GREAT Baddow's Alex Dowsett added the Tour of Britain's yellow jersey to his Commonwealth Gold medal after finishing in second place at the end of the sixth stage.
Since winning gold in Glasgow, the 25-year-old Movistar rider has been showing a lot of aggression in some of his recent performances, his name featuring in time trial results and mid-race sprints in the Eneco Tour – the hard- fought stage race that features many of the tough spring Classics climbs and cobbles – and the Tour du Poitou-Charentes.
But after suffering a double puncture on stage four of his home Tour, Dowsett vowed to keep on chasing the stage result he looked like achieving and that he felt his form was promising.
And that opportunity came during the 206km stage from Bath to Hemel Hempstead. By then Dowsett had already picked up bonus seconds and points on the second and fourth stages – all boosting his overall combativity total – and added double mid-race sprint and mountains wins on the road to the Hertfordshire finish.
Dowsett broke clear with two other riders after 50km of racing. Working together, they opened a gap that at one point stretched to nine minutes before the peloton started to pull them back.
"I'm in the form of my life but that was the hardest day of my life," Dowsett explained after the stage. "When our lead reached nine minutes, that's when I really started digging in.
"Later I sort of made an agreement with Matthias that he could win the stage as it looked like there was a good chance of me taking yellow. It was a risk I was willing to take.
"For the last 100km, I was more or less flat out but I was buckling in the last 5km and I was relying heavily on Matthias. This is more proof to me that I'm able to compete at this level."
Second place on the stage gave Dowsett the lead – and his first leader's jersey in a national Tour – by 34 seconds with just three stages, including an 8.8km time trial, before the race finish in London.
Unfortunately for Dowsett, the 225km seventh stage from Camberley to Brighton included two climbs too many, with the Essex rider unable to hold his place in the front group when they hit a trio of significant climbs in the last 60km of that decisive section.
Helped by team-mate Giovanni Visconti he pulled back some lost time but the final climb came too soon, sealing Dowsett's fate.
Losing more than two minutes to eventual stage winner Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) Dowsett slipped back to tenth place overall.
He said: "I was disappointed. I thought I woke up feeling pretty fresh, but as soon as we hit those climbs, I knew I was suffering. But the team were amazing."
The final day saw the riders facing a split stage starting with an 8.8km time trial won by Sir Bradley Wiggins, but Dowsett improved his overall position to eighth with just the final 88.8km stage around some of London's most iconic landmarks to come.
Dowsett didn't hold back even in that final stage. He broke away, initially on his own before being joined by a handful of co-escapees, and really shook up the chasing bunch, who expected the final stage to be dominated by the sprinters' teams.
Dowsett had to settle for second overall in the sprint competition and held onto his eigth place overall, finishing the nearly 1400km race just 54 seconds behind overall winner, Dutch rider Dylan van Baarle.
