September 17, 2004 – Japan’s Taiji Nishitani took the prologue of the Tour of Hokkaido stage race and now leads the overall. Canada’s Svein Tuft was third.

Prologue:
1. Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan 3.04
2. David Mccann (Irl) Giant Asia 0.02
3. Svein Tuft (Can) Canadian National Team
4 .Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano 0.04
5. Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pi
6. Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Bridgstone Anchor 0..07
7. Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano
8. Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Miyata Subaru
9. Giuseppe Ribolzi (Ita) Team Nippo
10. Eddy Hilger (USA) Marco Polo
11. Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn) Bridgstone Anchor 0.08
12. Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Kinan CCDCD.
13. Hossein Askari (IRI) Islamic Rep. Iran National Team
14. Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan
15. Edmund Hollands (Aus) Giant Asia
16. Koki Shimbo (Jpn) Aisan
17. S.R.S. Moezedin (IRI) Islamic Rep. Iran National Team 0.0.9
18. Alexander Lebedev (Rus) Russian National Team
19. Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Bridgstone Anchor
20. Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Shimano
21. Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Kinan CCDCD.
22. Sung Baek Park (Kor) Seoul Metropolitan
23. Yasuhiro Yamamoto (Jpn) Team Nippo 0.10
24. Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Bridgstone Anchor
25. Cameron J Evans (Can) Canadian National Team
26. Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano 0.11
26. Ken Akita (Jpn) Aisan
28. Satoshi Hirose (Jpn) Team Nippo
29. Ben Robson (Jpn) Marco Polo
30. Derek Mcmaster (Can) Canadian National Team