Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel has won the prologue of the Eneco Tour, the cycling race that takes place every year in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Starting from, and ending at, the Ahoy sports arena in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, he covered the 4.4 kilometre distance in 4.56 minutes. In second place came the United States’ Tyler Farrar, followed in third place by the Belgian Tom Boonen. Dutch cyclists Joost Posthuma, Maarten Tjallingii, Michiel Elijzen and Niki Tepstra came fifth, ninth, twelfth and fifteenth respectively.

The first stage of the tour begins on Wednesday in Belgium, with a race between the western towns of Aalter and Ardooie.

Photo of Sylvain Chavanel from Wikimedia Commons