KEVIN DAWSON (Lancaster Life Repair Group) succeeded where team mate, Mark Lovatt, failed so narrowly the previous day when he rode into Letterkenny to win yesterday’s fourth stage of the FBD Milk Ras which took the riders 107 miles from Ballina in persistent if not torrential rain.

TOMMY EVANS retained the Rás leader’s coveted yellow jersey but the Banbridge man, who won the title in 1996, insisted yesterday’s windswept 117-mile stage from Roscrea to Clifden was the hardest of his career.