Tour de France 2018: Ireland’s Dan Martin wins stage six as Geraint Thomas climbs to second overall

BMC's Greg Van Avermaet retains the yellow jersey

Ireland's Dan Martin won stage six of the Tour de France atop the Mur de Bretagne, his second career stage win in the race.

UAE Team Emirates' Martin attacked with 1.2 kilometres left of the 181km stage from Brest, which finished with two ascents of the 'Alpe d'Huez of Brittany' separated by a rolling 19km circuit.

The Birmingham-born rider held off a late push from AG2R La Mondiale's Pierre Latour to cross the line alone, just ahead of the pack as the general classification hopefuls scrapped for seconds.

There was a slight split in the peloton behind, with Mitchelton-Scott's Adam Yates part of a group that picked up a couple of seconds on the main pack, which contained Team Sky's Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, Movistar's Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa, and BMC's Richie Porte.

But there were losses further back, with AG2R La Mondiale's Romain Bardet hit by problems on the short two-kilometre climb and Team Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin also distanced after suffering a mechanical problem with six kilometres left.

At the end of the stage, BMC's Greg Van Avermaet retained the yellow jersey, with Team Sky's Geraint Thomas moving up to second, three seconds back.