Phonak’s Santiago Botero signaled his return to winning ways by claiming overall victory in the Tour of Romandie, the 11th race of the 27-leg Pro Tour series.

Botero claimed victory after winning the final stage time trial held over a 20.4-kilometer route in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Sunday.

The Colombian, a former world champion in the discipline, came over the finish line to beat Australian specialist Brad McGee, with overnight race leader Damiano Cunego of Italy finishing third on the stage.

Botero's victory comes in the wake of a relatively barren spell, most of which he endured during his time at former team, T-Mobile. He hadn't won a major time trial since winning the world champion's rainbow jersey in 2002.

Despite losing the jersey at Romandie, Cunego seems ready to take on the Giro.

Photo: Graham Watson

“I'm reborn, I'm living again,” Botero told eurosport.fr after the win that erases the memory of two years of setbacks at T-Mobile. “To think that it was two years of hardship, so naturally I'm savoring this one.”

The victory crowns a super return for the Colombian who returned to a strong performance in the Fleche Wallonne and followed it up by dethroning Oscar Perreiro as Phonak team leader in Romandie.

“I was surprised to be so strong in the mountain considering that I'd just started racing again,” said Botero. “I had excellent sensations on the bike and you could see it in the 20km ITT in the streets of Lausanne.”

The win was big news for the Phonak team, bedeviled by doping scandals that have threatened to derail the Swiss-base squad. With the win, the team defends the title it won last season with Tyler Hamilton.

“We're back and teams are going to have to count us in,” Phonak sporting director Jacques Michaud. “Our problems are in the past. That's the most important. Obviously with guys like Botero, Pereiro, Perdiguero, Moos, Landis, we have ambition on the Tour de France. It's the big objective of our season. There are other objectives beforehand, such as the Giro, the Tour of Catalunya, the Dauphiné Libéré.”

Botero took the overall lead of the race on Friday after he finished four seconds behind Cunego in the 146.5 km third stage from Aigle to Anzere. He maintained his victory chances after finishing with the leading bunch in Saturday's fourth stage, won by Liberty's Alberto Contador of Spain, and where Cunego finished third.

Botero takes final stage and overall at Romandie

The talented young Italian, who last year won the Giro d’Italia by beating his own Saeco team leader Gilberto Simoni, knew he would have work to do on Sunday as he is more of a climber than a time trialist.

Cunego began the day with a three-second advantage on Botero, however he put any doubts about his current abilities to rest by turning in a respectable performance in the final time trial.

Results - Lausanne time trial
1. Santiago Botero (Col), Phonak, 20.4km in 26:29
2. Brad McGee (Aus), Francaise des Jeux, at 0:25
3. Oscar Pereiro (Sp), Phonak, at 0:35
4. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre-Caffita, at 0:36
5. Stefano Garzelli (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 0:39FULL RESULTS