Andrew Roche rolled back the years as he finished second in the Tour of Ulster - missing out on overall victory by just six seconds. Roche - who won the Ras Tailteann Tour of Ireland back in 1997 - was part of a strong Team Isle of Man – Microgaming squad who were in Ireland for the second consecutive weekend. The four day Tour of Ulster attracted another quality field which, in the run up to Ireland’s biggest race the An Post Tour of Ireland (formerly known as the Ras Tailteann) at the end of May, included Andrew Roche’s former pro team Motorpoint. The Motorpoint squad fielded a strong line-up which included Ian Bibby, John McEvoy and Pete Williams. But it was Giant Kenda team pro Dave McCann who stormed to a classy victory in Dungannon Park after 87 miles of hilly first stage. The stage kicked off in glorious sunshine but 30mph winds made life difficult and the 100 rider peloton split in the crosswinds after only three miles. McCann outclassed his breakaway partners and soloed to win by 1min 17secs and take the race leader’s yellow jersey. Team Isle of Man - Microgaming’s Roche and Christian Varley came in with a group of 12 riders just over two minutes behind the winner. Manxmen Aaron Livsey and Colum O’Shea came in with the second big group at 10 minutes, with Marty Warren and Tom Black nearly 19 minutes adrift. On stage two Roche and Varley were again more than up to the task as they impressed everyone with their gutsy, intelligent, riding. The stage covered 83 miles with five categorised climbs, including the finish hill. Motorpoint’s Pete Williams forced the final split with eight miles to run and only Roche and Williams’ team mate Bibby reacted. Roche rode fantastically well but ultimately had to concede to Williams at the line finishing in third place. This now put Roche into second on the overall standings, only three seconds behind Williams. Varley didn’t miss a beat again coming in with the remnants of the break for 10th place. This now put Varley in eighth overall and Team Isle of Man – Microgaming in a strong position going into the last two stages. Livsey, Black and O’Shea came in with the main bunch, eight minutes behind the leader. This now put O’Shea into second overall in the under-23 rider competition. Stage three was a half mile hill climb later the same afternoon. The short stage did nothing to affect the overall standings with race leader Williams finishing just 0.4secs ahead of Roche. The final stage saw the remaining 80 riders tackle 10 laps of a seven mile undulating circuit. With the high winds still battering the peloton it was difficult for any riders to establish breakaways. Team Isle of Man - Microgaming planned to make life difficult for Motorpoint late on as the stage win carried a time bonus and it also finished on a small climb which in the rush for the line can open up time gaps. The Motorpoint team’s pacemaking - and Roche and Varley’s efforts to put Williams under pressure - combined to blow the main field apart leaving only 22 riders at the front. Varley missed out on a stage win in a sprint finish with Williams taking the victory by the width of a tyre. Roche came home in fifth. A small crash in the front group saw Varley move up to fifth overall. Team manager Gary Hinds said: “Yet again the team has come to a quality bike race and made an impact on the outcome. Rochie and Christian haven’t missed any moves all weekend and against the calibre of this kind of competition that’s incredible. It would be fantastic to put a budget together for an Isle of Man team to compete regularly against these guys as it brings the best out of them. The rest of the team have supported them so well and it shows with Colum finishing second overall in the under 23 competition and Team Isle of Man – Microgaming third in the team competition.” Final standings: 2nd - Roche; 5th - Varley; 26th - Livsey; 30th - O’Shea, 39th - Black. DNF - Warren. - ENDS -