April 8, 2004 – The 39th G.P. Pino Cerami was contested today on 193Km of Franco-Belgian roads in the Wallone region of Belgium. Navigators' Jeff Louder got his legs warmed up with a solo attack just 10Km in to the race, in an effort to draw out an early break. Although a group of 19 eventually made an escape, it lacked the correct composition and was neutralized shortly later. The weather for the start of today's event was an improvement over the horrendous conditions of yesterday, although in typical fashion the rain clouds appeared several times throughout the day just to occasionally soak the riders. Overall, there was a much better atmosphere amongst the riders, and the fans, at the festivities surrounding the start.
The day's long breakaway finally came after 40Km of racing when Ralf Grabsch (Team Wiesenhof) and Stefan Wijnans (Vlaanderen-U23) went on the attack. Their lead increased to a maximum of 6:30 over the next 100 km throughout the green pastures and farms on undulating roads. It wasn't until the race reached the five finishing circuits of 8.5 km that the duo finally broke apart. Grabsch was able to hold off the main peloton for one of the center-city laps, until he was caught by a chase group of four, which included his brother Bert (Phonak). The five breakaways took advantage of the highly technical course that was rain-drenched for the first three laps, and with a lead of 1:44 at the end of lap two, the peloton had their work cut out for them.
As the sun appeared and began to dry the roads on lap three, the chase finally came. A group of seven chasers separated themselves from the field and began to close in on the five leaders. Simultaneously, the action in the field heated up as the riders began to smell the quickly approaching finish line. With just over one lap remaining, the lead group, the chase group and the peloton were within striking reach of each other.
The strike came in the form of an attack of five that included Navigators' Kirk O'Bee, winner of this race in 2002, Dave Bruylandts (Chocolade Jacques), 2nd in 2002, Bert Grabsch (Phonak), Nico Sijmens (Landboukkredit-Colnago), and Jan Kuyckx (Vlaanderen). The new leaders never looked back and soon had a small gap on the chasing peloton. The reaction from the field came in the form of a six man chase that never got closer to the leaders than 15-seconds. Up and down the demanding hills, complete with pave, sharp turns and fast descents, the two groups raced toward the line. With about five km remaining, Slijmans attacked the leaders and went out on his own. At the same time, one of the chasers was able to bridge across, making it a total of six in the lead, with Slijmans still out in front. On the final two km of up, down, left, right, up and down again section, the leaders self-destructed as each racer dug deep to rid himself of his companions, and make it to the line in front. Slijmans clearly had the legs and held on for the win as the others staggered in behind. Navigators' O'Bee finished the day in sixth.