Britain’s Geraint Thomas will start Wednesday’s stage two of the Tour de Romandie in the yellow jersey of the overall leader, after Team Sky finished less than a second ahead of Orica-GreenEdge to win the stage one team time trial.

The British team were the last to set out on the 19.2km course, with defending champion Chris Froome in their ranks, with Orica having set a time of 21-19 earlier in the day.

Neither current world team time trial champions BMC or two-time winners Etixx – Quick-Step could match the pace of the Australian squad, finishing in fourth and sixth respectively before Sky came across the line.

Overall hopeful Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) will begin the hilly 168.1km stage two with a deficit of 17 seconds to Froome, while Nairo Quintana will need to overhaul 40 seconds to the 2013 Tour de France winner after a disappointing showing from his Movistar team.

Results
Tour de Romandie, stage one: Vallée de Joux – Juraparc, 19.2km TTT
1. Team Sky (Gbr) in 21-19 (54.042kmph)
2. Orica-GreenEdge (Aus) st
3. Team Katusha (Rus) at 5 seconds
4. Etixx – Quick-Step (Bel) at 14 seconds
5. Astana (Kaz) at 17 seconds
6. BMC (USA) at 19 seconds
7. FDJ (Fra) at 22 seconds
8. IAM Cycling (Sui) at 24 seconds
9. Movistar (Esp) at 40 seconds
10. Cannondale-Garmin (USA) st

Overall Classification after stage one
1. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at 21-19
2. Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky st
3. Ian Stannard (Gbr) Team Sky st
4. Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky st
5. Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky st
6. Peter Kennaugh (Gbr) 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

Team Sky celebrate on the podium (Watson)

Geraint Thomas takes the Tour de Romandie 2015 leader’s jersey (Watson)