Radio Shack-Nissan-Trek's Fabian Cancellara opened the 2012 Tour de France with his 4th straight prologue victory, taking the 3.9 mi (6.4 km) course through the streets of Liege, Belgium with a time of 7 minutes and 13 seconds. The Swiss time trial expert holds a seven second lead over Sky's Bradley Wiggins and Omega Pharma-Quck Step's Sylvain Chavanel.

BMC's Tejay van Garderen was the first American through the course finishing in fourth place with a time of seven minutes and 23 seconds. George Hincapie, also with BMC, was the second fastest American and finished the stage in 22nd place with a time of seven minutes and 33 seconds.

East Lyme, CT's Tom Danielson, who rides with Garmin-Sharp, finished the prologue in 100th place with a time of 7 minutes and 44 seconds.

Top 10 results are below:

1. Fabian Cancellara, RSH
2. Bradley Wiggins, Sky, at 0.07
3. Sylvain Chavanel, OPQS, s.t.
4. Tejay Van Garderen, BMC, at 0.10
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky, at 0.11
6. Brett Lancaster, Orica GreenEdge, s.t.
7. Patrick Gretsch, Argos Shimano, at 0.12
8. Denis Menchov, Katusha, at 0.13
9. Philippe Gilbert, BMC, s.t.
10. Andriy Grivko, Astana, at 0.15

Stick with this storystream for previews, results and more from the 2012 Tour de France. For full time cycling news and analysis, head over to SB Nation's cycling blog Podium Cafe.