2004 Ronde van Vlaanderen
Encyclopedia
The 88th Tour of Flanders
bicycle race took place in Belgium on April 4, 2004.
CyclingNews reported on the finale:
Tour of Flanders
The Tour of Flanders is a Flanders Classics road cycling race held in Belgium every spring, a week before the Paris–Roubaix road race. It is part of the UCI World Tour and one of the so-called monuments of the European professional calendar. It is the most important cycling race in Flanders...
bicycle race took place in Belgium on April 4, 2004.
CyclingNews reported on the finale:
American George HincapieGeorge HincapieGeorge Hincapié Garcés is an American professional road bicycle racer currently riding for UCI ProTeam . Hincapie resides in Greenville, South Carolina...
, winner Wednesday in De Panne, tried to spark a winning move on the Leberg. Frustrated, he found nobody to help him, particularly as Van Petegem's Lotto team had two men further up the road. Bruylandts was the next to give it a go, taking Serguei Ivanov with him while Michael BoogerdMichael BoogerdMichael Boogerd is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with teammate Erik Dekker, even inspiring Dutch authors to write a book called "Michael & Erik" about this generation, and the...
leapt across to catch the tail end of the move. They were soon caught by the group of favourites, but the attack signaled the coming of the crucial point in the race, with the often decisive climbs of the Tenbosse, the Muur, and the Bosberg still to come.
Van Petegem tried to go clear on the paved rise of the Tenbosse, but Bettini wouldn't let him go. By this point eight men were still away up front, but their advantage was dwindling quickly as the more than 200 kilometres covered seemed to do nothing to blunt the speed of the peloton. The leaders were caught just before Geraardsbergen and the showdown was on on the Muur with a big group of heavy-hitters still together.
It was at this point that the expected attacks from Van Petegem, Vandenbroucke, and Museeuw didn't materialize, leaving Wesemann and Bruylandts to spark the winning escape with Hoste in tow. Hoste, who had been away in some fashion all day long, avoided taking any pulls as the trio sped toward MeerbekeMeerbekeMeerbeke is a village in the Denderstreek in the province of East Flanders in Belgium. Administratively it is part of the municipality of Ninove. This rural community is located along the Dender River on the western border of what is known as "Pajottenland". With a total surface of 1047ha it is the...
. The other two let him sit on, preferring to take their own chances rather than get caught up in a premature tactical battle. Hoste did close the gap when Bruylandts put in a last kilometre attack, but it only served to set up the powerful Wesemann to take the sprint and claim his first ever World Cup victory.
Top 20 finishers
- Steffen WesemannSteffen WesemannSteffen Wesemann is a retired professional road racing cyclist. Wesemann most recently rode for the professional continental team Cycle Collstrop after riding a year with the Team Wiesenhof-Felt squad. He had previously spent the other years of his career at Telekom who later became Team T-Mobile...
(Ger) T-Mobile Team 6.39.00 (38.65 km/h) - Leif HosteLeif HosteLeif Hoste is a Belgian professional road racing cyclist since 1998. He rides on the UCI ProTour for . His career highlights include winning two stages and the overall title at the 2006 Three Days of De Panne, the 2001 and 2006 Belgian national time trial championships, and a second place finish...
(Bel) Lotto-Domo - Dave BruylandtsDave BruylandtsDave Bruylandts is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. Bruylandts was tested positive for EPO use in 2004 and was banned for 18 months. Following his ban, Bruylandts briefly roder for Unibet.com in 2006 and for the UCI Continental team Klaipėda-Splendid Cyclingteam in 2007...
(Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf - Leon Van BonLéon van BonLéon Hendrik Jan van Bon is a road racing cyclist from the Netherlands, who won the silver medal in the men's points race at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He won his first major race at the professionals in 1998, winning the HEW Cyclassics...
(Ned) Lotto-Domo 0.28 - Erik DekkerErik DekkerHendrik "Erik" Dekker is a retired Dutch professional road racing cyclist active from 1992 until 2006. He was a member of the Rabobank cycling team from 1996 till 2006. In 2007 he became one of Rabobank's team managers.-Amateur career:...
(Ned) Rabobank - Andreas KlierAndreas KlierAndreas Klier is a German professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam .-Palmares:1996200220032005-External links:...
(Ger) T-Mobile Team - Rolf AldagRolf AldagRolf Aldag is a former professional road bicycle racer who rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 2005. He has raced in 10 Tour de France, 1 Giro d'Italia and 5 Vuelta a España...
(Ger) T-Mobile Team 1.09 - Frank HøjFrank HøjFrank Høj is a retired Danish professional road bicycle racer. Høj started as a stagiaire for the Zetelhallen team in 1994, and became professional in 1995 for . His first win as a professional came the year after.- Wins :...
(Den) Team CSC 1.16 - Paolo BettiniPaolo BettiniPaolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006...
(Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon - George HincapieGeorge HincapieGeorge Hincapié Garcés is an American professional road bicycle racer currently riding for UCI ProTeam . Hincapie resides in Greenville, South Carolina...
(USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor - Thierry MarichalThierry MarichalThierry Marichal is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer.- Palmarès :* Duo Normand * Bayern-Rundfahrt - 1 stage * Circuit Franco-Belge - 1 stage...
(Bel) Lotto-Domo - Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 1.17
- Laurent BrochardLaurent BrochardLaurent Brochard is a retired professional road racing cyclist from France. In 1997 he won a stage of the Tour de France and became world road champion in San Sebastián, Spain....
(Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 1.30 - Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco 1.38
- Johan MuseeuwJohan MuseeuwJohan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....
(Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon - Peter Van PetegemPeter van PetegemPeter van Petegem is a former professional road racing cyclist. Van Petegem last rode for Quick Step-Innergetic, in 2007. He lived in Horebeke. He was a specialist in spring classics, one of ten riders to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris–Roubaix in the same season...
(Bel) Lotto-Domo - Serguei Ivanov (Rus) T-Mobile Team
- Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Relax-Bodysol
- Roberto PetitoRoberto PetitoRoberto Petito , is an Italian road bicycle racer.Petito was born in Civitavecchia. His most important win came in 1997, when he won the Tirreno–Adriatico. He has also finished in the top five in classics such as the Ronde van Vlaanderen or Paris–Roubaix, as well as the overall in the 2006...
(Ita) Fassa Bortolo - Michael BoogerdMichael BoogerdMichael Boogerd is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with teammate Erik Dekker, even inspiring Dutch authors to write a book called "Michael & Erik" about this generation, and the...
(Ned) Rabobank - Stijn DevolderStijn DevolderStijn Devolder is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He rides for UCI ProTeam , having ridden for Discovery Channel between 2004 and 2007 and from 2008 to 2010. Devolder won his first professional race at the 2004 Four Days of Dunkirk, winning stage 4...
(Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor