Britain’s Boardman Starts Fast

ROUEN, France — Chris Boardman of Britain won the Tour de France’s opening prologue Saturday as the race began its 22-day trip around the country.

Boardman, a speed specialist, was timed in 8 minutes 20.90 seconds for the 4.5-mile time trial through downtown Rouen.

Boardman holds world records and Olympic gold medals on the track and has been doing well in multistage races this year. He also won the prologue in 1994.

In Saturday’s prologue, Jan Ullrich of Germany was the runner-up, only two seconds behind Boardman. Russian Yevgeny Berzin was third, five seconds behind.

Miguel Indurain, the champion from 1991-95, is not competing this year for the first time in 12 years.

Ullrich, last year’s runner-up, started early among the 198 riders, more than three hours before the last rider, his Telekom teammate and defending champion Bjarne Riis.

Riis started last, wearing the emblematic yellow jersey as last year’s winner.

He had to give it up to Boardman, who takes his lead into today’s first stage, from Rouen to Forges-Les-Eaux, 119.3 miles.

Riis finished 13th.

The first week of the Tour is marked by flat stages, allowing the sprinters to dominate.