In the 1999 summer, after helping Mallorca win the domestic Supercup and reach the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (already accompanied in the team by former Lanús teammates Ariel Ibagaza and Gustavo Siviero), 30-year-old Roa retired from football in order to take a religious retreat. After a year of charitable and religious work spent as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, his convictions led to his refusal to discuss a new contract with his team because he believed the world was going to end in the near future.