2015 Herald Sun Tour champion Cameron Meyer has opened his account at his favourite race, the Tour de Suisse, with the top ten performance, finishing seventh on a fast 5.1km prologue this afternoon.

With tail wind and downhill sections helping to post fast times, Meyer stopped the clock six seconds down on stage winner Tom Dumoulin’s (Giant – Alpecin) time of five-minutes 41seconds.

Just ten seconds separate the top 21 riders, which also include ORICA-GreenEDGE’s Michael Matthews (+8sec), Michael Albasini (+9sec) and Daryl Impey (+10sec).

“The big hopes for the stage were on Cam and Michael Matthews and both did really well,” sport director Neil Stephens said. “Cam finished up with seven whilst Matthews, Albasini and Impey are all not far outside the top ten.

“The most interesting part of the day was during Michael Albasini’s run. He was actually on a similar time or even a little faster than Cam on the road and one of the publicity arches on the road deflated.

“He managed to baulk and break but get underneath it whilst we got stuck in the car behind it. It was a few seconds lost, but he took it on the chin like he generally does.”

Colombian climber Esteban Chaves lost 28seconds on a tough challenge for the pint-sized rider, a deficit a little larger than anticipated.

“Esteban was always going to lose time today,” Stephens said. “He probably lost a little bit more time than we considered but we have to be philosophical about it and there are plenty of road stage ahead.”