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Team Sky ensured Chris Froome retained the yellow jersey as they controlled the peloton in stage one of the six-day Tour de Romandie in Switzerland.

The Briton won the opening prologue on Tuesday and finished in the bunch in Wednesday's 176.4km stage from Saint-Maurice to Renens/Ouest Lausannois.

American Andrew Talansky remains six seconds back, with Croatia's Robert Kiserlovski 13 seconds off the leader.

Froome will lead Team Sky at this year's Tour de France.

He said: "It was a good solid start from the team. We started off in total control of the race.

"Even when the attacks came on the final climbs, the guys just stayed calm and we all stayed together.

"There was a lot of road furniture coming into the finish. The sprinter teams took it up coming into the final. The main thing for us was just to stay out of harm's way and save the legs for what is coming up."

Froome's team-mate Sir Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de Romandie last year as part of the build-up to his Tour de France victory, but he is concentrating on the Giro d'Italia this year.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider Gianni Meersman of Belgium won Wednesday's stage, edging RadioShack Leopard rider Giacomo Nizzolo of Italy in a bunch sprint after four hours and 29 minutes.

Isle of Man rider Mark Cavendish, a team-mate of Meersman, had mechanical problems midway through the stage and did not figure in the finish.

Tour de Romandie classification (after stage one):

1. Chris Froome (Britain/Team Sky) 4:42:24"

2. Andrew Talansky (US/Garmin) +6"

3. Robert Kiserlovski (Croatia/RadioShack) +13"

4. Richie Porte (Australia/Team Sky) +15"

5. Rui Costa (Portugal/Movistar) +16"

6. Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ) +17"

7. Stef Clement (Netherlands/Blanco)

8. Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar)

9. Tom Danielson (US/Garmin)

10. Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands/Blanco) +18"