SIR BRADLEY WIGGINS admitted his Tour of Britain title defence came to an end on the Wednesday stage through Gloucestershire.

Wiggins (Team Sky) ended Day Four (Worcester to Bristol) 27 seconds adrift of Michal Kwiatkowski who pulled off a stunning victory in Bristol.

Poland's Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won the sprint for the line at the end of the 184.6-kilometre route from Worcester to claim a time bonus and take the yellow jersey by three seconds from Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF).

Wiggins dropped back to sixth, 27 seconds behind the leader, but there was further stunning drama on Friday when Alex Dowsett took over the Friends Life yellow jersey with a startling victory on the Bath to Hemel Hempstead stage.

The win was some justice for Dowsett who had a double puncture on Wednesday, dropping him right back in the peloton.

Dowsett nows leads the overall classifications by 34 seconds from Kwiatkowski, with Wiggins having dropped back to seventh, more than a minute adrift of the leader.

The race finishes in London on Sunday.

Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France champion and 2013 Tour of Britain winner, said after Wednesday's stage: "I'm still up there but on paper first place has gone now."

Ahead of Saturday's eighth stage, Mark Cavendish, winner of 25 individual stages at the Tour De France, lies in 53rd place.