Team Sky came to this year's Tour de Romandie with an excellent record, having won three of the past four editions, but the squad was uncharacteristically subdued during last week's event. To the surprise of most people, Froome lost in excess of 17 minutes on stage 2 to Morgins, though he recovered to place 4th in the following day’s time trial and then won Saturday’s tough mountain stage to Villars. Prior to the final climb on stagge 2, Froome appeared to lack support from team mates after a puncture, yet he doesn't seem to worrisome on that account. Paris-Nice winner Geraint Thomas completed a less than brilliant performance from Team Sky by finishing more than 27 minutes down on Saturday’s stage.

“It has been a tough week for us as a team,” Froome admitted in his winner’s press conference on Saturday as reported by Cyclingnews. “A couple of guys have come straight from the Classics and are still quite tired from the Classics. We’ve also been a bit unlucky this week with a few illnesses.”

Movistar's Colomobian rider, Nairo Quintana, emphasized his status as Froome’s main rival for the Tour de France by winning the Tour de Romandie overall after a steady and coolheaded performance by his Movistar team impressed in controlling the race on Saturday – a contrast with Sky’s travails.

“I think our team has struggled this week but I’m not at all worried about the Tour de France,” Froome said. “Some guys will recover after this and come back even stronger and the number of strong riders we have on Team Sky to potentially make up the Tour de France squad… We have a really strong team, so I’m not worried about the Tour de France selection right now.”

However, Froome did not come away from the week long stage race emptyhanded. His victory on Saturday came after he attacked in the company of Tejay van Garderen (BMC) on the first of two ascents of the stiff climb of Barboleusaz. Dropping the American three kilometres from the summit on the second time up the mountain, he then proceeded to hold off the yellow jersey group on the rain-soaked descent to win by four seconds.

“It’s not first time I’ve won a race in bad weather,” Froome said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s in the Tour de Romandie or the Tour de France, a victory is always something that feels so special. It’s just a feeling of happiness, amazing happiness.”