“Well, seeing that the Aussies have come through with the quicker time and now have the yellow jersey, we can’t say that,” laughed the Tour de France favourite. “But, actually, we’re happy. We’re in perfect position at the moment.”
In this summer of British-Australian sporting confrontations, the chapeau had to be tipped to the nine fellows of Australia’s Orica-GreenEdge team who, on a 25km loop beginning and ending in a festival atmosphere on La Prom, produced the fastest team time trial in the history of Grand Tours to put their 33-year-old sprinter, Simon Gerrans, in yellow.
Yet after finishing third, gaining a few precious seconds on Froome’s main general-classification rivals and not having to worry yet about the burden of shouldering the maillot jaune, Sky were left enthusing about their first day on the swish French mainland following the wild and wacky adventures in Corsica.
Once again, they ended up saluting Geraint Thomas. With his cracked hip, he was not expected to contribute to the nine-man effort, where rider after rider has to take ferocious turns powering off the front.
Yet not only did he contribute to the tight formation for 24 of the 25 kilometres, Froome reckoned he also “put in some massive turns” at the front to ensure they finished only three seconds behind Orica-GreenEdge, whose winning time of 25?min 56.28?sec meant their average speed around the circuit was a record 57.841?kph. Rather faster than their team bus, which got wedged beneath the finish gantry on Saturday, one suspects.
It meant a second dream day for former Sky rider Gerrans, following his stage win in Calvi on Monday, as he became the sixth Australian to wear the yellow. Phil Anderson, the first back in 1981, was the man who first encouraged the Victorian to drop motocross and take up cycling.
Yet Sky were perfectly happy not to win yellow themselves because of the responsibilities that go with it, even if their Norwegian star, Edvald Boasson Hagen, who would have earned the privilege, may not have felt quite so sanguine. “We tried but if we were in yellow, it would mean over the next couple of predominantly flat stages, we’d have to be on the front possibly expending all that effort on defending just a few seconds, which would be a bit unnecessary at the moment,” said Froome.
There was the added bonus of chipping time out of his rivals, including six seconds from Saxo-Tinkoff’s Alberto Contador, 17 seconds on Alejandro Valverde, 23 seconds from Cadel Evans and 25 seconds from Joaquim Rodríguez. Froome smiled: “We’ve taken note of that advantage over Contador.”
It will also not have escaped him that Benjamín Noval, one of Contador’s key lieutenants, clipped a
camera-wielding spectator at full pelt and tore tendons in his fingers. His Tour could be in doubt.
Froome still seems remarkably serene. “I felt really good, able to do longer pulls on the front. I’m feeling like I’m really coming into some good form coming into the mountains.”
“He is looking very fruity, shall we say,” smiled his admiring team boss, Sir Dave Brailsford. “And Richie Porte is in the best form I’ve ever seen him in too, climbing fantastically well.”
All is well in Sky’s world then, especially with Thomas continuing to confound everyone, including himself. “I don’t really believe it myself, ” he said, after a team official congratulated him on an unreal effort.
David Millar had started the day, believing he could turn the place into the Promenade d’Ecossais but the Scotsman’s hopes of wearing yellow for the first time since 2000 foundered when his highly fancied Garmin-Sharp team finished sixth.
The 36-year-old, who was within half a wheel of landing yellow in Corsica, conceded: “I was so close on Sunday, and the yellow is such a big thing, that it was unavoidable that I should be thinking of it. I’m very disappointed because it would have book-ended my career perfectly, but that would perhaps have been a bit too perfect. Life isn’t that fair.”
Mark Cavendish improves daily having taken antibiotics for bronchitis last week and was praised by his Omega Pharma-Quick Step manager, Rolf Aldag, for overcoming his
Corsican disappointments and helping his team finish runners-up, just one second adrift. “B------s!” was the typically succinct Cav summary.
His mood may be improved today if he can open his victory account for the Tour on the 219km trek from Cagnes-sur-Mer. He needs to start firing or dreams of green will quickly evaporate.
11.40 Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) was the first rider over the Côte de Châteauneuf-Grasse as the Belgian earned his first two points in the mountains classification while Anthony Delaplace (Sojasun) picked up a single point. The group of escapees have extended their lead to over 10 minutes now. 
11.30 Enrico Gasparotto (Astana), last year's Amstel Gold Race winner, has crashed in the peloton while the six-man lead group have extended their lead to over six minutes. Japan's national road race champion Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), who started the day 75th overall 3min 42sec behind Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge), is the virtual leader of the Tour de France. 
Anyway, here's what Stephen Roche, the 1987 Tour de France winner, told us about today's stage when we met up with him recently ...