Thousands of cycling fans from Hertfordshire and beyond descended on Dacorum this afternoon to watch the Tour of Britain take a potentially decisive twist.

The 205.6km stage from Bath to Hemel Hempstead was won by Austrian Matthias Brandle – his second stage win as many days – but the focus of the British crowd was on the man who crossed the line in second, Alex Dowsett.

The Commonwealth Games time trial champion has been riding aggressively all week - a double puncture ruined his hopes in a breakaway earlier in the race - and his efforts finally paid off as he finished a second behind Brandle, but one minute 50 seconds ahead of the main field, which was enough to take the race leader’s yellow jersey off Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski.

The 25-year-old Movistar cyclist now leads Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Kwiatkoswki by 34 seconds, with Italian Edoardo Zardini six seconds further back in third.

Dowsett was full praise for the crowds along the route and said: "The whole stage was amazing. I've never ridden in a race where so many people are shouting my name at the side of the road. It's a bit frustrating having 'Go Wiggo' [defending champion Sir Bradley Wiggins] shouted at the breakaway when there's no Wiggo in it, but it was incredible.

"I can't remember what climb it was but it was unbelievable, I've never known anything like it. Usually I'm the guy in the groupetto so everyone's lost enthusiasm by then. Going up there because I haven't experienced it, I'm wondering if they're all going to get out of the way but it was incredible, absolutely phenomenal.

"The further we go into this Tour of Britain the more and more people are coming out. London, again, is going to be quite something. I race mostly on the continent and abroad and the crowds here are some of, if not the biggest I've ever seen and I certainly saw that with the Tour de France this year as well."

Together with Madison Genesis’ Tom Stewart, Dowsett and IAM Cycling’s Brandle broke away after around 20km in the second longest stage of the race and at one stage had built up a lead of more than ten minutes on the peloton.

The main field started to make inroads into that advantage as the race entered the final 100km and at 50km with the gap at six minutes 47 seconds, it looked touch and go whether the breakaway trio would survive.

By the time the stage reached Berkhamsted with approximately 10km remaining though, the gap was still at two minutes 55 and it was increasingly a question of which of the leading trio would claim the stage.

That honour went to Brandle as he crossed the line first in Leighton Buzzard Road, but it was the rider behind him who took a big step in the quest for the main prize.

Tomorrow’s seventh stage takes the riders from Camberley to Brighton before the race finishes in London on Sunday, with an 8.8km individual time trial in the morning followed by an 88.8km circuit race.