Stage 4
Lavery set out his stall early in the stage based in the Glens of Antrim, attacking from the drop of the flag and going clear with defending champion, Martyn Irvine (Planet X), and Dean Windsor (Rapha Condor). Irvine picked up the King of the Hills points to take the overall title in that event for a second time. The Newtownards man dropped back in the closing stages as Lavery and Windsor pushed on.

Windsor outsprinted Lavery for the stage win into Ballymena. Lavery did enough to take the biggest win of his career by winning the Overall General Classification by 18 seconds from Hamish Haynes (VC Ecosse), the former British Road Race Champion rolled in as part of the main bunch 1.37 in arrears.

Stage 4 - Results 05/04/10
1. Dean Windsor (Rapha-Condor) 2.44.09
2. Philip Lavery (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles) ST
3. Matt Cronshaw (Rapha-Condor) @ 1.37
4. Fraser Duncan (Eurocycles)
5. Jack Pullar (Herbalife-Wheelbase) both ST

Final Overall GC
1. Philip Lavery (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles) 9.04.01
2. Hamish Haynes (VC Ecosse) @ 18 secs
3. Tom Last (Sigma Sport) @ 24 secs
4. Conor McAllister (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles) @ 26 secs
5. Dean Windsor (Rapha-Condor) @ 30 secs
6. Niki Devoldere (Decock Sportivo) @ 33 secs
7. Dean Downing (Rapha-Condor) @ 1.44
8. Adam Armstrong (Eurocycles) @ 2.05
9. Ben Greenwood (Rapha Condor) @ 2.20
10. Ward Vandermeiren (Decock Sportivo) @ 2.26

Under 23
1. P Lavery
2. T Last @ 24 sec
3. C McAllister @ 26 sec 

AA King of the Hills
1. M Irvine 20 points
2. P Lavery 13
3. G Kinning (East Antrim Audi) 9

Teams
1. Rapha Condor Sharp
2. Decock Sportivo @ 2.54
3. Cycling Ulster @ 6.19

Stage 3
Rapha Condor's Matt Cronshaw won the stage based in the Limavady area. The alternative stage saw the riders tackle a 20 mile lap, four times. Following aggressive riding throughout the day, the final race winning break was made up of nine riders, including GC contenders, Hamish Haynes (VC Ecosse), Tom Last (Sigma Sport), Niki Devlodere (Decock Sportivo) and Conor McAllister (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles). Former race leader, Philip Lavery (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles) was in the chase group but with McAllister in the front group, Lavery played the team card, eventually ending the day 1.19 down.

Haynes moved into pole position on GC, with Last at six seconds, and McAllister now up to third, just eight seconds behind.

Stage 3 - Results 04/04/10

Stage 3
1. Matt Cronshaw (Rapha Condor) 3-22-12
2. Hamish Haynes (VC Ecosse)
3. Conor Murphy (Eurocycles)
4. Tom Last (Sigma Sport)
5. Niki Devoldere (Decock Sportivo)

General Classification
1. Hamish Haynes
2. Tom Last @ 6 secs
3. Conor McAllister (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles) @ 8 secs
4. Niko Devoldere (Decock Sportivo) @ 15 secs
5. Philip Lavery (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles) @ 1.19

Stage 2 - Results 03/04/10

Stage 2
1. Philip Lavery (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles)
2. Dean Downing (Rapha Condor)
3. Adam Armstrong (Eurocycles)
4. Dean Windsor (Rapha Condor)
5. Hamish Haynes (VC Ecosse)

General Classification
1. Dean Downing
2. Dean Windsor @ 3 secs
3. Hamis Haynes @ 8 secs
4. Adam Armstrong @ 11 secs
5. Ben GreenWood (Rapha Condor) @ 13 secs

Full results available by clicking here. Visit the Tour of the North Website for more details on the race.

Stage 1
Lavery took the victory in the Stormont Prologue by one second ahead of Matt Cronshaw of the Rapha Condor team. Defending champion, Martyn Irvine (Planet X) was third. The race continues tomorrow with a 76 miles stage based in County Down.

Stage 1 - Results 02/04/10 (Top 10)
1. Philip Lavery (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles) 2.13.72
2. Matt Cronshaw (Rapha Condor) 2.14.59
3. Martyn Irvine (Planet X) 2.15.09
4. Stephen Gallagher (Sigma Sport) 2.16.40
5. Glen Kinning (East Antrim Audi) 2.17.07
6. Dean Downing (Rapha Condor) 2.18.29
7. Ryan Connor (Cycling Ulster-D.McCall Fnd-Slane Cycles) 2.18.90
8. Ben Greenwood (Rapha Condor) 2.19.09
9. Tom Last (Sigma Sport) 2.20.25
10. Dean Windsor (Rapha Condor) 2.21.43

Race Preview - 01/04/10
The Tour of the North gets underway at Stormont tomorrow evening with a 1 mile Prologue. Defending champion, Martyn Irvine will have his sights set on the first yellow jersey of the race. Having spent the winter months riding the Track World Cup series and the recent World Championships in Copenhagen, the short intense effort should suit the Newtownards rider.

Also riding for the Planet X team is Roger Aiken who has shown in the past that he can be a General Classification contender as well, having finished second in the 2008 Rás. The Planet X team also has the expertise of Frank Campbell as Manager, Campbell has been involved with domestic racing teams for many years and has also been involved with the Irish High Performance squads.

The Dave McCall Foundation - Cycling Ulster team will be led by three time winner of the event, Ryan Connor. Connor will be supported by a squad of riders who are some of the best young talent in Irish cycling, including Philip Lavery who took a victory in Belgium just last week. The rest of the line-up for the CU team is Conor McAllister, Jonny Cole, and Simon Williams.

Adam Armstrong has been in fantastic form of late with a number of victories to his name and will lead the Eurocycles team. Also forming part of the Eurocycles challenge is Monaghan's Conor Murphy who won the Tour of Ards last week. Lurgan rider, Thomas Martin also features in the strong Dublin based team, however the strong time triallist will not have enjoyed seeing the removal of the traditional Sunday morning TT.

2008 Rás winner, Stephen Gallagher (Sigma Sport) has made a welcome return to racing in recent weeks that included second place in the Ben McKenna Memorial Cup. Gallagher has a wealth of knowledge and experience on the international scene to call upon. The Armagh rider was part of the Irish team that helped Mark Scanlon win the World Junior Road Race Championship in Valkenburg in 1998 and has spent the past decade racing in different parts of the World at Elite level, most recently as part of the Sean Kelly team in Belgium.
 
The UK challenge comes in the form of Rapha Condor, the team includes former British Criterium Champion, Dean Downing. Downing's kick at the finish means that he is a likely candidate for at least a stage victory.

The Cycling Ulster 'Belgian Project' partners, Decock-Sportivo have also made the journey to the province this week, and will be Captained by Geoffrey Demeyere, a winner of the prestigious U23 Gent-Wevelgem.

First rider off in the Prologue is at 6.30pm. Stage 2 is based in the Dundonald area and includes two categorised climbs, a Cat 1 and Cat 2. A change has had to be made to Stage 3 due to heavy snow in the area in recent days, riders will now complete four laps of a 20 miles circuit. The change of route can be viewed by clicking here. With legs getting tired and two Category 1 climbs plus a Category 2 climb, the final stage based in the Ballymena area will make for an exciting finale to the 2010 Tour of the North.