May 18, 2004 – The 2004 five-stage Tour of Connecticut  began on Sunday, May 16, 2004, with a 137-mile road race that started and finished in Torrington. The racecourse meandered through the hilly Litchfield County for  117-miles before hitting the very spectator-friendly finishing circuits in  downtown Torrington.  This year's event is actually being scored as an  'Omnium' event, meaning the overall classifications will be determined by a  points system, instead of the traditional time-based system.

The  opening stage was marked by a nine-man breakaway that escaped in the first five-miles and opened up a 4:30 gap on the rest of the field.   Navigators' Olympic Sprint Champion (2000) Marty Nothstein was in the mix  and took the top honors in the 2 intermediate sprints, before the breakaway  was reeled in at mile-42.  Several miles later, an attack by  two-riders, Dominique Perras (Team Ofoto) and Todd Herriott (Colavita) was  joined by a third rider, Mike Jones (Healthnet), and the three-some had a  2:00 gap on the chasing field as they climbed the 22% grade of Carter  Road.

With the Navigators squad riding tempo at the head of the field for  the next 40-miles, the gap stayed at 2:00 until halfway through the  finishing circuits of 1.9-miles each. After a flurry of attacks and  counter-attacks, Navigators' Mark Walters escaped and was joined by the  current U.S. National Road Champion Mark McCormack and Shawn Milne (Fior di  Frutta).  On the closing circuits, McCormack attacked to take the solo  victory, with Walters finishing the day in 3rd.  Navigators' Nothstein  is currently wearing the Sprint Leader's jersey.

The racing action  continues on Thursday at the Lime Rock Race Track, where horsepower will  give way to pedalpower.

Stage 1  Results:
1. Mark McCormack (Colavita)
2. Shawn Milne (Fior di  Frutta)
3. Mark Walters (Navigators Insurance)