Tour de France champion Cadel Evans , whose BMC teammate Tejay Van Garderen finished a promising fourth place . Giro d'Italia champion Ryder Hesjedal ( Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda ) finished one second adrift of Evans , the same time as Italian Vincenzo Nibali , rated by many as the main rival to Wiggins and Evans . But Frank Schleck of Luxembourg , who finished third overall last year , lost nearly half a minute to Wiggins , coming home 135th at 38 seconds behind teammate Cancellara . Germany 's Tony Martin , who took the world time trial title from Cancellara last year , was left to rue a puncture , having to change bike and still coming home just 23 seconds down . Sunday 's first stage takes in 198km from Liege to Seraing , with testing terrain likely to rule out the possibility of a bunch sprint .
Cadel Evans of Switzerland wins opening prologue in 2012 Tour de France . Switzerland finishes seven seconds clear of race favorite Bradley Wiggins . Wiggins gains valuable time on defending champion Cadel Evans . Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland hit by puncture midway around 6.4km course in Cancellara .