Dutch rider Lars Boom (Team Rabobank) won the prologue of the Criterium du Dauphine 2011 earlier this afternoon.

Boom completed the 3.4-mile individual prologue around Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in 06 minutes, 18 seconds. Team Astana's Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan took second, two seconds behind and Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain was third, five seconds off the pace.

"I didn't expect it," Boom told France 3 television and added "I had a problem with my knee in the Tour of California (in May). I'm happy it's going well."

Three-time runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia finished seventh, 9 seconds back and used the prologue to test some new equipment for use in the 2011 Tour de France.

Commenting on his performance in today's prologue Evans said "Not bad for such a short distance. A good test for our new equipment and for some of the new team members. It puts me in a good starting place for the week, but tomorrow will already see a big shape of GC. By Thursday it will be clearer who is serious about this Dauphine. It's going to be a tough one."

Favorites to win the 2011 edition of the Criterium du Dauphine (previously Dauphine Libere) include defending champion Janez Brajkovic of Team RadioShack and Slovenia, Team HTC-HighRoad's Tony Martin of Germany and Team Euskaltel-Euskadi's Samuel Sanchez of Spain.

Brajkovic placed 17th, Sanchez finished 24th and Martin came in 34th.

Riders often use the Dauphine as preparation for the Tour de France.

Tomorrow the riders will battle a 144 kilometer/89-mile stage from Albertville to Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse. The race ends next sunday.

More photos and complete results are found here.