• British rider crosses line in second spot but takes pink jersey • Yates allows team-mate Esteban Chaves to win and go third overall

Britain’s Simon Yates has taken 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 the race leader Rohan Dennis, before the gruelling 169km stage to a finish on Mount Etna. He becomes the fourth Briton to wear the pink jersey after Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar.

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Yates attacked the other general classification hopefuls inside the final two kilometres, breaking away from the peloton and bridging to team-mate Chaves – the last survivor of the day’s breakaway – and the pair crossed the line together, with Yates gifting the Colombian the stage win. It meant Yates moved 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.

“I felt really good,” Yates said afterwards. “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.”

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After catching Chaves, Yates allowed the Colombian 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 added. “He’d been up the road all day and he deserved it.”

Leading GC after stage six

1) Simon Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 22hrs 46mins 3secs; 2) Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb at 16secs; 3) Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott at 26secs; 4) Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida at 43secs; 5) Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 45secs; 6) Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team at 53secs; 7) Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team at 1min 3secs; 8) Chris Froome (Gbr) Team Sky at 1min 10secs; 9) George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo at 1min 11secs; 10) Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at 1min 12secs.