Over the course of a 6.4km time trial on the streets of Liège big time gaps are not likely to occur but, as the saying goes, the might not be won on day one but it can be lost. A fall can alter the standings or even the starting line-up as we learned the last time that the Tour de France started in this Belgian city. Back in 2004, Matt White was due to make his debut in the race but he crashed while warming up for the prologue and was replaced at the last-minute by a Belgian team-mate.
There are several riders who are specialists in this discipline and we'll take a minute to consider three favorites for the first yellow jersey of the 99th Tour.

Fabian Cancellara (RNT) was the winner on the opening day in 2004. It was a time trial on a very similar course to today and he was the first rider born in the 1980s to claim a win at the Tour. He's since won every opening TT of the Grand Départ that has been on foreign soil: London (2007), Monaco (2009), and Rotterdam (2010).
• Tony Martin (OPQ) is the reigning time trial world champion and the most recent winner of a Tour TT. He beat Cadel Evans (BMC) in the penultimate stage of last year's Tour, a 40.5km race in Grenoble. And, of course, the other rider to watch today is Bradley Wiggins (SKY) who has already won three stage race titles in 2012 and is a favorite for the 2012 Tour title.
Some outside chances for the first yellow jersey of the 99th Tour include Lieuwe Westra (VCD), Jerome Coppel (SAU), or Levi Leipheimer (OPQ).