Australian cyclist Cadel Evans finished 23rd place in Saturday's Tour de France prologue.

The 33-year-old former Tour de France runner-up finished at 39 seconds behind winner Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland in the 8.9 kilometers individual time trial in rain-dampened Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Evena's bid to relaunch his long-time Tour de France victory was dealt a minor blow after losing one of his BMC teammates Mathias Frank who crashed and picked up a muscle thigh injury and a broken finger.