April 8, 2004 - This year's 66th running of the Belgian Classic Gent-Wevelgem lived up to its reputation as a Classic race for the hard-men. The 208km course through the western end of Belgium contained all of the elements of a great event, as well as all of the elements that Mother Nature could throw at the riders.

Within minutes of the crowded start in Dienze, the skies opened up with a torrent of cold rain and strong winds. It seemed that every one of the nearly 200 riders called back to their team cars simultaneously. With the strong winds, a number of riders found themselves out of the race before they had even pedaled 10km. Soon after it was the flat tires. A rash of punctures claimed many as with the rain usually comes the sharp stones, and today was no different. The Navigators squad's first casualty was strongman Kirk O'Bee. Luckily, with the help of his teammates, Kirk was able to make it back to the group, although a bit weathered from the effort. Shortly after, it was last year's second place finisher Henk Vogels calling for a wheel amidst the chaos. Once the squad had Henk safely back in the bunch, it seemed that Mother Nature would smile for a little while and the race had settled down.

During the early race challenges, a lone rider had attacked and was in front of the main peloton. Although his lead went up to four minutes at one point, he was brought back in a hurry when the race reached Oostende at Km-55, and turned left along the coast. The headwind that had buffeted the riders from the start, was now a cross wind, which they would have for the next 30Km. Although the rain had let up, the wind was doing its damage as the peloton split into four groups, with the last group quickly calling it a day by the time they reached DePanne. In the distance, the dark, menacing clouds again appeared.

Following DePanne, the racers then hit the wide-open DeMoeren, which is usually the first serious selection of the race with its strong cross winds. However, the wind inexplicitly stopped, and the fractured peloton was able to rejoin, instead of breaking apart. It didn't last long though as the riders headed straight into the dark clouds, which suddenly let loose with strong winds and a torrent of marble-sized hailstones.  The twists and turns through the small towns created several crashes on the icy roads, one of which claimed Navigators' Vogels. Although unhurt, the effort to get him back to the group caused a lot of energy to be used by the team. After 20Km of this horrid weather and misery, the race had now split into three groups. The front group of about 50 included Navigators' O'Bee, Ciaran Power and Henk Vogels.

Approaching the first of two circuits that included the Vidaigneberg, Rodeberg, Monteberg, and the famous Kemmelberg, the boys-in-blue were sitting pretty. Or so it appeared, until the call of a crash came over the race radio on the descent of the Rodeberg. The on-form Ciaran Power was mixed up in the mess as the riders made their way toward the decisive Kemmelberg. He was up and riding in short order, but without a rear brake or gears, as his right brake lever had been torn off of his bars by the force of the crash. The loss of time resulting from the inevitable bike-change unfortunately cost him his position in the group. Up the Kemmelberg, it was Navigators' Vogels putting O'Bee into position, before succumbing to the pace and the attacks, and falling behind for good. Once the mud had settled, there was a lead group of 25 with an advantage on the rest of the peloton. With seven members of the Quick-Step squad in attendance, and only a handful of other teams represented, it looked to be game over for most of the racers, including the Navigators squad.

The lead group stayed intact throughout the remaining distance and continued to slowly build a lead to 2:00. 12 teams had not made the cut, and of the 13 that had made it, obviously it was the Quick-Step team that was in control, with most of the remaining race favorites completely isolated. The resulting sprint to the line went to Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) over Magnus Backstedt (Allessio) and Jaan Kirsipuu (Ag2r). For the Navigators squad, it was a day of luck, none of it good, but also a day of taking punches, getting up, and giving punches back. Yes,