Team-mate Michal Kwiatkowski had missed out on the fastest time on the board by just one second with fellow Pole Maciej Bodnar sitting on top of the time-sheets when Froome rolled down the ramp.
Kwiatkowski had the fastest times through the first two sectors though and his British team leader was just two seconds down on him after the first third of the 22.5km stage.
A supreme climb up a steep hill in the 15th kilometre was negotiated with relative ease and he did what he does best, closing out the time trial in third place to seal his first win of the year.
The final stage of the Tour remains tomorrow but it will only be a ceremonial one with a bunch sprint at the end and Froome will end the day standing on the top step of podium for the fourth time in five years.
Froome did not win a single stage outright during the 2017 Tour but Team Sky general manager Dave Brailsford paid tribute to his fighting spirit as the reason behind his overall win.
“From a personality point of view, when you first meet Chris, he is a very polite guy and he comes across as a real nice gentle guy,” Brailsford said.
“And then something will happen and all of a sudden you see this steel that’s inside him and it takes you aback a little bit.
“Then you realise that underneath, he’s an incredible fighter and a never-say-die guy but that’s what makes him good.
“When he’s not having a good day or something happens, he can just turn himself inside-out to get back in the race. You can’t shake him off.
“The moment of the race for me was when he had his mechanical, changed the wheel and he had to get back on otherwise he was losing the race before the end of that steep climb.
“There’s not many people could have done what he did there and he might not have won a stage but that was some performance.”
