Chris Froome returns to the Tour de Romandie as leader of Team Sky, eyeing a possible third consecutive victory in the Swiss WorldTour race, starting on Tuesday (April 28).

Froome is backed up by a strong team featuring four other Britons. Sky has picked a selection of riders to support Froome in the key Tour de France warm-up race that mixes those coming in from the Classics and key mountain domestiques.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Ian Stannard and E3 Harelbeke victor Geraint Thomas are both present after a successful campaign in northern Europe, as is Luke Rowe – the team’s highest finisher at Paris-Roubaix. They are joined by British road race champion Peter Kennaugh.

Completing the team are Italian sprinter Elia Viviani, American strongman Danny Pate and Irishman Nicolas Roche.

>>> Tour de Romandie 2015 start list

Roche takes to the startline despite suffering a nasty fall during Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday. Roche was taken down in a mass crash in the final 40km of the Belgian classic but escaped with minor injuries.

The six-stage Tour de Romandie commences with a 19.2-kilometre team time trial on Tuesday, April 28 and concludes on Sunday, May 3, with an individual time trial. In between is a selection of tough mountain stages.

Froome won the final time trial in last year’s race to secure the overall win 28 seconds ahead of Simon Spilak (Katusha).