London – Briton Chris Froome increased his prospects of a maiden Tour de France title by winning the Tour de Romandie stage race in solid fashion on Sunday.
Team Sky's Froome, runner-up in last year's Tour after riding as one of champion Bradley Wiggins's domestiques, believes he will be the team leader this year in France although that remains to be made clear by the management.
Froome, who claimed the overall leader's yellow jersey after the opening uphill time trial in the Swiss race, emulated the feats of Cadel Evans and Wiggins from 2011 and 2012. Both riders went on to win the Tour the same year.
The Kenya-born rider consolidated his lead with second place in Saturday's mountainous stage and wrapped it up with third place in Sunday's final time trial, which was won by German Tony Martin ahead of Italy's Adriano Malori.
Overall, Froome, who added to his Tour of Oman and Criterium International wins this season, beat Slovenian Simon Spilak of Katusha by 54 seconds, according to provisional results. – Reuters