Australian Rohan Dennis claimed the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France as defending champion Vincenzo Nibali stole some potentially vital seconds ahead of his rivals in the race to Paris.
BMC Racing rider Dennis finished in 14 minutes 56 seconds to win from Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek), who were five and six seconds behind, respectively.
Dennis’ average speed of 55.45kph was the fastest recorded in a Tour time-trial, despite the technical, twisty 13.8-kilometres course through the centre of Utrecht in Holland.
Italian Nibali (Astana) was the quickest of the four favourites for the overall title, clocking 15mins 39secs.
That was seven seconds quicker than Briton Chris Froome (Team Sky), who finished in 15:46 to place 39th.
Spaniard Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) conceded 15 seconds to Nibali in finishing in 15:54, while Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was three seconds further back.
Sunday’s second stage sees the 198 riders embark on the 166km route from Utrecht to Zelande.
A sprint finish is expected, unless cross winds split the peloton, with Mark Cavendish bidding to add to his 25 Tour stage wins.
Overall individual time classification:
1 AUS DENNIS Rohan BMC RACING TEAM 14min 56sec
2 GER MARTIN Tony ETIXX-QUICK STEP 15min 01sec + 00' 05''
3 SUI CANCELLARA Fabian TREK FACTORY RACING 15min 02sec + 00' 06''
4 NED DUMOULIN Tom TEAM GIANT-ALPECIN 15min 04sec + 00' 08''
5 NED VAN EMDEN Jos TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO 15min 11sec + 00' 15''
6 ESP CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS Jonathan MOVISTAR TEAM 15min 19sec + 00' 23''
7 AUT BRÄNDLE Matthias IAM CYCLING 15min 19sec + 00' 23''
8 ITA MALORI Adriano MOVISTAR TEAM 15min 25sec + 00' 29''
9 NED KELDERMAN Wilco TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO 15min 26sec + 00' 30''
10 GBR CUMMINGS Stephen MTN-QHUBEKA 15min 28sec + 00' 32''
95 IRL MARTIN Daniel TEAM CANNONDALE-GARMIN 16min 13sec + 01’ 17’’
101 IRL ROCHE Nicolas TEAM SKY 16min 16sec + 01’ 20’’
171 IRL BENNETT Sam BORA-ARGON 18 16min 44sec + 01’ 48’’
