Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took his fourth time trial victory this season with a dominant win in today's final flat 18,7km race against the clock in the Tour de Romandie. A solid 3rd place by Chris Froome (Sky) was enough for the Brit to take home another stage race triumph this season while Simon Spilak (Katusha) and Rui Costa (Movistar) defended their 2nd and 3rd places to round off the podium.

Tony Martin seems to be back to his best in his favourite discipline this year and he seems to be almost unbeatable in the discipline. After an expected defeat in the mountain prologue, he showed his superiority on an 18,7km completely flat course along the shores of the Lake Geneva and took a convincing win in the final stage of the Tour de Romandie.

There was never any doubt that the world champion would come out triumphant as he was already 13 seconds faster than provisional leader Adriano Malori (Lampre) at the intermediate check and at the finish he had extended his lead by a further 2 seconds. However, the Italian once again proved that he has stepped up his game this season as he held onto second place after having taken the same position behind Martin in the Tirreno-Adriatico time trial.

With a 47 second lead over second-placed Simon Spilak it would take a disastrous performance from Chris Froome (Sky) to take away the overall lead from the Brit. That disaster never occurred as the Sky leader once again proved his time trial abilities by taking a fine 3rd place 34 seconds behind Martin.

Yesterday's stage winner Simon Spilak was his nearest challenger and while the Slovenian was never a threat to Froome, his formidable 5th place behind Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) capped off another impressive showing in what seems to be a fantastic 2013 season for the Katusha rider. Froome only beat the 2010 Romandie winner by 2 seconds in today's stage.

The battle for the final podium position was really tight with Rui Costa, Tom Danielson (Garmin) and Wilco Kelderman (Blanco) all close in the GC prior to the stage. At the intermediate check Costa and Danielson were 1 second faster than the young Dutchman but at the finish the duo had both extended their advantage to 9 seconds. That was enough for Costa to take the 3rd place ahead of Danielson and Kelderman while the Dutchman had the consolation of the win in the young riders' competition.

A number of time trial experts disappointed on the specialists' course and while Martin, Malori and Westra all lived up to expectations, a 15th place for Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge), 24th for Manuele Boaro (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) and 25th for Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) are probably all way off their pre-race hopes.

With Froome's win he now takes a break from competition before he starts his build-up to the Tour de France. He is expected to return at the Criterium du Dauphine in June before he tries to succeed Bradley Wiggins and Cadel Evans as winners of both the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de France in the same season.

Result:

1. Tony Martin

2. Adriano Malori +0.15

3. Chris Froome +0.34

4. Lieuwe Westra +0.36

5. Simon Spilak

6. Stef Clement +0.50

7. Richie Porte +0.52

8. Mads Christensen +0.55

9. Rohan Dennis +0.56

10. Tobias Ludvigsson +1.01

General classification:

1. Chris Froome

2. Simon Spilak +0.54

3. Rui Costa +1.49

4. Tom Danielson +1.54

5. Wilco Kelderman +2.03

6. Jean-Christophe Peraud +2.14

7. Jurgen Van Den Broeck +2.16

8. Richie Porte +2.31

9. Alejandro Valverde +2.32

10. Marcel Wyss +2.41