Tour de Romandie: Chris Froome stays third as Michael Albasini wins

British duo Chris Froome and Simon Yates retained third and fourth place overall at the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland on Thursday as Michael Albasini extended his race lead by sprinting to a second successive win on stage three.

The 173.2km stage, from Moutier to Porrentruy, crested four categorised climbs but culminated in a bunch finish, which Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) won with ease ahead of runner-up Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx – Quick-Step) and third-placed Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing).

Albasini, who took the lead by winning stage two and has now won five stages of the race in the last two years, picked up 10 bonus seconds for his triumph and consequently extends his lead at the top of the general classification over second-placed Ivan Santaromita (Orica-GreenEdge) to 20 seconds.

Froome (Team Sky) and Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) both crossed the line in the peloton and are also 20 seconds adrift overall in third and fourth respectively.

Froome continues to enjoy healthy cushions over his two main rivals for overall victory, with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) 17 seconds down on the Briton and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) 40 seconds back.

The six-day race continues on Friday with a rolling 169.8km fourth stage from La Neuveville to Fribourg.

Stage three result

1 Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica-GreenEdge, 4:14:56

2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step, same time

3 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing, st

4 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, st

5 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st

6 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cannondale-Garmin, st

7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx – Quick-Step, st

8 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltn) Cannondale-Garmin, st

9 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Giant-Alpecin, st

10 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Katusha, st

Selected others

15 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, st

42 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, st

General classification

1 Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica-GreenEdge, 8:57:38

2 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica-GreenEdge, +20secs

3 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, same time

4 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, st

5 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step, +24

6 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, +25

7 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha, st

8 Yuri Trofimov (Rus) Katusha, st

9 Egor Silin (Rus) Katusha, st

10 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, st

Selected others

14 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +37

27 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +1:00