June 29, 2004 – The men’s race started under mostly blue skies at a fast
and furious pace. Within one lap a small lead group of five containing
Filip Meirhaeghe (Specialized), Christoph Sauser (Siemens/Cannondale), Roel
Paulissen (Siemens/Cannondale), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Lapierre
International), and Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida) broke away.

A Canadian train with Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), Seamus McGrath (Haro), Roland
Green (Trek/Volkswagon), Ryder Hesjedal (Gary Fisher/Subaru) plus Liam
Killeen of Great Britain (Gary Fisher/Subaru) were in the chase group.

I was racing around on my bike, legs still sore from my own race (Trish
Sinclair is an elite racer and competed in the women’s cross-country World
Cup prior to the men’s event – ed), trying to catch the guys at different
climbs on the course to give splits and take a few pics. There were many
small battles going on throughout the race.

Most notably was Christoph Sauser chasing down a hard charging Meirhaeghe.
He got as close as seven seconds but just couldn’t manage to keep the pace
of the ever attacking Belgian. Then there was Liam Killeen chasing down the
podium for the entire race. He always hovered between 20-30 seconds back of
5th in 6th spot. In the 6th and final lap he actually closed in on
Paulissen for an exciting sprint finish but it seemed it was Belgium’s day
as Paulissen held him off. Then there was the battle for the top Canadian
with McGrath and Kabush duking it out. Trading up 8th and 9th spot they
surged back and forth. Unfortunately Geoff suffered a mechanical and Seamus
powered away to an impressive 8th place finish with Kabush holding onto a
top 10.

One of the most impressive results of the day was Max Plaxton’s 14th place
finish in his first ever senior World Cup race. He suffered a bloody nose
for the first two laps which seemed to distract him from any pain he might
be feeling in his legs. “The course was so much fun, it got a little
sketchy with the rain but it made the course even more exciting in the
technical sections!,” said the young Plaxton.

No matter how each racer finished, whether or not they were happy with
their result, the one thing everyone could agree on was the Mont Ste. Anne
is one of the most fun courses on the circuit with lots of crazy super fans!