Simon Yates (Great Britain) jumped clear from an elite group containing gold jersey holder Bradley Wiggins (Sky) inside the final 200 metres of the uphill finale at Haytor to take the honours on stage 6 of the Tour of Britain after using all his track experience to await the perfect moment to pounce.

The 6km final climb saw repeated surges from Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani CSF-Inox), Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) but Sky duo David Lopez and Wiggins took turns to bring the breakaway ridersto heel.

Subsequently, Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani), Sergio Pardilla (MTN Qhubeka) and the Lopez all tried their luck but failed to open up a significant gap to the group after Wiggins had taken a long and commanding turn at the front to stretch the pace.

On the final slopes up to the line, however, it was Simon Yates, a double stage winner at the recent Tour de l’Avenir, who was the strongest, and he burst clear within sight of the finish to take victory, two seconds clear of Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling) and Lopez.

Wiggins crossed the line 10 seconds back with Nairo Quintana and retains the gold jersey and looks set to win the Tour of Britain which finishes on Sunday in London.

Stage six result:

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Great Britain 3:23:43

2 Martin Elmiger (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:00:02

3 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Sky Procycling 0:00:02

4 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) MTN-Qhubeka 0:00:05

5 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:00:05

6 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:10

7 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:10

8 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:00:12

9 Marcel Wyss (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:00:12

10 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Sojasun 0:00:31

General classification:

1 Bradley Wiggins (Sky)