provided by Navigators Insurance   May 6, 2004 – What a difference a day makes! Yesterday, the Silver Jubilee edition of the Four Days of Dunkirk began in typical fashion, with chilling temperatures, ferocious winds, and driving rain. Today the starters of stage 2 were rewarded with relatively mild conditions, and more sun than should ever be expected in this part of the world. The up-beat attitude of the riders before the start was a clear indication of their appreciation for the climactic gift.

Not to underestimate the challenges that lay ahead, the 190K ride would certainly not be a day in the park. Several early attempts at successful breakaways, including two serious attempts by Navigators Insurance riders Mark Walters and Viktor Rapinski were held in check by the aggressive field until Landbouwkredit-Colnago's Marc Streel was allowed to escape solo about 80K in. As the field paused to recollect itself from the early sparring, Streel quickly gained a five-minute advantage. Cofidis held the pink leaders jersey on the back of yesterday's winner Jimmy Casper, and also had claim to the KOM (Janek Tombak) and points (Casper) jerseys, all of which were threatened as Streel's lead grew. Perhaps more importantly, Sunday's TT could be the deciding factor in the six-stage event, and Cofidis had to be thinking that World Champion David Millar would be the odds on favorite, giving them added incentive to protect the lead. But it appeared that Cofidis' strategy was to let the sprinters teams (most notably Hondo's Gerolsteiner squad) take charge, and as the leader's team played poker, Streel worked the course and took advantage of a moderate tail wind. With the gap at over 12 minutes, the Gerolsteiner team finally took the bait around 125K into the 190K stage. The German team did immediate damage to Streel's impressive effort, and in a matter of several kilometres, the gap was under 10 minutes. Hondo's “waterboys” continued to pour it on until they approached the day's first KOM at 133K. When Cofidis refused to join in the chase, Gerlosteiner pulled the plug, and Streel was soon back to over 11 minutes.

Cofidis finally accepted reality with 30K remaining, and sent the team to the front. Riding the entire team, and with Millar taking powerful turns, the French team surged in desperation, taking big chunks of time out of the lone escapee. But the effort was clearly too late, and Cofidis had lost any hope of allies in their pursuit. As the field entered the final 8K circuit, it was obvious that Streel would be the victor, and that the real question would be by how much. Cofidis continued to swallow up time until Jean Patrick Nazon's AG2R team took control in the closing 5K in hope of gaining a few time bonus seconds for their 2nd placed Nazon. The Navigators blue train was well positioned behind AG2R, with Siro Camponogara and Rapinski setting up Ciaran Power and Henk Vogels. Streel crossed the line 1:37 in front of the sprinting Nazon with Mr. Bookmaker's Roger Hammond in third as Navigators' Vogels went up the sidewalk, loosing momentum in the dogfight rush for the line.

Tomorrow's stage three features a tough ride along the coast before turning inland to a very hilly finishing stretch. The 203K stage will feature three time bonus sprints, and the tour's two toughest KOM.