A BREAKAWAY group that went clear soon after the start of yesterday's fourth stage of the FBD Milk Ras in Nenagh and gained seven minutes by the end of the 102 miles to Castlebar produced another upheaval in the overall classification.

Although there was a one two for the Derry team, with Tommy Evans first ahead of David McCann, one of the Germans, Marcus Lemm, took over the lead.

With the overnight leader, Roddy Riddle of Scotland in the next group of 30, Lemm now leads by 59 seconds from McCann and Evans setting out on today's 94 miles from Tubbercurry to Letterkenny.

Unlike the earlier stages when some men, particularly Peter Daly, gained little reward for a lot of hard work at the front, yesterday's move paid handsome dividends.

Ben Luckwell, riding as an individual, was eight minutes and 22 seconds behind Riddle in 44th position but now he is at five minutes and only 1:48 behind Riddle, who has dropped to seventh, 3:12 down on Lemm. However, Luckwell was fined £100, his reward for winning on Monday and called before the commissaires because of his collusion with the Derry team.

Although the 123 who signed on had to endure heavy rain as they assembled for the start it stopped as they got under way and on the outskirts of Nenagh McCann, Finn O'Sullivan, Denis O'Shea of Kerry, Mervyn Dinkleman (Lincolnshire) and Graham Stirzaker (England North East) started what proved the decisive move.

At four miles they were joined by Evans, Lemm, Luckwell and Michael O'Reilly, riding with Wicklow, and they pulled gradually away. At eight miles the gap was 27 seconds, it had widened to a minute at 16 miles and with 25 miles covered they were well out of sight, 2:15 clear.

Apart from a few bursts by Daly there was no organised chase and at Loughrea, 40 miles, the lead was 4:05. Ten miles later, at Athenry, the situation was unchanged and the gap remained at around the four minutes mark until, with 30 miles to go, the main group split and 24 went in pursuit of the leaders, who were down to eight when Stirzaker dropped back.

Contrary to expectations the chasing group that included the rest of the top 10 overall except John Cosgrove (seventh), failed to make any impression. Three members of the Ireland team were there - Daly, Mark Hutton and Leslie McKay but, as nobody else would chase, they did not do so - either and the leading eight went to six minutes and 10 seconds at 92 miles with the main pack at 10 minutes.

Over the last 10 miles the leaders continued to draw away and at the finish the main group was over 20 minutes in arrears.

Three miles from the finish Evans launched his expected attack and O'Sullivan was the first to chase after him, but when the Dublin Fingal man could not bridge the gap McCann sprinted away from the rest of his breakaway companions and rejoined Evans.

McCann did not contest the sprint with Evans, and said afterwards he would wait for another day. For Evans, who was third in the championship last year and winner of the Junior Tour in 1991, a Ras stage win is the realisation of an ambition. "I have tried for five years to win," he said, "fifth was my best until now and I'm delighted to have done it at last.

McCann, who set out as one of the favourites for Ras honours, said he hoped to have a stage win too, but added that the overall victory was his aim.

Luckwell beat O'Shea for third place, but O'Shea is up to fourth overall at just 1:28. Lemm and O'Reilly were fourth and fifth but O'Sullivan lost a minute and 19 seconds to Evans and McCann after they had left him, and instead of moving up to second place he goes to fifth at 1:56 with O'Reilly next, 2:39 behind Lemm.

There were no climbs yesterday, but David Peelo had a hard struggle to finish after a crash 27 minutes down. He eventually survived, to retain the red jersey as leader of the King of the Mountains competition. There is only the third category Barnesmore Gap to be negotiated today, at 72 miles, on the way to Letterkenny.

It is very tight at the top of the points classification, and Luckwell now has the green jersey.

. A total of 156 riders tackle today's first leg of the Giro on its native soil following the overnight transfer from Greece and the rest day yesterday. Italians Stefano Zanini and Silvio Martinello are deadlocked in the tussle for the race lead, but Zanini wears the pink jersey.