Tour de Romandie 2014 - Stage 5

The 2014 Tour de Romandie concluded with a final time trial, an 18.5 kilometre race around the town of Neuchatel. There was one incline on the course, but it was predicted to be a fast race, and Christopher Froome was favourite along with world time trial champion Tony Martin. Froome trailed Simon Spilak of Katusha by one second going into the race, meaning it would be a close finish.

Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) had obviously recovered from his crash the previous stage and set a fast time of twenty four minutes and fifty one seconds, one that would be hard to beat even for the general classification contenders. Good performances were put in by Martin's teammate Rigoberto Uran, who finished fourteen seconds down on the German, and Jesse Sergent, who was just eight seconds down.

Spilak's form had obviously impressed Froome in the mountains, and the Katusha rider came out fighting, but so did Froome. Spilak ended up finishing the course twenty eight seconds down on Tony Martin, but Christopher Froome stormed the course, finishing a second clear of the big German, and taking out his second Tour de Romandie in as many years.

Froome's victory is the third victory for Team Sky at the Tour de Romandie, with Bradley Wiggins having started their winning streak there in 2012 on his way to Tour de France glory. The winner of the Tour de Romandie has gone on to win the Tour de France the last three years, and Chris Froome will hope his return to form is indicative of the Tour to come this July.

Simon Spilak fought well and still ended up finishing second, and world champion Rui Costa finished third in the race for Lampre-Merida. The race for the Tour de France is hotting up nicely, with both Alberto Contador and Chris Froome putting down equally good cases for victory come July. The next big showdown of big Tour favourites will most likely be the Criterium du Dauphine in June.