Ireland's Dan Martin capped a daring, late attack on the steep Mur de Bretagne climb to snatch victory on the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday that saw several yellow jersey contenders lose precious seconds to key rivals. Overnight leader Greg van Avermaet (BMC) finished just three seconds behind in the main peloton to retain the yellow jersey ahead of Friday's seventh stage. Van Avermaet leads Britain's Geraint Thomas (Sky) by three seconds in the overall standings, with American Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and France's Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step) at five and six seconds respectively.

In a frantic finale that saw Martin break free of the pack 1km from the finish line to finish ahead of AG2R's Pierre Latour, defending champion Chris Froome of Team Sky lost eight seconds to his key rivals. But Froome was not alone. AG2R's Romain Bardet cracked in the heat of the final ascent and lost 31secs, while fellow contender Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), the 2017 Giro d'Italia champion, lost nearly a minute after suffering a mechanical problem.