Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen claimed his fourth stage win in a row to extend his lead in the Tour of Britain.

The 22-year-old Team Columbia rider finished ahead of Martin Reimer and Britain's Russell Downing to win the sixth stage, from Frome to Bideford.

Boasson Hagen now has a 19-second lead over Kai Reus in the overall standings.

Stage seven, which runs from Hatherleigh in Devon to Yeovil, takes place on Friday with the race finishing in London on Saturday.

Boasson Hagen, who last week agreed to move to Team Sky in 2010, beat Germany's Reimer, of the Cervelo Test Team, and Downing in a sprint finish.

It was the world number three's seventh career victory in the Tour of Britain.

"It's amazing but I couldn't do it without my team-mates. They are working hard and made a good lead-out," said Boasson Hagen.

"The team will maybe get a bit tired. I hope I'll take the [yellow] jersey but I'm satisfied anyway because I have four stages."

Downing is the leading Briton in the standings, lying in fifth place and 35 seconds adrift of Boasson Hagen going into the penultimate day.

For much of the stage, Geraint Thomas - who will also ride for Team Sky next season - threatened to take yellow as he led a four-man breakaway.

But an organised chase by Columbia brought the break, which also included Brits Ian Stannard and Ben Swift, back into the pack with 2km to go.

"For him to come away with four stages already is pretty impressive and I can't wait to ride with him next year," said Thomas of the Norwegian stage-winner.

"We broke away right at the start so it was a long old day.

"We were a good group and definitely made them work but it didn't come off in the end."

During the break, Belgian first-year rider Thomas De Gendt won enough points to be sure of taking the Tour's King of the Mountains prize and he is also in pole position in the sprints competition.

Stage six result:

1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor/Team Columbia-HTC) 4hrs, 5mins; 20secs
2 Martin Reimer (Ger/Cervelo Test Team)
3 Russell Downing (GB/Candi TV- Pinarello RT)
4 Koldo Fernandez (Sp/Euskaltel-Euskadi)
5 Pierpaolo De Negri (It/ISD-Neri)
6 Michele Merlo (It/Barloworld)
7 Christopher Sutton (Aus/Garmin-Slipstream)
8 Reinier Honig (Ned/Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team)
9 Alan Marangoni (It/CSF Group-Navigare)
10 Davide Appollonio (It/Cervelo Test Team)
11 Alexander Kristoff (Nor/Joker Bianchi)
12 Federico Canuti (It/CSF Group-Navigare)
13 Nicolas Roche (Ire/AG2R La Mondiale)
14 Kristian House (GB/Rapha Condor)
15 Andrew Tennant (GB/Team Halfords)
16 Malcolm Elliott (GB/Candi TV-Pinarello RT)
17 Daniel Lloyd (GB/Cervelo Test Team)
18 Graeme Brown (Aus/Rabobank)
19 Kai Reus (Ned/Rabobank)
20 Domenico Pozzovivo (It/CSF Group-Navigare)
all at same time

General classification:

1 Edvald Boasson Hagen 22hrs 17mins 17secs
2 Kai Reus at 0.19
3 Martin Reimer at 0.21
4 Christopher Sutton at 0.24
5 Russell Downing at 0.35
6 Geraint Thomas (GB/Barloworld) at 0.36
7 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fr/Agritubel) at 0.40
8 Simon Clarke (Aus/ISD-Neri) at same time
9 Reinier Honig at 0.42
10 Serge Pauwels (Bel/Cervelo Test Team) at same time
13 Kristian House at 0.45
15 Daniel Lloyd at same time
16 Malcolm Elliott at same time

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