STAGE six of the FBD Milk Ras yesterday from Letterkenny to Buncrana was not as conclusive as expected.

After the climbs over Ballagh Mountain and the Gap of Mamore the list of contenders was reduced but there was no change at the top so Marcus Lemm of Germany still leads by 59 seconds from the Derry team mates David McCann and Tommy Evans.

There was some hectic action at the front all the way around the 89 mile circuit and at the end Jeff Wright of the Britain North East team foiled Ireland's Peter Daly of an elusive stage win with Englishman Ben Luckwell, riding as an individual, third.

After finishing fourth on the first two stages Daly held the overall lead for a day.

He was third into Letterkenny on Wednesday and was wearer of the red jersey as leader of the king of the mountains competition yesterday but today he completes the set as he has the green jersey as leader of the points classification.

Lemm, from Mageburg, near Berlin, is only 18 and in his first season as a senior, but he defended the yellow jersey very well.

He was in a chasing group with McCann and Evans and although he had to dismount at the foot of the Gap of Mamore when his chain became derailed he fought his way back in great style and finished just ahead of McCann and Evans, a minute and 20 seconds behind the leading trio.

Roddy Riddle of Scotland, who was in the lead after Monday's stage, finished fourth and is back up to fourth overall, 2:31 behind Lemm.

Luckwell improved from ninth to fifth, now at 3:50, Finn O'Sullivan and Michael O'Reilly both drop places to sixth and seventh but they are now 4:46 and 5:12 behind Lemm.

Daly is still in contention, he went from 12th to eighth, 5:16 down while Wright jumped from 14th to ninth. Kerryman Denis O'Shea slipped from fourth to 10th and is now 7:30 behind.

Wright, from Newcastle, was King of the Mountains last year, when he was second on two stages and finished 17th overall.

He is firmly in the lead in the mountains competition again as he beat Daly in all the major climbs yesterday. Wright has 63 points to 52 for Daly.

After the first category climb of Ballagh Mountain, at 46 miles Wright and Daly were to the fore - in a breakaway group with Riddle, Luckwell, Ciaran Power, two of the Germans, Rafael Hennes and John Paul Furus, and Andy Naylor of the British team.

Trouble with his chain cost Power his place at the front and, as a chasing group formed with Lemm, McCann and Evans included, the leaders pressed on towards Mamore. Furus dropped back to assist Lemm and on the early part of the Mamore climb Daly forged ahead from Wright.

Up near the top, however, Daly was rejoined by Wright and Luckwell with Riddle next and over the top it was Wright ahead of Daly and Luckwell. Hennes was fourth over, followed by Riddle and Naylor with Lemm at the head of the chasing group.

While Lemm, McCann and Evans caught Hennes and Naylor on the descent Riddle kept going well to hold fourth place. Daly led out the sprint up the Main Street in Buncrana but he was unable to hold Wright off.

Daly said: "I was feeling good and strong and went on with 250 metres to go but he got by 100 metres out. Still, it's not over yet and I'll be trying again."

While the winner seems likely - to come from those in the top eight there could be one or two other challengers emerging from - further down but Lemm is obviously going to be difficult to dislodge.

Of 109 who started the stage only 100 survived. There were some crash victims and Glenn Longland (Cheshire) had to be taken to hospital for treatment.