Kwiatkowski leads in Britain

London - Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski secured the overall lead in the Tour of Britain with a dramatic victory in the fourth stage on Wednesday.

The Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider won the sprint for the line at the end of the 184.6-kilometre route from Worcester in the English Midlands to Bristol on the south-west coast to take the leader's yellow jersey.

Dutrch racer Albert Timmer (Giant-Shimano) took second place in the stage, with Belgium's Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing) third.

The time bonus which accompanied the win saw Kwiatkowski move three seconds ahead of Italy's Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF) in the overall standings.

Teuns is third, Ireland's Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) fourth, 14 seconds behind, with defending champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) sixth, 27 seconds adrift, ahead of Thursday's fifth stage in Devon.

Olympic champion Wiggins, the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France, finished in the pack behind Team Sky colleague Ben Swift, who was six seconds adrift of Kwiatkowski in seventh.

Alex Dowsett (Movistar) was involved in a six-man break but suffered a setback when a double puncture saw him fall back to the main bunch.

The stage was decided in the final 3km when Timmer tried to break away before being closed down by Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) before Kwiatkowski and three other riders caught them up, with the Polish cyclist powering past Bauer.

The race concludes in London on Sunday.