2005 Tour de France

The 92nd Tour de France is being held from July 2 to July 24, 2005. The first stages were held in the département of the Vendée, for the third time in 12 years. The 2005 Tour was announced on October 28 2004. It will be a clockwise route, visiting the Alps before the Pyrenees.

The traditional prologue on the first day was replaced by an individual time trial of more than twice the length of a standard prologue. This stage crossed from the mainland of France to the Île de Noirmoutier. The most famous route to this island is the Passage du Gois, a road that is under water at high tide. This road was included in the 1999 Tour. Several of the favorites crashed here, and ended that stage 7 minutes behind the peloton. Fortunately, this year they will take the bridge to the island.

Later in the race, there will be one more time trial, on the penultimate day. Also, there will be just three uphill finishes, (Courchevel, Ax-3 Domaines and Pla d'Adet) a lower number than in previous years. The finish line of the last stage will be, as always, on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The Tour commemorates the death of Fabio Casartelli. On the 15th stage the riders will pass the Col du Portet d'Aspet, were Casartelli died then exactly 10 years ago. The Tour will also commemorate the first time there was an official mountain climb in the Tour, the Ballon d'Alsace. During the 9th stage this mountain will be passed again, exactly 100 years after the first ascent in the Tour.

Stages

Fromentine - Noirmoutier en l'Île, 19 km (individual time trial)
Challans - Les Essarts, 182 km
La Châtaigneraie - Tours, 208 km
Tours - Blois, 66 km (team time trial)
Chambord - Montargis, 179 km
Troyes - Nancy, 187 km
Lunéville - Karlsruhe (Germany), 225 km
Pforzheim (Germany) - Gérardmer, 235 km
Gérardmer - Mulhouse, 170 km (mountain stage)
Grenoble - Courchevel, 192 km (mountain stage)
Courchevel - Briançon, 173 km (mountain stage)
Briançon - Digne-les-Bains, 187 km (mountatin stage)
Miramas - Montpellier, 162 km
Agde - Aix-3 domaines, 205 km (mountain stage)
Lézat-sur-Lèze - Saint-Lary Soulan (Pla d'Adet), 205 km (mountain stage)
Mourenx - Pau, 177 km (mountain stage)
Pau - Revel, 239 km
Albi - Mende, 189 km
Issoire - Le Puy-en-Velay, 154 km
Saint-Étienne - Saint-Étienne, 55 km (individual time trial)
Corbeil-Essonnes - Paris Champs-Élysées, 160 km

The Tour will take two rest days:

Between the 9th and the 10th stages.
Between the 15th and the 16th stages.

Teams and riders

189 riders in 21 teams are competing in the 2005 Tour de France.

List of teams and cyclists in the 2005 Tour de France.

Retirement/Withdrawals

Constantino Zaballa, Saunier Duval - Prodirr (SDV) -- Withdrawal, Stage 5
Claudio Corioni, Fassa Bortolo (FAS) -- Withdrawal, Stage 6

Current standings

As of the finish of Stage 6:

Rank	Name	Country	Team	Time
1	Lance Armstrong	United States	Discovery Channel	13h 45'12"
2	George Hincapie	United States	Discovery Channel	55"
3	Alexandre Vinokourov	Kazakhstan	T-Mobile Team	1'02"
4	Jens Voigt	Germany	Team CSC	1'04"
5	Bobby Julich	United States	Team CSC	1'07"
6	José Luis Rubiera	Spain	Discovery Channel	1'14"
7	Yaroslav Popovych	Ukraine	Discovery Channel	1'16"
8	Benjamin Noval	Spain	Discovery Channel	1'26"
9	Ivan Basso	Italy	Team CSC	1'26"
10	Kurt Asle Arvesen	Norway	Team CSC	1'32"

Rider's jerseys progress chart (2005 Tour de France) - current jersey status

Likely contenders

Stage recaps

Stage 1: Individual Time Trial: Fromentine - Noirmoutier en l'Île (19 km)

