May 24, 2004 – The 2004 Tour of Connecticut is now in the history books
following yesterday’s 102-mile road stage through the Housatonic Valley. Racing under hot steamy weather (98* f) the riders began the day heading north before cutting toward the east and the series of short, steep hills and eight sprint lines.

The Navigators squad had two major objectives for the day; keep Marty
Nothstein in the green Sprint-Leader Jersey, and put Vassiliy Davidenko in
position to make it 3-wins in a row, after taking the victory in this race
the past two years. The requisite early breakaway escaped and two riders
were able to gain a lead of 30-seconds by the time they reached the 2nd
sprint bonus at mile 16. With the team of race leader Mark McCormack
(Colavita) riding tempo, the escapees were soon brought back.

A serious move of six riders attacked and motored away before 30-miles were
covered, putting pressure on McCormack’s team. Navigators’ Burke
Swindlehurst was in the break along with Chris Horner (Webcor), Mike Sayers
(Health Net), Ivan Dominguez (Colavita), Dominique Perras (Ofoto) and
Daniel Ramsey (Team SeaSilver). With the necessary horsepower present, the
only baggage was Dominguez. Once the gap back to the field had reached
1:28, Horner and Perras attacked and rapidly gained an advantage on their
four breakaway partners.

With Dominguez riding defensively for his team leader, the rest of the
breakaway decided to stop working as the Colavita squad was now responsible
for containing Horner and Perras, as a stage victory by Perras had the
potential to give him the Overall G.C. victory. The Colavita team was now
riding tempo, or so it appeared.

Over the next 15-miles of racing, the gap to the leaders grew to over five
minutes, instead of decreasing as it should. Either the Colavita team was
weak, didn’t understand the race situation, or they were purposely giving
away the race. Once it became obvious that Colavita was actually helping
the two leaders, the Navigators blue train went to the front and began to
reel in the escapees, with some help from the Health Net squad. Over the
next hour, the team slowly worked to bring back the leaders.

Just before entering the 14 finishing circuits of 1.4-miles, misfortune
struck as two members of the Navigators squad were caught in a crash,
followed moments later by a puncture on the rear wheel of Davidenko. The
timing of this serious bad luck could not be any worse. With the short
finishing circuits upon them, the remaining Navigators riders brought the
Horner/Perras duo back to just under 1-minute. With the field now within
striking distance, the attacks began to heat up, and the race leader would
have to go to work. However, no other squad had any horsepower left and the
gap actually increased to back over 1-minute.

Suddenly, the wind increased, the skies darkened and a torrential downpour
engulfed the riders. Over the next five laps of the slopping racecourse,
Horner attacked alone and Perras was quickly caught and dropped by the
chasing field. Horner held on to take the victory with his teammate
Charles Dionne edging out Navigators’ Ciaran Power for 2nd place.

Stage-5:

1. Chris Horner (Webcor)

2. Charles Dionne (Webcor)

3. Ciaran Power (Navigators Insurance)

Overall GC:

1. Mark McCormack (Colavita)

Sprint Competition:

1. Marty Nothstein (Navigators Insurance)