Fabian Cancellara of Saxo Bank blew the field away to win the prologue in Monaco and take the first yellow jersey of the 2009 Tour de France. The Swiss time trial specialist overtook Giro champion Denis Menchov (Rabobank) on the closing straight as he romped to a superb time of 19 minutes and 32 seconds over the undulating 15.5 kilometre course in the Principality.