Tour of Romandie 2014: Chris Froome back on track after Romandie triumph

Chris Froome competes in the final stage of the Tour of Romandie on Sunday (GETTY IMAGES)

Chris Froome said the build-up to his Tour de France defence is finally on track after he won the final stage of the Tour de Romandie to successfully defend his title in Switzerland on Sunday.

Froome dominated the 11.5-mile concluding time trial around Neuchatel to seal overall victory by 28 seconds from Simon Spilak (Katusha).

It was Team Sky’s third successive win in the event after Sir Bradley Wiggins’ win in 2012 and Froome’s the following year. Froome, who has had a mixed 2014 due to illness and injury in contrast to his all-conquering 2013 campaign, said: “This has been a really hard period for me recently. I have had a chest infection and I have had problems with my back this season.

“I have worked hard to get back to this condition. I hope that I can continue to build towards the Tour de France.”

Froome led world time-trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) by a second at the top of the course’s solitary climb and held on to win by the same margin at the finish.

The Kenya-born Briton finished in 24 minutes 51 seconds, while Spilak, the 2011 winner, was seventh in 25mins 20secs.

He added: “This year was a different race. We didn’t have any hilltop finishes, so it did make the race a bit different, but I am really happy to have been able to defend the title.

“It was a good test for me and I am just really happy to have got the result and be back in a yellow jersey again.”

Adam Yates sealed overall victory in the Tour of Turkey as his British compatriot Mark Cavendish won the final stage in Istanbul.

Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) won Friday’s fourth stage to take a lead which proved decisive and sealed victory by five seconds from Estonia’s Rein Taaramae (Cofidis).

Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won his fourth of eight stages ahead of Elia Viviani (Cannodale) on the city circuit of the Turkish capital.