Some pictures from the stage taken by Peter Purfield
The start of stage 4 in Lough Lannagh Village
The riders have a brief stop on the outskirts of the town before the official start
Three members of the Tempo BMV Veldhoven team breakaway at 1km into the race
At 7kms a new break has gone clear
The bunch in pursuit
The leading group is opening the gap on the bunch
The bunch is now one minute behind
A few more kilometers the gap has opened to two minutes
A chase group leaves the bunch to try cross the gap
The bunch is nearly three minutes down at 40kms into the stage
The leaders have now opened the gap to over four minutes
The Dave Raynor team go to the front of the bunch
Only 3 riders are constantly going through, the two Tempo BMV Veldhoven and Usher IRC riders
Today's stage is going north into a strong headwind, the gap starts to come down at 60kms - it's now 3' 30"
At 75kms the gap has come down to under two minutes
Passing the Shell Gas LIne terminal in Belmullet the leading group splits, then Marcus Christie of Usher Irish Road Club and Charles Prendergast Stena Ireland team are on the attack again
The two leaders open the gap to an incredible 4 minutes on the bunch with this chase group in between
At 15kms to go the bunch is around 3' 30" down, with the yellow jersey (inset) going back to his team car with mechanical problems
The two leaders sprint it out up the steep hill to the finish in Ballycastle
Prendergast gets it to give the Stena Ireland team it's 3rd stage win
Micheal Duffy leads in the next group for 3rd place
Sam Bennett comes home in 8th place (3' 34" down) which is enough to put him in Yellow
The stage winners Christle, Prendergast and Duffy with Therese Dowd representing Stage 4 sponsors, C.A..M.M.I. the Motorbike marshalls
The podium after stage 4, Dominic Schils of the Dave Rayner Team moves into the White jersey and Sam Bennett of Stena Ireland team is back in Yellow, the Mountains and Points leaders remain the same
Race sponsor Martin Donnelly congratulates the race leaders Sam Bennett
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Purfield unless otherwise stated. These pictures may not be copied or
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