Tour de Romandie: Team Sky win stage one team time trial

Chris Froome gained an early march on his rivals for overall victory at the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland after Team Sky won the opening-stage team time trial by less than one second.

The British squad stopped the clock on a 19.2km course from Vallee de Joux to Juraparc in 21min 19sec, narrowly ahead of runners-up Orica-GreenEdge and five seconds quicker than third-placed Katusha.

Geraint Thomas was Team Sky’s first rider over the finish line and will consequently wear the race leader’s yellow jersey on Wednesday’s hilly second stage from Apples to Saint-Imier.

Froome, who is looking for a third consecutive win in the race, gained 40 seconds on key rival Nairo Quintana after the Colombian’s Movistar team could only finish 10th, while Vincenzo Nibali’s Astana finished 17 seconds down on Team Sky in fifth.

The six-day race ends on Sunday.

Stage one result

1 Team Sky, 21:19

2 Orica-GreenEdge, same time

3 Katusha, +5secs

4 Etixx – Quick-Step, +14

5 Astana, +17

6 BMC Racing, +19

7 FDJ.fr, +22

8 IAM Cycling, +24

9 Cannondale-Garmin, +40

10 Movistar, st

General classification

1 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at 21-19

2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, same time

3 Ian Stannard (GB) Team Sky, st

4 Luke Rowe (GB) Team Sky, st

5 Christopher Froome (GB) Team Sky, st

6 Peter Kennaugh (GB) Team Sky, st

7 Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica-GreenEdge, st

8 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st

9 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica-GreenEdge, st

10 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica-GreenEdge, st