Mathieu van der Pol (Kollendon-Circus) regained the overall lead with a good result in the individual time trial of stage 6 of the Tour of Britain. The young Dutchman finished in sixth place, 12 seconds behind winner Edoardo Affini (Mitchelton-Scott) and six seconds ahead of Affini's teammate Matteo Trentin to regain the leader's jersey. Van der Pol, who is making the Tour of Britain part of his training for the world championships later this month, hinted that he may go on the attack in the last two days of racing in Britain in an attempt to win the overall, the longest race of his career.

"I've heard that tomorrow will be another uphill finish. We have already proven that we have some strong riders who can control the race. I am confident tomorrow," van der Pol said at the post-stage press conference.

The Amstel Gold winner, when asked if he would use the attack as his best defense over the remaining two days, replied: "It depends on how my legs are feeling. When I'm in good shape, I always try to move. That's right."

Surprisingly, this was van der Pol's first competitive time trial since his junior days, but the multi-talented rider showed no signs of inexperience as he tackled a deceptively difficult course through the English countryside.

Although not the best time triallists in the world, Van der Pol gave times to Dutch and British national champions Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) and Alex Dorsett (Katusha-Alpecin), respectively, Mikkel Landa (Movistar) and Gianni Moscon (Team Ineos) slipped aside with relative ease.

"Of course I'm happy," said Landa. It's been a really long time since I've done a time trial. I'm happy with this result. Of course, ahead of the World Championships, an individual time trial on such a hard course is a really good sign. My legs felt really good today. It's a really close race with Matteo. He has already shown fast legs that earned him bonus seconds.

"I surprised myself," Van der Pol said. "The last time I did a real time trial was in junior. But I'm happy with my performance. But I'm happy with my performance.

Trentin has not abandoned the race and will be looking for a morale-boosting GC victory in preparation for next month's UCI Road World Championships. Trentin's sprint on the flat is crucial to earning bonus seconds, but how van der Pol destroyed the field in the final uphill finish of stage 4 will catch the rest of the peloton off guard.

"It will certainly be a hard race," van der Pol admitted.

"Matteo is my closest competitor and he has already shown he is fast at the end. With the bonus seconds, it will be a really hard race until the last day."