2005 UCI ProTour

2005 UCI ProTour 1 UCI ProTour March 6 – October 15 Europe 28 Danilo Di Luca ITA LIQ 2005 CSC 2005 ITA 2004 (UCI Road World Cup) 2006 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, SAX 2005 had a strong showing in the early season, with a commanding control of the season opener Paris–Nice, placing American 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 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 QST 2005 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 LIQ 2005 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. 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, joining Gilberto Simoni of LAM 2005 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 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 THR 2005 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 GCE 2005b 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 ONC 2005 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 MRM 2006. As his last race with the T-Mobile team, Zabel took the sprinters classic Paris–Tours 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 DateRaceCountryWinnerTeamMarch 6–13Paris–NiceBobby Julich USASAX 2005March 9–15Tirreno–AdriaticoÓscar Freire ESPRAB 2005March 19Milan–San RemoAlessandro Petacchi ITAFAS 2005April 3Tour of FlandersTom Boonen BELQST 2005April 5–9Tour of the Basque CountryDanilo Di Luca ITALIQ 2005April 6Gent–WevelgemNico Mattan BELSIL 2005April 10 Paris–RoubaixTom Boonen BELQST 2005April 17 Amstel Gold RaceDanilo Di Luca ITALIQ 2005April 20La Flèche WallonneDanilo Di Luca ITALIQ 2005April 24 Liège–Bastogne–LiègeAlexander Vinokourov KAZTHR 2005April 26 – May 1Tour de RomandieSantiago Botero COLPHO 2005May 7–29Giro d'ItaliaPaolo Savoldelli ITADSC 2005May 16–22Volta a CatalunyaYaroslav Popovych UKRDSC 2005June 5–12Critérium du Dauphiné LibéréÍñigo Landaluze ESPEUS 2005June 11–19Tour de SuisseAitor González ESPEUS 2005June 19Eindhoven Team Time Trialteam eventGST 2005July 2–24Tour de FranceLance Armstrong USADSC 2005July 31HEW CyclassicsFilippo Pozzato ITAQST 2005August 3–10Eneco Tour of BeneluxBobby Julich USASAX 2005August 13Clásica de San SebastiánConstantino Zaballa ESPFUJ 2005August 15–23Deutschland TourLevi Leipheimer USAGST 2005August 27–18Vuelta a EspañaRoberto Heras ESPONC 2005August 28GP Ouest-FranceGeorge Hincapie USADSC 2005September 12–18Tour de PologneKim Kirchen LUXFAS 2005September 25Road World ChampionshipsTom Boonen BELQST 2005October 2Züri-MetzgetePaolo Bettini ITAQST 2005October 9Paris–ToursErik Zabel GERTHR 2005October 15Giro di Lombardia Paolo Bettini ITAQST 2005 2005 ProTour Points System Tour de FranceGiro d'ItaliaVuelta a EspañaMilan–San RemoTour of FlandersParis–RoubaixLiège–Bastogne–LiègeGiro di LombardiaLesser stageracesLesser one-day racesWorld Cycling ChampionshipOverall Classement110085504050275654030403605035253545545302055040251564535201174030157835261059302253102519111120161215131312111499157716551744183319222011Stage wins (if applicable)13 3 1 22 2 311 2005 ProTour Individual Rankings RiderTeamPoints120px Danilo Di Luca ITALIQ 20052292Tom Boonen BELQST 20051713Davide Rebellin ITAGST 20051514Jan Ullrich GERTHR 20051405Lance Armstrong USADSC 20051396Alexander Vinokourov KAZTHR 20051367Levi Leipheimer USAGST 20051318Paolo Bettini ITAQST 20051309Bobby Julich USASAX 200513010George Hincapie USADSC 200512911Alessandro Petacchi ITAFAS 200512812Gilberto Simoni ITALAM 200511113Fränk Schleck LUXSAX 200511014Denis Menchov RUSRAB 200510915Francisco Mancebo ESPGCE 2005b107 Team Rankings TeamPoints1 DEN SAX 2005 3902 SUI PHO 2005 3533 NED RAB 2005 3494 BEL SIL 2005 3225 ESP ONC 2005 3206 GER GST 2005 3037 ESP FUJ 2005 2938 USA DSC 2005 2749 FRA C.A 2005 26410 ESP GCE 2005b 262 11 FRA COF 2005 25812BEL QST 2005 25313ITA FAS 2005 24514GER THR 2005 24415ITA LIQ 2005 22816ITA LAM 2005 211 17FRA BBO 2005 18318ITA Domina Vacanze 16119ESP EUS 2005 14720FRA FDJ 2005 130 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 CountryPoints 1 749 2 559 3 459 4 405 5 307 6 304 7 280 8 191 9 163 10 153 11 144 12 131 13 119 14 101 15 97 16 72 17 67 18 62 19 53 20 15 21 7 22 3 23 1 External links Official Website ProTour 2005