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	David Zabriskie	Team CSC	20'51"
2	Lance Armstrong	Discovery Channel	02"
3	Alexandre Vinokourov	T-Mobile Team	53"
4	George Hincapie	Discovery Channel	57"
5	Laszlo Bodrogi	Crédit Agricole	59"
6	Floyd Landis	Phonak	1'02"
7	Jens Voigt	Team CSC	1'04"
8	Vladimir Karpets	Illes Balears	1'05"
9	Igor González de Galdeano	Liberty Seguros	1'06"
10	Bobby Julich	Team CSC	1'07"

The winning time of David Zabriskie was set early in the day - so early, in fact, that virtually none of the TV stations covering the Tour actually showed it. Zabriskie, who has also won a stage in the Vuelta a España and a time trial in the Giro d'Italia, put a powerful time in that few could approach. The best attempt was a run by Alexandre Vinokourov, a teammate of Jan Ullrich, who came in 53 seconds back, putting him, for a time, in second place. Most of the other big names rode respectably, as with Landis, though Iban Mayo wound up four minutes behind the other GC contenders - a disappointment to be sure. Also disappointing was Joseba Beloki, who demonstrated that he's not returned to the form he had before his crash in the 2003 Tour.

The big names this Tour, though, were expected to be Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, and, of course, Lance Armstrong - the final three starters. Basso performed respectably, coming in 18th, 1:53 back from Zabriskie - a perfectly respectable showing for someone who is not known as a time trialist. Ullrich also did well in 12th place, 1:12 back, especially considering that the day before he got into a gruesome crash with his team car in which he shattered the rear window as he flew through it. The real story, though, was Lance Armstrong, who's time trialing skills this year had been in doubt after a poor showing in the Tour of Georgia. After a small mishap where his foot fell out of the pedal at the start, he rode an incredible time trial, bridging the one minute gap to Jan Ullrich with 3 km remaining. He finished two seconds behind Zabriskie, sending a clear message to anyone who thought he might be off form this year.

As for the other jerseys, Zabriskie bagged the first green sprinter's jersey, while the winner of the previous year's prologue, Swiss Fabian Cancellara, got the white young rider's jersey.

Stage 2: Challans - Les Essarts (182 km)

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Tom Boonen	Quick-Step	3h 51'31"
2	Thor Hushovd	Crédit Agricole	s.t.
3	Robbie McEwen	Davitamon - Lotto	s.t.
4	Stuart O'Grady	Cofidis	s.t.
5	Luciano Pagliarini	Liquigas-Bianchi	s.t.
6	Juan Antonio Flecha	Fassa Bortolo	s.t.
7	Peter Wrolich	Gerolsteiner	s.t.
8	Jérôme Pineau	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
9	Baden Cooke	Française Des Jeux	s.t.
10	Allan Davis	Liberty Seguros-Würth	s.t.

A textbook Tour day - an early break of Laszlo Bodrogi (Crédit Agricole), David Cañada (Saunier Duval-Prodir), Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom), and Sylvain Calzati (Ag2r-Prevoyance) got away and was caught at the end. This led to a bunch sprint, with a strangely lackluster McEwen holding on for third as a rock-solid Tom Boonen blasted to his 15th win of the year, and to the green jersey, which he claimed from Zabriskie, although today, in a rare occurance, Lance Armstrong was wearing it, since Zabriskie also had the yellow jersey, which meant the green went "on loan" to Armstrong, who was second. Bodrogi racked up enough time bonuses on the intermediate sprints to pass Vinokourov in the standings for third place, 47 seconds behind Zabriskie, who held his yellow jersey. All but three of the riders finished in the peloton, making time bonuses the only things that shuffled the standings at all. In the last kilometres, the main group broke, and most of the General Classification contenders (except Jan Ullrich) came in nine seconds after Boonen. The break-up, however, was caused by a fall, and the judges applied the same time to them as the first group.

The real stand-out story of the day was Thomas Voeckler, who masterfully attacked on the small category 4 climb to win the small number of points in the mountain competition that were up for the day. Since those were the only mountain points around, though, Voeckler managed to put himself in polka dots, meaning the young French rider has now worn three of the four leader jerseys in the Tour de France in his career.

