The stage itself saw a fast start to proceedings, before a four-man break eventually went clear – Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Jack Bauer (QuickStep Floors) and Will Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) all booking more time up the road, with Jeremy Maison (FDJ) for company.

BMC Racing set the tempo behind, maintaining a comfortable gap between two and two-and-a-half minutes for much of the stage.

Britain’s James Shaw was forced to abandon on his UCI WorldTour debut, however, as illness took its toll on the 20-year-old Lotto-Soudal rider.

Kenny Elissonde hit the pace first, before Sebastian Henao put in a dig which actually opened up a small gap behind him.

With the other teams looking around for someone to chase down the move, Porte spotted his opportunity and seized it – using Henao as a carrot to chase, the Australian dropped the hammer.

He caught and passed the younger Henao cousin with ease, and while Rafael Valls (Lotto-Soudal) and Chaves initially held his wheel, Porte was simply too good.

The BMC Racing man’s advantage was 20 seconds at the finish line, with his second stage win of this race teeing up what should be the fourth UCI WorldTour stage race victory of his career.

Santos Tour Down Under 2017: stage five – result

1) Richie Porte (AUS) – BMC Racing – 3.40.13hrs
2) Nathan Haas (AUS) – Dimension Data +20”
3) Johan Esteban Chaves (COL) – Orica-Scott – ST
4) Diego Ulissi (ITA) – UAE Abu Dhabi
5) Jay McCarthy (AUS) – Bora-hansgrohe
6) Nathan Earle (AUS) – UniSA-Australia +23”
7) Rafael Valls (ESP) – Lotto-Soudal – ST
8) Sergio Henao (COL) – Team Sky
9) Robert Gesink (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo
10) Tom-Jelte Slagter (NED) – Cannondale-Drapac

General classification

1) Richie Porte (AUS) – BMC Racing – 18.00.21hrs
2) Johan Esteban Chaves (COL) – Orica-Scott +48”
3) Nathan Haas (AUS) – Dimension Data +51”
4) Jay McCarthy (AUS) – Bora-hansgrohe +54”
5) Diego Ulissi (ITA) – UAE Abu Dhabi +59”
6) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – BMC Racing +1.02
7) Rafael Valls (ESP) – Lotto-Soudal – ST
8) Robert Gesink (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo
9) Wilco Kelderman (NED) – Team Sunweb
10) Nathan Earle (AUS) – UniSA-Australia +1.06