MILAN, Italy — It came as little surprise that the Tour de France rankings remained unchanged after yesterday’s stroll through the meek hills of southeast England, but Fabian Cancellara was still relieved to hold on to his 13-second lead and his leader’s jersey.

The Swiss rider said he has been wearing the same clothes ever since British Airways lost his luggage en route to London for Friday’s opening ceremony, and that clean, yellow shirt is a welcome, if temporary, addition to his wardrobe.

“I plan to hold onto it as long as possible,” Cancellara said.

The world time-trial champion chalked up his second career Tour prologue victory on Saturday, beating out his nearest challenger, Germany’s Andreas Kloden, by 13 seconds, and American George Hincapie by 23 seconds.

That was a more convincing performance than his opening-day win in 2004, when he edged out Lance Armstrong in the prologue by just two seconds.

Few expect the Swiss speedster to retain his lead for long, but the weekend’s journey from London to Canterbury, through the flattish fields of Kent, may be a kind of Dickensian foreshadowing of the unusual brand of Tour we can expect this year, in which speed skills — time trials in particular — might be just as important as climbing.

That thought first emerged as the Tour favorite, Kazakhstan’s Alexandre Vinokourov, discussed the stellar performance of his teammate, Kloden, the day before. There has been some question as to whether Vinokourov could consider himself the rightful leader of the newly formed Astana team when his German partner has a more illustrious career behind him — third-place in last year’s Tour, second in 2004, and many other wins besides.

After Kloden’s mastery of the opening time trial, Vinokourov said he intended to play his cards in the mountains, and if Kloden proves stronger there, he’d be happy to call him “captain.”

But just how decisive are the mountains this year? They will still play a large part in deciding the outcome, but the Alpine and Pyrenees stages will be slightly less threatening than they have been in the past.

For one, there are only six mountain stages this year, compared with nine last year. There are fewer beyond-category climbs, and the most frightening peaks — the Col d’Isoard and the Alpe d’Huez, for instance — are not on the itinerary.

Following last year’s example, there will be no team time trials this year, either; Armstrong relied on them heavily in the past to slingshot himself into yellow on the strength of his U.S. team.

That leaves three individual against-the-clock races, more than 100 km in total, opening the door for the all-rounders to make their mark: cyclists such as Kloden, Alejandro Valverde, and the American forerunner, Levi Leipheimer.

This year, a pure climber does not a Tour champion make.

The proof of that theorem will have to wait until Bastille Day, July 14, when the Tour reaches the foot of the Alps, and the second time trial is held a week later. Until then, this Tour belongs to the sprinters, and the best in that category started off this 2007 edition with fireworks.

Robbie McEwen flew over his handlebars in a group pile-up with just 12 km to go. He injured his wrist and scraped his knee in the process, but was helped back onto his bike and rejoined the peloton. It seemed a near certainty that the Australian would have to wait until at least the next stage to secure his first win, but in the final kilometer, a blur of red and white streaked past the lead group’s right flank, and within seconds he was raising his arms. It was McEwen’s 12th such victory, tying him with Erik Zabel for stage wins among riders in this Tour.

Tens of thousands of fans lined the road at the start at Tower Bridge and the finish at the Cathedral of Canterbury. There were nearly a million the day before in London, casting aside doubts that the English cared at all about this sport. In fact, halfway through yesterday’s stage, it looked as if this day would belong to the British.

A few miles away, one of Britain’s own, Lewis Hamilton, was in pole position at the start of the Grand Prix at Silverstone. (He finished third.) And through most of yesterday’s cycling race, a Scotsman, David Millar, was leading a breakaway, a good two minutes ahead of the pack. He was swallowed up by the peloton with about 25 km to go, but in the process he had earned the polka-dot jersey, for the “King of the Mountains,” even though in this part of the world that only requires climbs from 30 feet to about 360 feet above sea level.

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It was curious, though, that Millar would win that jersey on the same day that the Daily Mail had found the other, long-lost Scottish “King of the Mountains,” Robert Millar (no relation to David), who finished fourth in the Tour in 1984, and was the runner-up to Irish cyclist Stephen Roche in the 1987 Giro d’Italia.

In 1992, cycling authorities found illegal levels of testosterone in Millar’s blood and he was disqualified for three months, after which he fell from the sport’s radar. In fact, he was inaugurated into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, but never responded to the invitation.

Part of the trouble in finding him was that he had changed his name, and his gender. Millar now goes by the name Philippa York.