Michal Kwiatkowski and Omega Pharma-Quick Step were the big losers in today's stage of the Tour of Britan when the early break stayed away and Alex Dowsett took the leader's jersey off Kwiatkowski's shoulders. However, the Pole is still optimistic ahead of tomorrow's very hard stage.

OPQS put the entire team on the front all day and went full gas in the final kilometers trying to chase down a three-rider breakaway on Friday. Alex Dowsett (Movistar) was present in the move, and it was a threat to the overall leadership of Michal Kwiatkowski as he was just 1'25" down in the GC.

Unfortunately, an advantage that was as much as nine minutes could not be reduced enough in the final for the Polish rider to keep the yellow jersey for another stage. Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling) won the stage, with Dowsett 2nd, and Thomas Stewart (Madison Genesis) 3rd. Kwiatkowski finished 19th behind the three riders, with he and his teammates cutting the gap to 1'51" by the time he arrived at the finish.

Kwiatkowski is now 2nd in the GC, down by 32 seconds. He and OPQS look next to 225.1km Stage 7 on Saturday. There will then be a crucial double-stage day on Sunday, including an 8.8km ITT.

"What can I say, it's part of the sport," Kwiatkowski said. "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Today, chapeau to the guys in the front. They went hard. We tried to chase them the whole race, but it wasn't possible.

"I want to thank my teammates. They gave their hearts to keep my leader's jersey. In the end it didn't work, but we still have three stages to go. It's not over. Even when we lose, we don't give up.

"I was even trying to chase in the last kilometers. I was trying to minimize the gap. We all gave everything we had and that's all we can ask for. We'll see what can happen in these next days as our team spirit is very much still alive."