A GRUELLING session in the saddle for the Tour of Britain racers duly ended with a frantic flourish at the Haytor finishing line this afternoon. Honours for the Stage 6 leg went to Sky team’s Wout Poels after an exhausting trek from Sidmouth to Dartmoor in kindly weather conditions for the 124 competitors. They whistled at break-neck speed through Dunchideock, Chudleigh and Bovey Tracey before the final stamina-sapping last-gasp ascent to Haytor and its landmark rocks. Thousands of people lined the picturesque route through Teignbridge which sadly was not seen in the most glorious light on a disappointingly dull, damp and breezy day. The yellow Jersey was surrendered by Julien Vermote just three kms from the end of the stage as the sheer toil of the climb lost him his racing legs. He gave up his lead, held since Stage 2, to Steve Cummings who finished 8th in today’s contest. Cummings is now a minute ahead of the field as the Tour awaits tomorrow’s time trial when he can expect to consolidate his poll position. TV coverage was intermittent with a gusty winds affecting the satellite receiver. Wout Poels finished just a few seconds ahead of Rohan Dennis with Tom Dumoulin third.