April 2, 2004 – The 2004 Coupe de France (France Cup) continued today with the running of the 185.3Km Route Adelie in Vitre, France. 16 teams of eight took to the start under changing skies and temperatures fit for the springtime, about 18 degrees celcius.
With a triangular course through the surrounding countryside as well as the city proper, the racers covered five large laps of 23Km each before turning onto finishing circuits of 8.3Km. On paper, the course looked more like a relatively easy jaunt through the northwestern French country, than the difficult route that it really was.
The early action was started by Eddy Seigneur (RAGT) and Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R) and they were quickly joined by 22 others, including Navigators' Mark Walters. Although strong, they were only able to gain about 20 seconds and by Km 68 they were history. With less than two of the large laps remaining, a trio of riders escaped on one of the many rolling hills. Battling strong cross winds, a chase of 11 caught them and continued to gain upto 2:50 on the peloton behind. Vassili Davidenko was the Navigators rider to represent the squad in this break, which appeared to be going for a ride.
The undulating terrain and the strong winds took their toll and the breakaway riders slowly succumbed as the field continued to keep the pressure on. By the time they reached the small, finishing circuits, the gap had been reduced to just :50. With only 45Km left to race, the new attacks came as the lap counter showed 5-laps remaining and the final selection was being made on the hills and in the wind. When the dust settled, there were eight away; Pierick Fedrigo and Andrey Kashechkin (both Credit Agricole), Alessandro Bertolini (Alessio), Dimitri Fofonov and Christophe Edaleine (both Cofidis), Sergio Marinangeli (Domina Vacanze), Anthony Geslin (Brioches La Boulangere), and Franck Pencole (Oktos).
Missing out on the move were a number of surprises, including the strongest team in the race: AG2R. The Navigators team had three in the main bunch; Kirk O'Bee, Chris Baldwin and Jeff Louder, so the race still looked to be within grasp, as long as a coordinated chase brought back the escapees. At three laps to go, the gap to the leaders was still only about :40, but the chasers were losing strength and running out of real estate. On the final lap, Navigators' Kirk O'Bee was in the front chase group with the gap to the leaders remaining at :40. At the long, uphill drag to the line, it was Geslin taking the win over Marinangeli and Bertolini. Kirk finished in the second group.