The 88th

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and orga ...

bicycle race in Belgium was held on 4 April 2004. It was the second leg of the

UCI Road World Cup The UCI Road World Cup was a season-long road cycling competition held from 1989 until 2004 and comprising ten one-day events. History The competition was inaugurated in 1989, and replaced the Super Prestige Pernod International. In the first ...

. German Steffen Wesemann won the monument classic ahead of Belgians

Leif Hoste Leif Hoste (born 17 July 1977) is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Professional Continental Team team . Born in Kortrijk, Hoste's career highlights included winning two stages and the overall title at the ...

and

Dave Bruylandts Dave Bruylandts (born 12 July 1976 in Lier) 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 rode for Unibet.com in 200 ...

Race Overview

American

George Hincapie George Anthony Hincapie (born June 29, 1973) is an American former racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 1994 and 2012. Hincapie was a key domestique of Lance Armstrong. Hincapie was also a domestique for Alberto Contador in 2007 a ...

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 Sergei Valeryevich Ivanov () (born 5 March 1975 in Chuvashia, Soviet Union) is a former professional road bicycle racer, who competed between 1996 and 2011. Ivanov had been a member of six different teams, competing for CSKA Lada–Samara, T ...

with him as

Michael Boogerd Michael Boogerd (born 28 May 1972) 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 and female cyclist Leontien ...

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

Bosberg The Bosberg (English: ''Forest Hill'') is a hill in the Pajottenland in Belgium with its top located on the border of East Flanders and Flemish Brabant. The road leading to the top is surfaced in concrete in the lower parts and cobbled in the stee ...

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 dwindled 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 Geraardsbergen (; french: Grammont, ) is a city and municipality located in the Denderstreek and in the Flemish Ardennes, the hilly southern part of the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Geraardsbergen prop ...

and the showdown was on the Muur with a big group of heavy-hitters still together. The expected attacks by Van Petegem, Vandenbroucke, and Museeuw didn't materialize, leaving Wesemann and Bruylandts to spark the winning escape at the top of the Muur with Hoste in tow. Hoste, who had been away in some fashion all day long, avoided taking any pulls as the trio sped toward

Meerbeke Meerbeke 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 " P ...

. The other two let him sit on, preferring to take their own chances rather than be 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. On the day of this race, cycling legend and record holder for participations in the Tour of Flanders, Briek Schotte died at the age of 84. He also won the race twice and made the podium on six other occasions.

Top 20 finishers

# Steffen Wesemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 6.39.00 (38.65 km/h) #

(Bel) Lotto–Domo #

(Bel) Chocolade Jacques–Wincor Nixdorf #

Léon van Bon Léon Hendrik Jan van Bon (born 28 January 1972) is a retired 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 profess ...

(Ned) Lotto–Domo 0.28 # Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank #

Andreas Klier Andreas Klier (born 15 January 1976) is a retired German professional road racing cyclist. He competed professionally between 1996 and 2013. Klier moved into a managerial role with his final professional team, , after announcing his retirement a ...

(Ger) T-Mobile Team #

Rolf Aldag Rolf Aldag (born 25 August 1968 in Beckum, West Germany) is a former professional road bicycle racer who rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 2005. He raced in 10 Tour de France, 1 Giro d'Italia and 5 Vuelta a España. Prior to joining Telekom, ...

(Ger) T-Mobile Team 1.09 #

Frank Høj Frank Høj (born 4 January 1973) is a retired Danish professional road bicycle racer. Høj started as a stagiaire for the Zetelhallen–Vosschemie team in 1994, and became professional in 1995 for . His first win as a professional came the year ...

(Den) Team CSC 1.16 #

Paolo Bettini Paolo Bettini (born 1 April 1974 in Cecina, Livorno, Tuscany) is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably ...

(Ita) Quick.Step–Davitamon #

(USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor # Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto–Domo # Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 1.17 #

Laurent Brochard Laurent Brochard (born 26 March 1968 in Le Mans, France) 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. Brochard was a runner an ...

(Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 1.30 # Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco 1.38 #

Johan Museeuw Johan Museeuw (born 13 October 1965) is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1988 until 2004. Nicknamed ''The Lion of Flanders'', he was particularly successful in the cobbled classics of Flanders and ...

(Bel) Quick.Step–Davitamon #

Peter Van Petegem Peter van Petegem (born 18 January 1970 in Brakel, Belgium) 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 ...

(Bel) Lotto–Domo #

(Rus) T-Mobile Team #

Xavier Florencio Xavier Florencio Cabré (born December 26, 1979 in Tarragona, Catalonia) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2001 and 2013. Over his career, Florencio competed for , Relax-Fuenlabrada, , , ...

(Spa) Relax–Bodysol #

Roberto Petito Roberto Petito (born 1 February 1971) is an Italian former professional 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 cl ...

(Ita) Fassa Bortolo #

(Ned) Rabobank #

Stijn Devolder Stijn Devolder (born 29 August 1979) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed professionally for (2002–2003), (2004–2007), (2008–2010), (2011–2012), (2013–2016), (2017–2018) and (2019). Career Born in ...

(Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor

External links

Race websiteCycling News race coverage of 2004 Tour of Flanders

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004 Tour of Flanders Ronde van Vlaanderen 2004 Ronde van Vlaanderen Tuor of Flanders April 2004 sports events in Europe 2004 in road cycling