Jonathan Castroviejo of Spain won the opening prologue stage of the Tour de Romandie earlier today, edging Team BMC Racing's American Taylor Phinney.

Castroviejo earned the biggest victory of his career by covering the 3-kilometer (1.86-mile) course in 3 minutes, 40.42 seconds, just 0.27 seconds faster than Phinney.

"My teammates told me to risk everything on the bends and I did," Castroviejo told reporters near the finish line.

The 23-year-old Castroviejo topped a youthful podium ahead of the 20-year-old Phinney and 21-year-old Australian Leigh Howard, who was 0.73 back in third.

"There were probably places where I could make up some time, but at the end of the day it's just so crazy, with everything just flying at you," Phinney told Roadcycling.com and our mobile sister site Roadcycling.mobi.

Phinney added "The cobbled sections actually kind of frightened me before the race, but when I was on them I just went full-tilt into it and it ended up being pretty good."

Time trial specialist David Millar of Britain and Team Garmin-Cervelo was fifth, more than two seconds down, and Astana team leader Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan was best of the pre-race favorites in ninth position.

Team BMC Racing's former world champion Cadel Evans of Australia was less than eight seconds down in 25th place, on his return from leg injuries that forced him to miss last week's one-day classics further North.

Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain and Team Sky trailed Castroviejo by almost 13 seconds and Team Liquigas captain Ivan Basso of Italy was 16 seconds back.

Basso opted to ride in Romandie to prepare for the 2011 Tour de France in July, and will skip defending his Giro d'Italia title when the first of the season's three-week grand tours starts next week. Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for video highlights from all 2011 Giro d'Italia stages in our video section.

The six-day Tour of Romandy 2011 race through the French-speaking region of Switzerland continues Wednesday with a 172.6-kilometer (107.3-mile) stage from Martigny to Leysin.