July 22, 2004 – The Navigators Insurance Cycling Team continued to show their strength and depth during the fifth stage on Thursday of the nine-stage Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage Race in China. Once again defending the Yellow Jersey of race leader Viktor Rapinski in the high country of northwestern China, the squad was faced with attacks and very strong winds.

Racing over 173km from Qinghai Lake to the city of Xining, the course raced along a plateau for the first 70km before starting its long, gradual descent to the city. Just 15km into the stage a group of nine escaped the Navigators led peloton, including several GC threats in addition to Navigators”š Burke Swindlehurst and Phil Zajicek. Jeremy Maartens (RSA), Andrei Mizurov (Kazakhstan National Team) and Devis Miorin (De Nardi), currently at only :30 and :35 in arrears, were the biggest threats. Two riders from Action-ATI and one from R.A.G.T gave the breakaways the incentive that they needed to battle the winds and try to gain an advantage.

Shortly after a KOM sprint at 60km, an attack split the leaders with a foursome of Zajicek, Swindlehurst (both Navigators), Miorin and Maarten going for it by themselves. Struggling against the fierce headwind, the lead group pushed on as the others drifted back to the seemingly uninterested peloton. With no teams willing to take up the chase, their lead grew to nine minutes over the next 40km. It wasn”št until the riders had only 65km of racing remaining did the teams facing a major loss of GC position take up the chase.

Although four teams participated in the effort, their combined resources didn”št provide the horsepower needed to completely bring back the escapees. The leaders crossed the line with an advantage of 2:40 to make it a successful day in the saddle. Taking the 4-up sprint was Maartens over Miorin, Zajicek and Swindlehurst. The time gap was enough to put Zajicek in Yellow, the 3rd Navigator to become the best-dressed rider in the peloton. Navigators”š Viktor Rapinski slipped to 3rd on GC while retaining the Sprint Leader Jersey, as teammate Chris Baldwin still leads the KOM competition.

Stage 5 Results (all unofficial):
1. Jeremy Maartens (RSA)
2. Devis Miorin (De Nardi)
3. Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance)

Overall GC:
1. Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance)
2. Devis Miorin (De Nardi) @ :05
3. Viktor Rapinski (Navigators Insurance) @ 2:18
4. Jeff Louder (Navigators Insurance) @ 2:34
5. Maxim Iglinskiy (Kazakhstan National Team) @ 2:46