The Australian’s time, and average speed of 50.15km/h, were so good he even put 12 seconds into world champion Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin), who remains favourite to win the opening stage of the 2017 Tour de France against the clock in Dusseldorf.

Romain Bardet was among the biggest losers on the day, as he finished 1’53” slower than Porte in 46^th place.

Brits Ian Stannard (Team Sky) and James Shaw (Lotto-Soudal) were among the early starters on the course, but it was Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis) who set the first serious time to beat, as he stopped the clock in 29.46.

South African champion Daryl Impey made light work of shaving 44 seconds off that time, while Chad Haga took the mark down further to 28.39.

As soon as Tony Martin set off, however, it was clear that time was in danger, with Der Panzerwagen quick off the mark, and riding aggressively on the downhill sections and into the technical corners.

He nearly came a cropper on one bend towards the finish line, but stayed upright to set what appeared to be a winning time of 28.19.

Froome stopped the clock in 28.44m a significant loss to Porte, and only five seconds faster than the time De Gendt set, as the Belgian earned at least another day in the yellow jersey.

With the mountains to come, it remains to be seen if De Gendt can hold on, but it appears to be advantage Porte after win number six for the season.

De Gendt remains 27 seconds clear overall, with Valverde a further 24 seconds back, while Contador now trails the Belgian by 1’02” and Froome is 1’04” down.

Simon Yates climbed to 14th, meanwhile, and trails new white jersey leader Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) by 13 seconds.

Criterium du Dauphine 2017: stage four (ITT) – result

1) Thomas de Gendt (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal – 13.05.53hrs
2) Richie Porte (AUS) – BMC Racing +27”
3) Alejandro Valverde (ESP) – Movistar +51”
4) Stef Clement (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo +55”
5) Alberto Contador (ESP) – Trek-Segafredo +1.02
6) Chris Froome (GBR) – Team Sky +1.04
7) Brent Bookwalter (USA) – BMC Racing +1.12
8) Jesus Herrarda (ESP) – Movistar +1.15
9) Sam Oomen (NED) – Team Sunweb +1.17
10) Diego Ulissi (ITA) – UAE Team Emirates +1.22
Selected other
14) Simon Yates (GBR) – Orica-Scott +1.30