Simon Spilak got safely through his first day as race leader at the Tour de Romandie and defended his tiny 1-second lead over Chris Froome. The Slovenian claims to be feeling good and is confident ahead of the final time trial.

Team Katusha’s Simon Špilak retained the race lead in the 68th Tour de Romandie on Saturday, completing the 174 km circuit in Fribourg. Under the watchful eye of his Katusha teammates, Špilak arrived safely at the finish line to keep the yellow jersey for another day. He holds one second to Christopher Froome (Sky) going into the final stage on Sunday, with third place Rui Costa at 62-seconds.

"It wasn’t an easy stage because the circuit was technical with a lot of corners and dangerous places," he said. "So it was a little bit stressful, especially in the end. But the team was super today. The guys worked the whole day in front of the peloton and helping me a lot to stay in front and to finish safely without any problems.

"Tomorrow is the decisive time trial. I feel good, so I will give all I have to keep the jersey. So we will see tomorrow."

Three riders from the day’s breakaway succeeded all the way to the finish line in Fribourg after completing six local laps. Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) led the sprint from the front with 250 m to go and held off Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) to claim his third stage win of the week.

The peloton including race leader Simon Špilak came 34th in at nine seconds after a crash near the 7 km marker disrupted the chase and saw some riders hitting the ground. Egor Silin who led out Špilak in the final kilometers, became the best Katusha’s performer with 17th position.

Sunday’s last stage brings an individual time trial around Neuchâtel. The 18,5 km course features a climb halfway through before a flat final 3 km brings the Tour de Romandie to a conclusion.