Nicolas Roche, right, was one of the general classification favourites sprinting for the bonus seconds at the first sprint point before the decisive breakaway went clear (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
Nicolas Roche will look to go on the attack again and make up time on his key rivals for overall victory at the Tour of Britain on tomorrow's tough seventh stage.
The Tinkoff-Saxo man finished in the main field today on the 205.7km stage 6 from Bath to Hemel Hempstead as a four-man escape won the day.
After his stage win of yesterday, Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling) took another victory, with breakaway companion Alex Dowsett (Movistar) moving into the leader's yellow jersey.
He now has 34 seconds to spare over former leader and stage 4 winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), with stage 3 victor and another former yellow jersey wearer this week Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF) third, a further six seconds adrift.
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New race leader Alex Dowsett drives the winning move today and holds a good lead with a tough road stage tomorrow and time trial, his speciality, on Sunday morning (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
Roche is next, in 4th place some 50 seconds off the lead.
He was 28th today, with Ryan Mullen (An Post-Chainreaction) in 68th at 5:23, Sam Bennett (NetApp-Endura) in 80th at 13:59 and Jack Wilson (An Post-Chainreaction) at 21:51; Bennett has been ill and Wilson was injured in a crash earlier in the week.
Tomorrow sees the field race between Camberley and Brighton; the 225.km trek featuring the cat 2 Beachy Head after 162km followed by the infamous cat 1 Ditchling Beacon at 207km and the Bear Road cat 1 at 219km, just 6km from the finish.
There follows an 8.8km time trial in London on Sunday morning, with a circuit race consisting of 10 laps of the same TT loop in the afternoon.
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The main field rolls out of Bath this morning with Michal Kwiatkowski in yellow, though he would lose that jersey when the breakaway won out (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
A man who's having a fantastic race for Irish team An Post-Chainreaction; Briton Mark McNally has fought so well every day to build his lead in the climbers' classification (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
Stage 6: Bath - Hemel Hempstead 205.7km
1 Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling 4:44:49
2 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:01
3 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis
4 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:01:51
5 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani CSF
6 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
7 Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC Racing Team
8 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling
9 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team
10 Tom Veelers (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano
11 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Team NetApp-Endura
12 Owain Doull (GBr) An Post-Chainreaction
13 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin-Sharp
14 Andreas Stauff (Ger) MTN-Qhubeka
15 Adam Blythe (GBr) NFTO
28 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
68 Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:05:23
80 Sam Bennett (Irl) Team NetApp-Endura 0:13:59
109 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:21:51
General Classification
1 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 25:07:53
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:00:34
3 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:40
4 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:50
5 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:51
6 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team 0:01:00
7 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:02
8 David Lopez Garcia (Esp) Team Sky 0:01:04
9 Leopold König (Cze) Team NetApp-Endura 0:01:06
10 Sébastien Reichenbach (Sui) IAM Cycling
11 Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling 0:01:07
12 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 0:01:17
13 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:01:22
14 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin-Sharp 0:01:25
15 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Sharp 0:01:31
81 Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:28:44
94 Sam Bennett (Irl) Team NetApp-Endura 0:37:38
109 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 1:02:19
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