The 2004 Tour de France first ten stages began with the Prologue individual time trial in Liège, Belgium and continued through Stage 9 (Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat to Guéret). The stages were mostly flat and most ended with the main field finishing together. However, Stage 4 was a team time trial with each team riding alone competing against the clock. Also, between Stages 8 and 9 the riders had a rest day where no stage occurred. 188 riders from 21 teams began the Prologue, but 16 dropped out of the race due to varying reasons leaving only 172 riders at the end of Stage 9. Five different riders had the overall lead in the race, including five-time defending champion Lance Armstrong. With a long breakaway in Stage 5, where a group of five riders had a 12-minute advantage over the main competitors, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler of the team took a 9-minute lead over all of the pre-race favorites. He held the lead through the rest of these ten stages and into the next group of stages.
Jerseys The jerseys in the Tour de France are used to signify the leaders in each category during each stage. The overall leader in the general classification is given the maillot jaune (yellow jersey). Intermediate sprint points are placed throughout each stage with points given to the first set of riders to pass the point as well as points given to stage winners, with the points leader given the Maillot Vert (green jersey). Any classified mountain during stages are given a set of points for the first riders to crest the mountain with the leader in mountain points given the Maillot à Pois Rouges (polka-dot jersey). Any rider under the age of 26 on 1 January 2004 were eligible to win the young rider competition and the Maillot Blanc (white jersey) as the highest overall young rider in general classification. Additional awards are given for the best placed team and the most combative in each stage which are presented as colored numbers for the back of the riders jerseys. At the end of each stage the leaders/winners of each category for the day are awarded their jerseys/numbers and wear them for the next stage.
LegendJerseys appearing in the individual stage results tables indicate those worn by the cyclist during the stage, while those appearing in the overall standings tables indicate those awarded to the cyclist after the stage. Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the leader of the team classificationThe bibs are designated to all remaining riders within the leading team. Denotes the rider designated as the day's most combative s.t. indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the winner of the stage, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.
Prologue 3 July 2004 — Liège, (ITT)
The short time trial covered of the streets of Liège. The course was almost completely flat, with just a 5-metre peak at 4.3 km completed. The course was raced in cool, cloudy conditions and despite occasional light rain proved to be very fast, but it caused the fall of several riders.
The winner was Swiss Tour-debutant Fabian Cancellara who completed the course in 6'51" at an average speed of 53.560 km/h, the third fastest in the race's history. Cancellara was in his second year with the Fassa Bortolo and was junior and U23 world time trial champion in 1999 and 2000 respectively. Lance Armstrong finished second, just seconds behind Cancellara's time, and impressively ahead of most of his major competitors in the general classification, and all the other expected challengers finished within 20" of Cancellara, who after the prologue declared that he believed himself to be the world's best rider in such short distances. Cancellara's performance put him at the top of both the general classification and the race for sprinters points, which would give him both the yellow, white and green jerseys. Since one does not wear two jerseys, however, the green jersey is "loaned" to the racer in second place in that competition, which, in this case, had the unusual result of putting Lance Armstrong in green.
Prologue results and general Classification Rank Rider Team Time 1 6' 51" 2 + 2" 3+ 8" 4+ 9" 5+ 10" 6+ 11" 7+ 11" 8+ 12" 9+ 12" 10 + 12"
Stage 1 4 July 2004 — Liège to Charleroi,
The stage covered from Liège to Charleroi, heading south from Liège before looping back and heading west to the finish. The first third of the route included three cat-4 climbs and there were a cat-3 and a cat-4 climb around the middle of the course. For the Tour the course was almost flat and a mass sprint was expected at the finish. The weather was cool and cloudy at the start, later there was rain.
The race had a lively start with a breakaway barely 15 minutes from the start. With various contributors the small group led by less than 20 seconds over the first two climbs. Their lead extended to 1'10" on the third climb and after the first hour of racing the five-strong group was almost 2'30" clear. The main sprinter's teams in the peloton were slow to organise as a number of crashes and other problems delayed their team leaders. The lead peaked at around 3'45" but after 115 km in the lead the breakaways were reeled in by the main group. The sprint teams held the peloton together until the third intermediate sprint at Eghezee. An attack by Jakob Piil and Marc Wauters raced away and they stretched their advantage to over 1'50". But with around 25 km to go riders from Lotto, Fassa Bortolo and other sprinter's teams took to the front of the peloton. The lead of Wauters and Piil was slowly reduced until they were caught with less than 2 km to the finish. In a mass sprint veteran Jaan Kirsipuu broke early and held off Robbie McEwen to win by the smallest of margins. It was his fourth career Tour win. After the time bonuses from intermediate sprints were counted Cancellara remained in yellow, four seconds clear of Hushovd and ten ahead of Armstrong.
Stage 1 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 4h 40' 29" 2s.t. 3s.t. 4s.t. 5s.t. 6s.t. 7s.t. 8s.t. 9s.t. 10s.t.General classification after stage 1 Rank Rider Team Time 1 4h 47' 11" 2 + 4" 3 + 10" 4 + 15" 5+ 16" 6+ 19" 7+ 20" 8+ 20" 9 + 20" 10+ 22"
Stage 2 5 July 2004 — Charleroi to Namur,
The stage was 197 km. Namur, the Walloon capital, is to the east of Charleroi and only 30 km away. The route of the race described a rough square to the west, with both cities in the top east corner. Again the route was mostly flat, marked by only two cat-4 climbs, so a mass sprint finish was almost certain. The race started in clouds but ended in sunshine.
The race began with a number of early attacks and after the first climb at 7 km a group of six riders slipped away. Their lead grew quickly and by 40 km raced they were over four minutes clear and were working hard together. The lead peaked at 5', but the sprinter teams Quick-Step and Crédit Agricole finally began to push the pace in the peloton. The lead group held on, their time falling slowly, but as other teams took a turn their advantage fell away and they were caught with 23 km to go. Despite the remaining distance the peloton was held together by Quickstep and later Fassa Bortolo. The mass sprint ended in a clear victory for Robbie McEwen, second – despite breaking his bike at 20 km to go – was Thor Hushovd. With the 12" time bonus for his position the Norwegian National Champion took the maillot jaune, the first Norwegian to ever wear it. There were a number of crashes during the race and Gian Matteo Fagnini broke his collarbone and was forced to withdraw.
Stage 2 result Rank Rider Team Time1 4h 18' 39" 2 s.t. 3s.t. 4s.t. 5s.t. 6s.t. 7s.t. 8s.t. 9s.t. 10s.t.General classification after stage 2 RankRiderTeamTime1 9h 05' 42" 2 + 8" 3+ 17" 4 + 18" 5+ 23" 6+ 24" 7+ 27" 8+ 28" 9+ 28" 10 + 28"
Stage 3 6 July 2004 — Waterloo to Wasquehal,
This was another fairly flat stage, of 210 km, tending south before turning west and leading the Tour out of Belgium and into France. The two categorized climbs, a cat-3 and a cat-4, included the well-known Muur of Geraardsbergen of the Tour of Flanders. Part of the stage also included the notorious pavé of the Paris–Roubaix Classic for the first time on the Tour since 1983. The two stretches of narrow cobbled streets totaling just 4 km, but were certainly the most 'ominous' feature of the course. The weather was warm and dry.
After another retirement, that of Frédéric Bessy (Cofidis), 185 riders started. As on the previous two days there was a very early attack, this time by Jens Voigt and Bram de Groot. Again as on the first two stages, the escapers quickly stretched their advantage, leading by 4'30" at the 25 km mark. The lead rose to 6'10" just after the first sprint (Meerbeke at 42 km). After the Muur de Geraardsbergen the peloton, led by Crédit Agricole, started to push the pace but the leaders held out and even increased their lead. As the pavé at Erre approached (146 km) and the race leaders held a 5'45" advantage the 'pushing' for the head of the peloton began. This led to a nasty crash involving Iban Mayo, considered one of Armstrong's major competitors in this Tour, 2 km before the pavé. Armstrong used this opportunity to have his team launch an attack, and the peloton broke into two large groups. The push at Erre slashed at the lead of Voight and De Groot, it also put Armstrong, Ullrich, Zabel and ninety or so others in a group ahead of the main peloton and the yellow jersey. With 50 km to go the leading pair had 1' advantage over the nearest chasers, but almost 3' over the main pack. US Postal pushed hard to maximise their advantage and finally, at 163 km raced, Voight and De Groot were caught, the main group still lagging 1'50" behind. The leading group rattled over the second section of pavé with trouble and took their lead over the yellow jersey to 2'30". There were a series of attacks off the front of the leading group but there were enough sprinter's teams to close them down. In the final race for the line McEwen kicked early but Jean-Patrick Nazon and Erik Zabel slipped by to take first and second. The second group, with Mayo and Thor Hushovd, who wore the yellow jersey coming into the stage, came in 3'53" behind – enough back to end Mayo's hopes of a victory. With the time bonuses McEwen took over the yellow and green jerseys, the yellow for the first time in his career.
Stage 3 result Rank Rider Team Time1 4h 36' 45" 2s.t. 3s.t. 4s.t. 5s.t. 6s.t. 7s.t. 8s.t. 9s.t. 10s.t.General classification after Stage 3 Rank Rider Team Time1 13h 42' 34" 2 + 1" 3 + 9" 4+ 12" 5 + 16" 6+ 22" 7+ 23" 8+ 23" 9+ 24" 10+ 25"
Stage 4 7 July 2004 — Cambrai to Arras, (TTT)
This 64.5 km stage was the team time trial, an event with some vociferous critics. This year, new rules were introduced for this stage to reduce the impact on the lighter-weight climbing teams. Under the new rules, the second place team would not receive a time penalty more than 20 seconds slower than the first place team for the purposes of the general classification. The third place team would not receive more than 30 seconds loss to that of the first, the fourth place 40 seconds, and so on to a maximum time deficit of three minutes. The course for the time trial had numerous gentle slopes, none of which merited a category. The day started dry but heavy rain quickly picked up.