Stage 3: La Châtaigneraie - Tours (208 km)

 1 Tom Boonen (Quick Step)                       4h 36'09"
 2 Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner)                       s.t.             
 3 Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis)                           s.t.
 4 Bernhard Eisel (Française Des Jeux)                s.t.                             
 5 Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros-Würth)                s.t.                         
 6 Robert Förster (Gerolsteiner)                      s.t.                   
 7 Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas-Bianchi)                s.t.                   
 8 Anthony Geslin (Bouygues Telecom)                  s.t.                       
 9 Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole)                     s.t.                         
 10 Angelo Furlan (Domina Vacanze)                    s.t.

A normal day with some minor drama at the finish, the early break this time consisted of Erik Dekker (Rabobank), Rubens Bertogliati (Saunier Duval), and Nicolas Portal (AG2R), who were caught 1km from the end. Dekker had already managed a great feat at Tours the previous season by holding off the peloton after being in a breakaway for 200 kilometres, and winning the Paris-Tours. This time, however, the French city did not bring luck to the Dutchman. After the breakaways were reeled in, the Swiss time trial champion Fabian Cancellara attempted an escape in the last kilometer, but was brought back, leading to a bunch sprint. Commentators expected that the long, straight drive to the finish would favour Robbie McEwen, but instead it was Tom Boonen who took a convincing win.

At the finish line Robbie McEwen was reprimanded for trying to push Stuart O'Grady away with his head, a move possibly spurred on by O'Grady preventing him from attacking Boonen by blocking his path. Although McEwen crossed the line third, the judges knocked him to the back of the main pack, giving him a place of 186th, and dealing quite a blow to his hopes of a fourth green jersey, needing him to catch up 26 points.

The general classification remained unchanged, and Cancellara held his young rider's jersey, although if Tom Boonen gets another stage win time bonus, it would go to him. Meanwhile, the early break crossed two of the three category four climbs first, giving Dekker six mountain points. Voeckler could only manage to cross an early climb in second, giving him two more and bringing him up to five, putting Erik Dekker in polka dots. Dekker also won the prize of most combative rider.

Stage 4: Team Time Trial: Tours - Blois (66 km)

 1 Discovery Channel Team                        1h 10'39" (57.324 km/h)
 2 Team CSC                                       +     2"
 3 T-Mobile Team                                       35" (=> to 30")*
 4 Liberty Seguros - Würth Team                        53" (=> to 40")
 5 Phonak Hearing Systems                            1'31" (=> to 50")
 6 Crédit Agricole                                   1'41" (=> to 1'00")
 7 Illes Balears-Caisse D'Epargne                    2'05" (=> to 1'10")
 8 Gerolsteiner                                       s.t. (=> to 1'20")                
 9 Fassa Bortolo                                     2'19" (=> to 1'30")
 10 Liquigas - Bianchi                               2'26" (=> to 1'40")

This was a nail-biter of a team time trial in which the teams of the three favorites - Armstrong, Ullrich, and Basso - all did well. Discovery trailed CSC in the team standings, and so launched second to last, but showed their usual team time trial form with a pencil-straight line, each member taking pulls like clockwork. As the time trial wore on, Armstrong began taking longer pulls at the front, bringing the pace of the pack up dramatically. Even still, CSC, launching behind them, kept a grueling pace of their own, actually leading Discovery through all of the checkpoints. The race wasn't decided until the last kilometer and a half, when yellow jersey David Zabriskie crashed as his knee hit the handlebar, probably because of his cycle chain malfunctioning. He got back on and crossed the line in a blood-stained yellow jersey 1'28" behind the Discovery riders. On the other hand, Ullrich, whose T-Mobile Team crossed the line at 35", lost only 30" due to the adjusted gap for the team trial stage. He's currently in 14^th place, 1'36" off Armstrong.

