The two-time Tour de France winner began the day over 17 minutes adrift of the race leader Nairo Quintana of Colombia, having suffered several setbacks on previous stages of the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Tour race.

Froome opted to launch an attack with 40 kilometres remaining of the 173km route, as the peloton negotiated the steep Barboleusaz climb for the second time of the day.

He was joined by the United States’ Tejay van Garderen, with the duo working well together in a bid to establish an advantage over the field.

With Van Garderen beginning the day just over a minute behind Quintana in the overall standings, the Movistar team ensured the duo were unable to achieve a large gap.

Froome was eventually able to distance his breakaway compatriot and successfully negotiated the final descent of the day, despite the treacherously wet conditions, to move clear to the finish.

With the Briton taking his time to safely negotiate the closing kilometres, he eventually finished four seconds clear of the chasing pack in four hours 24min 44sec, with Spain’s Jon Izagirre crossing in second.

"I'm not necessarily here to show anything,” Froome told the Team Sky website afterwards.

“I'm here more for myself for preparations going forward.

"Obviously my big goal is to be ready for July, I needed some good racing this week to set me up for that."

Having crossed the line in the group with Izagirre, Quintana remained untroubled in defending his leader’s jersey, despite France’s Thibaut Pinot earning time bonuses to reduce the Colombian’s advantage to 19 seconds.

Izagirre was able to move up to third place in the standings, 23 seconds off the lead, with time bonuses moving him above Russia’s Ilnur Zakarin.

Racing will draw to a close tomorrow with a 172km flat stage from Ollon to Geneva.