On Thursday, Lovegrove was again in the day's key break that managed to stay ahead of the field until the final 3km climb up to the Crowne Terrace after escaping at the 30km mark.
"The plan was to get in a move and I was just patrolling the front of the bunch being vigilant when the break went and I made sure I was in it," Lovegrove said.
He was joined by teammate, former New Zealand representative rower Ian Smallman, who unfortunately crashed at the 80km mark and had to retire with a broken collar bone.
After two hours of racing the leaders had a lead of over four minutes which meant Lovegrove was the tour's virtual leader for the second time during this year's race.
As the leaders approached the finish line Powernet's Josh Atkins managed to bridge across to them from the chasing bunch and then climbed up the final 3km where he claimed the tough 179km stage and the yellow jersey.
Lovegrove's teammate Paul Odlin was the first Subway Pro Cycling rider to finish, coming in 19th, one minute and 55 seconds behind Atkins, followed by Subway's Westley Gough four seconds later.
Lovegrove and his remaining teammates Pete Latham and Sam Horgan all finished comfortably inside the top 30, after what was a very challenging day of rain, tough climbs and cross winds.
Atkins, who rides internationally for Lance Armstrong's powerful Trek-Livestrong team, claimed the PowerNet team's inaugural stage win.
After stage five of racing, Lovegrove was in 18th GC, and the Subway Pro Cycling team were in fifth place overall in the teams division.
Yesterday's 167km stage 6 started at Invercargill and finished at Gore, while today's stage seven - the Time Trial at Winton is scheduled ahead of the final stage, eight, Winton to Invercargill.
