Yates in the pink after charge up Mount Etna

SIMON YATES stole a march on fellow Briton Chris Froome by seizing the race leader’s pink jersey with a second-place finish on stage six of cycling’s Giro d’Italia up Mount Etna yesterday. Yates rode away from Froome and the other overall favourites in the final two kilometres up the volcano to join his Mitchelton-Scott team-mate Esteban Chaves of Colombia. The pair gained 26 seconds on the pack, enough to put Yates in pink and lift Chaves — who finished first — in third overall. ‘I felt really good,’ said Yates. ‘I had a gap so I took a chance and it worked.’ Yates now leads Tom Dumoulin of Holland by 16 seconds. Froome moved up to eighth, but is 1min 10sec adrift.