Like last year, Fabian Cancellara started off the season with a win.

The time-trial Olympic champion won the prologue time trial of the Tour of California in Sacramento. Cancellara opted for the 3.9 km-long trial on a technically demanding course in front of several thousand spectators with a one-second advantage over the American Levi Leitheimer, the overall winner of the past two years. "I am overjoyed," Cancellara enthused about the successful start to the season that even for an Olympic champion is not a given.      .