Ryan Lochte (above) get caught from behind on the final leg of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. (AP)
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LONDON — As stunning as Michael Phelps’ lackluster performance was on Saturday night, the man who defeated Phelps turned last night into an even bigger shocker.
The U.S. 4×400-meter freestyle relay team took a comfortable lead into the last 100 meters of last night’s race and Ryan Lochte, who stole the show by winning the 400-meter individual medley a night earlier, was overwhelmed by France’s anchor swimmer, Yannick Agnel, who stole the gold medal from the U.S.
Agnel smoked Lochte in the last 100 meters by a full second.
It was Phelps, swimming second, who swam the fastest leg for the Americans, expanding the lead from 0.14 seconds to 0.76, and dishing off the lead that looked so safe with Lochte as the closer.
The fact that it was the French who stole gold from the Americans was fitting because the U.S. did the exact same thing to France four years ago in Beijing.
It was delicious revenge for the French, who in 2008 watched Jason Lezak of the U.S. swim a finishing leg for the ages to surpass Alain Bernard of France, the world-record holder in the 100-meter freestyle.
France won last night’s relay in 3 minutes, 9.93 seconds, bettering the Americans’ 3:10.38. Russia was third in 3:11.41.
Agnel’s anchor split was 46.74 seconds to Lochte’s 47.74.
Nathan Adrian, who swam the first leg, was defiant afterward, calling it “a tough loss … but we don’t consider it necessarily a loss.’’
“In my mind, we frame it as we won the silver medal, and whether or not that’s good enough for some people … whatever,’’ Adrian said. “As upset as some people can be … we almost got it. That wasn’t that big of a disappointment.’’
Cullen Jones, an Irvington, N.J. native who swam the third leg, called it “a hard loss,’’ but added, “We all swam to our best capabilities — faster than we all even expected. Since I’ve looked at my Twitter, we’ve made everybody happy.’’
Everybody?
Family and friends, perhaps.
The U.S. had this race in control before Lochte dove into the pool.
“He swam 47.7; that’s an amazing race,’’ Jones said. “Ryan typically doesn’t swim the 100 free and he swam out of his mind. You can’t predict a 46.7 (Agnel’s split) just like you couldn’t predict Jason Lezak’s 46.0 in 2008.
“Ryan is the type of person that’s going to beat on himself until the next Olympics,’’ Jones added. “I already told him, ‘You’ve just got to get over that. We swam awesome.’ ’’
For Phelps, the silver medal was his first Olympic silver. He’d previously won 14 golds and two bronzes. He now has a total of 17 medals and is one away from tying the most ever won by an Olympian.
Before the race, Phelps told his teammates, “I needed to get over [Saturday].’’
“I saw Nathan go out fast in the first 50 and I wanted to give the guys a bigger lead,’’ Phelps said. “I felt a lot better than I did [Saturday]. I was happy I was able to put it behind me and move on.’’
Said Jones: “We all knew Michael was going to step up and do what he does best.’’
U.S. men’s coach Greg Troy put out an entirely different relay team from the four who swam in the morning preliminary.
The U.S. team of Jimmy Feigen, Matt Grevers, Ricky Berens and Lezak turned in the second-fastest qualifying time in the semifinals and none of them swam in the final.
Even Grevers, who posted the fastest split time, seemed resigned to being left off the final relay before he got the news.
“You’ve got to play with what’s hot, and that’s a good hand right now,” Grevers said after the morning session. “Ryan Lochte is a good hand. All four of those guys have proven themselves time and again. I don’t have any doubt Michael will throw out an incredibly fast split.
“Nathan and Cullen showed themselves at trials. They’re always very trustworthy. And Ryan, you saw him blow the 400 IM out of the water. That guy’s hot, and you’ve got to go with what’s hot. It’s a strong group no matter what happens.”
Not strong enough.
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com