Had Zabriskie held on another half a kilometer he would have gotten the same time as the rest of CSC, but instead he dropped to ninth in the overall standings, and CSC's surprise at the yellow jersey hitting the pavement in front of them cost them two seconds on Discovery - ironically, the exact margin by which Zabriskie had led Armstrong going into the stage. The result was to put Armstrong in his 67th yellow jersey, and to put teammate Yaroslav Popovych in the white jersey. With no sprints or mountains, the green and polka dot jerseys remained on the shoulders of Tom Boonen and Erik Dekker, respectively.

Notes

This means that even though the team finished with a longer time, the provision set forth in the Tour de France Guideline states that the gaps for the team trial stage is capped according to the relative finishing position of the teams. Thus, even though Gerolsteiner and Illes Balears-Caisse D'Epargne finished at the same time, for the riders in those two teams, IBC riders have a 10" advantage over the GST riders for the individual classifications.

Stage 5: Chambord - Montargis (179 km)

 1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto           3h 46'00" (48.584 km/h)                                                    
 2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step                        s.t.                                             
 3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole                 s.t.                   
 4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis                       s.t.
 5 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Domina Vacanze                 s.t.                
 6 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros-Würth            s.t.                
 7 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Française Des Jeux            s.t.             
 8 Baden Cooke (Aus) Française Des Jeux               s.t.                
 9 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC                          s.t.             
 10 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner                 s.t.

Juan Antonio Flecha made an early break, and was joined 90 km in by Laszlo Bodrogi (Crédit Agricole), Salvatore Commesso (Lampre), and Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas), but, notably, not by George Hincapie, who's Discovery Channel team had earlier said they wanted to put into a break and give a turn in yellow. The break was finally reeled in 10 km from the finish by a Discovery-led peloton, setting up the sprint. It was a tough, uphill sprint, and McEwen took it by a wheel over Tom Boonen, taking his first win of the Tour, but still only putting him in fourth for the green jersey due to his being relegated to 186th in the third stage.

David Zabriskie recovered enough from his crash to start today, and finished with the peloton in 176th. Out of respect for the role his crash played in the overall standings, Lance Armstrong initially refused to wear the yellow jersey today, and it was not until the race was stopped as it was rolling out of the neutral zone so that the organizers could ask him to wear it that he agreed to.

Today also saw the first withdrawl of the Tour as Constantino Zaballa of Saunier Duval-Prodir failed to finish the stage. The Yellow, Green, Polka and White jerseys remain on their respective riders.

Stage 6: Troyes - Nancy (199 km)

 1 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo          4h 12'52" (47.218 km/h)
 2 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Mobile         +     3"
 3 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner                    7"    
 4 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Domina Vacanze                 s.t.    
 5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole                 s.t.                     
 6 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo                    s.t.
 7 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Lampre-Caffita            s.t.
 8 Egoi Martinez (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi              s.t.
 9 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Lampre-Caffita                s.t.
 10 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) CSC                       s.t.

An early escape initiated by Christophe Mengin (Française des Jeux) after 24 km was accompanied by Karsten Kroon (Rabobank), Jaan Kirsipuu (Crédit Agricole), Mauro Gerosa (Liquigas-Bianchi) and Stéphane Augé (Cofidis). Karsten Kroon and Stéphane Augé took 7 mountain points each, with Koon winning the last mountain, which results in Karsten Kroon wearing the polka dot jersey, which keeps it in team Rabobank. Around 10km from the finish most of the break was pulled in, but Mengin, a rider local to Nancy, manged to hold on. One and a half kilometers from the end, Alexandre Vinokourov and Lorenzo Bernucci came off the peloton to join him, and then, 700 meters from the end, Mengin slid out and crashed, followed independently by much of the front of the peloton. The result was to give Bernucci the stage, due mostly to his superior navigation of the crash, and Vinokourov a 15 second boost in the general classification. Boonen kept the green jersey, but Hushovd's fifth place finish gave him a substantial boost, putting him just 7 points back in that competition.

External links

Official site: Tour de France 2005

More: Tour de France 2005 links