Giro d’Italia 2018: Britain’s Simon Yates seizes Maglia Rosa on Mount Etna as Esteban Chaves wins stage six

The Mitchelton-Scott rider Yates started the day in third place, 17 seconds behind the overall race leader Rohan Dennis, before the gruelling 169km stage to a finish on Mount Etna

Adam Yates celebrates claiming the pink jersey (AFP/Getty Images)

Britain’s Simon Yates has taken the overall lead in the Giro d’Italia after finishing second on stage six behind his Mitchelton-Scott team-mate Esteban Chaves.

Yates started the day in third place, 17 seconds behind race leader Rohan Dennis, before the gruelling 169km stage to a finish on Mount Etna.

Yates broke away from the peloton on the final climb to bridge to team-mate Chaves – the last survivor of the breakaway – and the pair crossed the line together, with Yates gifting the Colombian the stage win.

That saw Yates move to the top of the standings, where he now holds a 16-second advantage over Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin, with Chaves moving up to third.

Yates becomes the fourth Briton to wear the pink jersey after Mark Cavendish, Sir Bradley Wiggins and David Millar. The 25-year-old attacked the other general classification hopefuls inside the final 2km and quickly distanced them.

“I felt really good,” he said. “I looked across the road and everyone was looking at each other. I had a bit of a gap so I took the chance and in the end it worked out.”

(AFP/Getty Images)

After catching Chaves, Yates allowed his team-mate to take the stage win, even though it will cost him four bonus seconds which could prove expensive down the line.

“I said to him as soon as I caught him that he could take the stage because if I had enough time I would take the jersey,” Yates said. “He’d been up the road all day and he deserved it.”

PA