July 4, 2004 – Mark Walters of the Navigators Insurance team took the top honors today in the 104-mile Wachusett Mountain road stage of this year’s Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic Stage Race. This tough circuit that contains over 8,154 total feet of climbing is usually instrumental in setting the final overall G.C. of the race. With this in mind, the Navigators squad took to the start in defense of Viktor Rapinski’s Orange Leader Jersey. However, with only three riders in the race and the Coalvita squad only one second back, it was going to be a hard day for the men-in-blue.

The attacks began on the first of the nine laps and several small
breakaways escaped the peloton, and served to settle down the attacks.
The attacks lacked horsepower and had trouble handling the terrain without
the help of any Colavita riders. Unfortunately for any of the
opportunists, no breakaway was going to succeed unless it contained
members of the Navigators Insurance or Colavita teams.

Finally, after passing the half-way point of the race, a breakaway of six
escaped and were soon joined by three others. Mark Walters represented
the Navigators team while Colavita had Mark McCormack and Will Frischkorn,
Mike Creed (US Postal Service), and a smattering of other riders had the
motivation to forge ahead. With the top two places on G.C. left behind in
the main field, the breakaway was slowly pulling away until they reached a
gap of 1:20, where it remained for three laps.

The main pack behind was diminishing in size as the racers negotiated the
final lap, and as the leaders made the left turn onto the access road that
would lead them to the top of the ski mountain, the lead had increased to
2:00. The lead group began to shed riders as several attacks were made by
the strongest racers. A hard attack by Creed pared the break down to just
four chasers, but he was caught, then dropped, leaving Walters, McCormack
and
Frischkorn to fight for the win. At the line, it was Mark Walters by a
bike, followed by McCormack and Frischkorn.

Race leader Viktor Rapinski came in at about 3:00, which will change the
overall G.C. heading into the final criterium stage tomorrow in downtown
Fitchburg. The Orange Leader Jersey has now been on the shoulders of three
different riders and two teams. Armed with two stage wins, the final stage
will inevitably be a fierce battle between the Navigators Insurance squad
and the Colavita team.

Stage 3:
1. Mark Walters (Navigators Insurance)
2. Mark McCormack (Colavita)
3. Will Frischkorn (Colavita)

Overall G.C. (Unofficial):
1. McCormack