Team Sky's Tour de France GC contender Bradley Wiggins earlier today powered to a sensational eye-opening sprint victory in stage 1 of the 2012 Tour de Romandie and also took over the overall race lead from teammate Geraint Thomas.

With about 400 meters to go of the 184.5 kilometer stage, British national champion Wiggins unleashed an unbelievable burst of energy, which pedaled him towards the finish line at rocket-like speed and left the sprinters pondering what was happening in front of them on a stage which was designed for those sprinters who are able to stay within the peloton group across minor climbs.

What made the victory even more astonishing is the fact that Wiggins was struck with mechanical problems approximately 25 kilometers from the finish line and had to be brought back to the peloton group by fellow riders from his Team Sky team.

The peloton rode very aggressively in the final 20 kilometers and this spoiled the chances of success for today's breakaway group, which consisted of Team BMC Racing's Martin Kohler, Kenny Dehaes of Team Lotto-Belisol, Team Europcar's Angelo Tulik, and Jimmy Engoulvent of Saur-Sojasun. The breakaway group obtained a maximum lead of 5 minutes before the peloton stated reeling them in.

The victory in La Chaux-de-Fonds also secured Wiggins valuable bonus seconds which made it possible for him to overtake teammate Thomas in the overall Tour of Romandy rankings.

"I had a lot of adrenaline after I punctured with 25 kilometers to go. When that happened the boys dropped back for me and did a fantastic job. Then in the final I was kind of on my own and marshaling everything and I just wanted to pay them back for everything they'd done, they were incredible. I've got them to thank and it was really nice to be able to finish it off like that," Wiggins told Roadcycling.com after the finish.

"I went a bit early and had to sit down to rest for a bit and then went again but it was good to get the win. I want to win Tour de Romandie, that's for sure. I'll take what I can every day and it's really nice to win a sprint like this because normally I only ever really win time trials," a Wiggins full of joy added.

Today's winner Wiggins - and the rest of the Sky team - are using the Roadcycling.com/TrainingPeaks premium training diary to plan, register and analyze their training and racing. Sign up for the free version here to gain access to some of the same tools - or upgrade to premium to gain the same advantage as Wiggins.

Tomorrow's stage 2 is a 149.1 kilometer ride from Montbeliard to Moutier which should end in a bunch sprint or be contested between a small group of breakaway hopefuls.

Top 25 Tour de Romandie 2012 stage 1 results:
1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky Procycling    04:50:23
2 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
3 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Pro Team Astana
4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) Team BMC Racing
5 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
6 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team
7 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
8 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre - ISD
9 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Barracuda
10 Pieter Weening (Ned) GreenEdge Cycling Team
11 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
12 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
13 Cadel Evans (Aus) Team BMC Racing
14 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
15 Steve Morabito (Swi) Team BMC Racing
16 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) RadioShack-Nissan
17 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
18 Mikel Landa (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
19 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Pro Team Astana
20 Molina Ruben Plaza (Spa) Movistar Team
21 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Barracuda
22 Rui Costa (Por) Movistar Team
23 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Barracuda
24 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Team BMC Racing
25 Jerôme Coppel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun