The 2004 Paris–Brussels was the 84th edition of the
Paris–Brussels cycling race and was held on 11 September 2004. The race started in Soissons and finished in Anderlecht. The race was won by Nick Nuyens
of the Quick-Step-Davitamon team.
Race Report
In the first 2 hours of racing there were breakaway attempts by Juan Antonio Flecha, Michele Bartoli, Dmitry Fofonov, and Sylvain Chavanel before Benoît Poilvet and Rudie Kemna successfully got away. The duo stayed together out front, building a lead as large as 13 minutes, until 46km to go, when Kemna distanced Poilvet on the Mont St Roch climb. Meanwhile behind, on the same climb, Paolo Bettini, Tom Boonen, Gerben Löwik, and Nico Mattan broke away from the peloton. Those four riders ultimately waited for the peloton, while Kemna continued on in front. With 11km to go Bettini attacked again and quickly caught a cramping Kemna, while behind the peloton had reduced to 20 riders. Bettini allowed himself to be caught with 5km remaining, allowing his teammate Nick Nuyens to try a couple of attacks. First getting away with Christophe Mengin and Stefan van Dijk, before getting caught and going away on his with 1.5km to go. Philippe Gilbert and Allan Johansen attempted to follow, but Nuyens was able to stay away to the line.[1]
