The 2005 ProTour was the first year of the newly introduced
UCI ProTour system, in which the ProTour teams are guaranteed, and obliged to, participate in the series of ProTour races. In certain ways the ProTour replaced the
UCI Road World Cup series of one-day races, which in 2004 was won by one-day specialist
Paolo Bettini for the third time in a row. The beginning of the ProTour saw difficult negotiations with the organizers of the
Grand Tours, the
Tour de France, the
Giro d'Italia and the
Vuelta a España.
Spring classics
Following tradition, had a strong showing in the early season, with a commanding control of the season opener
Paris–Nice
Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlookin ...
, placing
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Bobby Julich on the top step of the
General classification, combining his strong prologue
individual time trial performance and good placing in the
Mont Faron queen stage.
Sprinter Alessandro Petacchi shed some weight over the winter and built up a strong base to win the classic
Milan–San Remo
Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...
convincingly, leading to speculation that he will be the undisputed Italian team leader for the
World Cycling Championship in Madrid later in the season.
Belgian sprinter
Tom Boonen of showed that he was the strongest ''kasseinfretter'', or ''cobble-eater'', by winning both the
Tour of Flanders and
Paris–Roubaix cobbled classics, propelling him to the top of the UCI ProTour rankings and thus earning him the white leaders jersey.
As the spring classics campaign continues, Bettini was plagued with injuries, but fellow one-day specialist
Danilo Di Luca of found his best form in years and won the
Tour of the Basque Country race. With his confidence boosted, he topped his form with wins in both
La Flèche Wallonne and the
Amstel Gold Race, leading many to speculate that he would also win the
Liège–Bastogne–Liège. However,
Jens Voigt committed himself to long breakaways in both la Flèche and Liège, and in the later race was joined by Kazakh
Alexander Vinokourov
Alexander Nikolayevich Vinokourov ( Kazakh and russian: Александр Николаевич Винокуров; born 16 September 1973) is a Kazakhstani former professional road bicycle racer and the current general manager of UCI WorldTeam ...
. Together they managed to keep the
peloton behind, and Voigt was beaten in the final sprint by Vinokourov.
Grand tours
Having earned the ProTour white leader's jersey, Di Luca further increased his lead with a stage win and fourth place in the general classification of the
2005 Giro d'Italia
The 2005 Giro d'Italia was the 88th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Reggio Calabria with a prologue. The race came to a close with a mass-start road stage that stretched from Albese con Cassano to M ...
, joining
Gilberto Simoni of in igniting the queen mountain stage of
Sestriere. The same race also saw
Damiano Cunego, who finished at the top UCI ranking last year, fall ill. In the end, the descending skills and strong form of
Paolo Savoldelli earned him the
maglia rosa in
Milan.
The
2005 Tour de France
The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong origin ...
again brought
Lance Armstrong to the win, extending his record for consecutive Tour wins to 7. Despite promises of igniting the race with the trio of
Jan Ullrich,
Andreas Klöden and Vinokourov, the failed to wrestle the race control from Armstrong's Discovery team, and allegations flew abound of internal dispute within the team. Instead
Ivan Basso showed himself as a main contender, though he never seemed to pressure Armstrong. As in the previous editions, Armstrong's team launched a vicious attack on an early mountain stage to discourage other contenders from pursuing the top podium.
Spanish racer
Alejandro Valverde of showed that he is a serious contender for the future by not only staying with Armstrong, but by sprinting away to win the stage at the finale. However, both Valverde and
green jersey contender Tom Boonen were forced to quit due to injuries.
The
Vuelta brought an exciting race in which
Denis Menchov was able to stave off attacks by
Roberto Heras and his strong team until the closing days of the race. A choreographed attack by Liberty Seguros climbers, and Heras' thrilling ride down a treacherous descent, finally won him the leader's jersey. However, a
doping scandal erupted two months after the Vuelta. Urine samples taken from Heras after the final time trial proved to be positive for
EPO. Heras was stripped of what had been his record-setting fourth win, and Menchov was elevated to first place.
World championships
Belgian
Tom Boonen had the confidence of the entire Belgian team, and won in style in Madrid. Petacchi, despite being the favorite, claimed to have suffered from a cold, and could not keep in contention as the peloton ascended the last climb before the finale. Valverde, having taken the Spanish team leadership after the injury of
Óscar Freire, overcame his own injury to finish second, his second podium placing in race that tactically was not well-suited to his style.
The finale brought an exciting race as Paolo Bettini, having regained his form, was unleashed a little too late by Italian selector
Franco Ballerini and nearly stayed away with Vinokourov in the closing meters of the race.
Summer and Autumn Classics
Having been left off the Tour de France lineup,
Erik Zabel decided to join fellow sprinter Petacchi in the newly formed . As his last race with the T-Mobile team, Zabel took the sprinters classic
Paris–Tours
Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m, ...
to end his career in style.
Smarting from his disappointment at the World Championships, Bettini won
Züri-Metzgete convincingly, with a 40-km solo attack in the rain that was almost derailed by his chain dropping off his chainring after his first acceleration. Proving that he is a better
climber than ever before, he won the climbers classic
Giro di Lombardia in a three-way sprint with Gilberto Simoni and
Fränk Schleck.
2005 ProTour results
2005 ProTour Points System
2005 ProTour Individual Rankings
Team Rankings
Team classification winner got 20 points, second 19, third 18 etc. Wildcard teams didn't score points, but ProTour teams didn't move up either. For example, no team received 20 points in
Vuelta as team competition was won by Comunidad Valenciana.
2005 ProTour Nation Rankings
External links
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2005 Uci Protour
ProTour
The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, ea ...
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...