Chris Froome got his title defence at the Tur de Romandie off to the perfect start when Team Sky won the opening team time trial to put Geraint Thomas into the yellow jersey.

"It was a very slim margin to beat Orica-Greenedge but I couldn’t be happier with that start," Froome said. "For us to win a TTT on the first day, obviously it’s the ideal way to start the race, on the front foot. I think it goes to show we’ve got a really strong team here. Geraint Thomas now in the yellow jersey puts us in a really good position and hopefully we’ll try to defend that over the next few days.

"It was not our strategy to have Geraint in the first postion. We didn’t know we were going to win at that point, the margins were very small, we were just trying to get over the line as fast as possible. Geraint did a really good sprint in the final there. It’s about a team performance (TTT) and Geraint did a lot of work today so congratulations to him, he deserves to be in the yellow jersey.

"Myself personally, I haven’t done much racing for the moment this year so I’m looking forward to get a good week of racing in the legs. As we’ve seen the weather can change very quickly here and I really hope that the next few days we will manage to have some good racing that’s not disrupted too much by the weather."

"We knew it would be close, all the way up until the line. As soon as we crossed the line we heard on the radio that we had won and it was a great feeling and It was awesome for the team," Thomas said.

"There are certainly some tough stages over the next few days. If Chris can take the jersey at any point it will be nice and as long as he can keep it all the way. That’s the main goal for the team, to finish on Sunday with Chris in yellow.

"As long as he doesn’t lose too much time, obviously, he’s not going to be winning any bunch sprints, there are a lot of fast guys like Michael) Albasini (Orica GreenEDGE). I think Saturday’s the main goal, as long as we can keep ‘Froomey’ up there and out of trouble then hopefully he has a good day and takes the yellow jersey.

"He’s been a bit sick but he had a good block in Tenerife and a crash in Flèche Wallone but I think he’s good now, he’s motivated. He’s probably got a bit of a point to prove, because he’s been so successful in the past . If he doesn’t win everyone wonders what’s wrong with him. For sure he’s in a good place. and we’re where we want to be in the build up to the Tour.

"I think (Michael) Albasini and guys like that are quite a bit quicker than Chris. For me it’s a nice bonus to take the jersey. For the team it was all about TTT. We said at the start of the year we wanted to target the team time trials a lot more, more than we have in the past. We really wanted to move forward in that area so it’s nice to get the win and hopefully we can continue.

"Obviously I was disappointed with Flanders and Roubaix, with the punctures and the crashes, it didn’t go quite to plan but that’s the way the classics go sometimes but I had a nice little break. This is the start now, this is the build up for me to the Tour and a great way to start for the team.

"Team time trials are usually really close, we just wanted to get out there and do a good ride and to win is fantastic."