Tour De France 2012 Results: Fabian Cancellara Takes Race's First Yellow Jersey

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara has won the 2012 Tour de France's first yellow jersey by winning the prologue for the fifth time, according to the Associated Press via NBC Sports:

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Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland won the Tour de France prologue for a fifth time on Saturday, dominating the time trial around the gritty city of Liege.

"What a great opening—again!" he said after his seven-second win.

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Obviously, Cancellara has found a knack for winning the prologue time trial—five times is no accident—and as is the case in just about any sport, starting strong right off the bat is huge for momentum.

According to the AP report, Cancellara won the prologue with a time of seven minutes and 13 seconds, and he raced at an average speed of 53 kph. The race was 6.4 kilometers

Cancellara will start off the first leg of the plain stages of the race as the leader wearing the yellow jersey, but the key for him is going to be using the momentum he gained in the prologue to keep that lead.

It's undoubtedly going to be much easier said than done.

As opposed to the 6.4 km prologue, the second leg of the race has the bikers traveling from the town of Liege, where the prologue took place, to the town of Seraing—which is 198 kilometers.

While it's certainly not the longest leg of the race, that's a huge jump from the time trial. Endurance is going to be key for all of the riders.

Cancellara should be pleased with his start, but this is just the beginning.

The yellow jersey is the main goal at the Tour de France, and starting off with it is quite an honor, but as with any race—it's how you finish that matters.