Tour de Romandie: Sky pip Orica-GreenEdge in team time trial

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Team Sky edged out Orica-GreenEdge by just 0.63 of a second to claim victory in the opening team time trial of the Tour de Romandie and place Geraint Thomas in the yellow jersey of race leader.

The two teams could scarcely be separated on the rolling 19.2km course from Vallée du Joux to Juraparc, and they were level at the intermediate checkpoint after 15 kilometres. The finale included the climb of the Mont d'Orzeires and that, perhaps, made the critical difference.

While Orica-GreenEdge were reduced to the bare minimum of five riders by the time they crested the summit, Sky, the last team to take the start, still had seven riders in place as they swooped down towards the finish, including two-time Tour de Romandie winner Chris Froome.

As Sky fanned across the road and hit the finish line with the new best time, the Orica-GreenEdge team, led by Svein Tuft, could only smile with resignation in the hot seat, where they had spent much of the afternoon after easily overhauling the early mark set by Cannondale-Garmin.

"It's nice to be on the other side for a change," said race leader Thomas. "We usually come second by a narrow margin so it was great to get the win today. The team time trial is something the team wants to target a bit more. We've always been up there but we've never really had much focus on it. We're looking to keep improving in that area, so it's great to win. We wanted to go as fast as possible and do the best ride to try and win the stage, for us all, not just to get the yellow. It's great for morale and to come away with the win is really nice."

The only team to present a genuine threat to GreenEdge’s time before Sky was Katusha. Led by Simon Spilak, who boasts a remarkable record at the Tour de Romandie, the Russian squad finished just five seconds off the pace. The display leaves Spilak, third at Paris-Nice last month, very much in the running for overall honours.

Etixx-QuickStep was the other squad with a fine team time trialling pedigree in the race but despite the presence of former world time trial champion Tony Martin and Rigoberto Uran in their line-up, they could only manage 4th on the day, 14 seconds down on Sky and GreenEdge.

Vincenzo Nibali confirmed on the eve of the race that he will not be participating at the Giro d’Italia but the Sicilian showed flashes of form at the Ardennes Classics last week and will be eager to secure the first major results of his 2015 campaign in Switzerland this week. It was a solid if unspectacular start for his Astana team, who finished the stage 17 seconds off the pace in fifth.

For Nairo Quintana and Movistar, it was an afternoon to forget, as they struggled to find their rhythm early on the course. They were already 34 seconds down at the 15-kilometre mark and coughed up another six seconds in the closing kilometres to finish the stage in 10th place, leaving Quintana with considerable ground to make up in the battle for overall honours.

Thibaut Pinot and FDJ (7th at 22 seconds) and Matthias Fränk and IAM Cycling (8th at 24 seconds) will be rather more content with their showings, as they limited their losses to Froome, Spilak, Uran and Nibali.

Wednesday sees the Tour de Romandie peloton tackle the rugged 168 kilometres from Apples to Saint-Imier, a stage that includes the second category Col de la Vue des Alpes ahead of a rapid drop to the finish.

Thomas will carry the yellow jersey into the first road stage for the second time on his career. He won the prologue in 2012 before passing the jersey on to his teammate Bradley Wiggins, who went on to win overall. Froome continued Sky’s sequence in 2013 and 2014.

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