The eighth stage of the race offered an opportunity for world time trial champion Rohan Dennis to reduce his 41-second deficit to Colombia’s Bernal.

The Australian had won the individual time trial which opened the International Cycling Union WorldTour race last week.

Lampaert set the early standard on the course as the Deceuninck-QuickStep rider clocked 21min 58sec.

His Danish team mate Kasper Asgreen got closest to the time, but ultimately was five seconds slower.

The top three on the stage was completed by Denmark’s Søren Kragh Andersen, who was 10 seconds off the pace of Lampaert.

After ending 19 seconds down on the stage winner, Dennis was forced to settle for sixth.

He was able to make inroads into Bernal’s race lead, but the Colombian remains in charge of the general classification.

The Team Ineos rider was forced to readjust when his rear wheel skidded when turning a corner in the closing kilometres of the stage.

The Colombian successfully negotiated the scare and got across the line 19 seconds slower than Dennis.

Bernal will take a 22-second cushion into the final stage over Dennis, with Austria’s Patrick Konrad a distant third in 1:46.

The race concludes with a 144.4km stage in Goms tomorrow.