Dennis climbs to the top in Thüringen

The Jayco-AIS rider, who is the reigning Australia under-23 time trial and road race champion, lined up as a strong favourite for the 8.4km uphill time trial stage from Gräfenroda to the winter sports capital of Oberhof.

The 22 year old clocked 16min 43.45sec to better the time of second-placed Frenchman Johan Le Bon (17:11.30) by almost half a minute.

"Wow that hurt but on a brighter note I'm glad I could deliver for the team when it mattered," Dennis tweeted after his lung-busting ride to the top.

Dennis went into the penultimate stage trailing a trio of Rabobank riders by three seconds as a result of the Team Jayco-AIS second place ride in the prologue that kicked off the tour on Saturday.

But his stage win has put him in the tour leader's jersey with a leading margin of 28 seconds on Le Bon while Dutch rider Marc Goss (Rabobank) 56 seconds behind in third place.

"One day to go lets (sic) finish this!" urged Dennis who is hoping to defend the lead in the final stage which is a hilly 143km course around the town of Zeulenroda.

Dennis is also a member of Australia's team pursuit squad for the Olympic Games.