De Gendt and Domont were two of seven riders in the day’s breakaway, with Antonio Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), Silvio Herklotz (Bora-hansgrohe) and Delko Marseille duo Delio Fernandez and Angel Madrazo.

Their lead stretched to six minutes pretty rapidly, and on a day which looked well-suited to a breakaway, the leaders always held the advantage from there on.

That said, only two – De Gendt and Domont – remained with 30km still left to race on the hilly finishing circuit.

Domont held on for second place, while Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) attacked late to snaffle a few seconds, and third place on the day, ahead of the peloton.

Bahrain-Merida’s Sonny Colbrelli led the peloton across the line 59 seconds after De Gendt, meanwhile, with Ben Swift (UAE Team Emirates) the highest-placed Brit on the day in ninth.

Froome, Yates, Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), Richie Porte (BMC Racing) et al were all in the bunch, meanwhile, with their true battles likely to come in the latter half of this race.

Criterium du Dauphine 2017: stage one – result

1) Thomas de Gendt (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal – 4.17.04hrs
2) Axel Domont (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +44”
3) Diego Ulissi (ITA) – UAE Team Emirates +57”
4) Pierre Roger Latour (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale – ST
5) Emanuel Buchmann (GER) – Bora-Hansgrohe
6) Sonny Colbrelli (ITA) – Bahrain-Merida +59”
7) Julien Simon (FRA) – Cofidis – ST
8) Alejandro Valverde (ESP) – Movistar
9) Ben Swift (GBR) – UAE Team Emirates
10) Michael Valgren (DEN) – Astana

General classification

1) Thomas de Gendt (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal – 4.16.54hrs
2) Axel Domont (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +48”
3) Diego Ulissi (ITA) – UAE Team Emirates +1.03
4) Pierre Roger Latour (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +1.07
5) Emanuel Buchmann (GER) – Bora-Hansgrohe – ST
6) Sonny Colbrelli (ITA) – Bahrain-Merida +1.09
7) Julien Simon (FRA) – Cofidis – ST
8) Alejandro Valverde (ESP) – Movistar
9) Ben Swift (GBR) – UAE Team Emirates
10) Michael Valgren (DEN) – Astana