2005 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11

Stage results and recaps of the 2005 Tour de France from Stage 1 to Stage 11.

tage 1 (July 2nd): Individual Time Trial: Fromentine - Noirmoutier en l'Île (19 km)

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 1 km 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, placing him 44 points behind Tom Boonen, who has 70.

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.

tage 4 (July 5th): Team Time Trial: Tours - Blois (66 km)

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 Kroon winning the last mountain, which results in the Dutch rider wearing the polka dot jersey, keeping it in team Rabobank. Around 10 km from the finish, the breakaway was broken in pieces after an attack of Estonian champion Kirsipuu, but Mengin, a rider local to Nancy, managed to hold on and left Kirsipuu behind. 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 risked too much, 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 19 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. Claudio Corioni of Fassa Bortolo abandoned the race.

tage 7 (July 8th): Lunéville - Karlsruhe (228.5 km)

This stage featured three cat-3 mountains followed by a cat-2, cat-3 and last a cat-1 mountain, including a climb up the Ballon d'Alsace, the first ever mountain stage in the 1905 Tour de France. The terrain was designed so the challengers of the polka dot jersey had to make a move.

From the beginning of the stage there were attacks. A group of riders managed to escape the peloton. Michael Rasmussen was a part of this group in the beginning and according to the team he lost two minutes on the previous stage on purpose so that he wouldn't be a threat to the general classification and then would be able to do this attack in order to take mountain points, his main aim for this Tour. Rasmussen and Dario Cioni very quickly escaped the original group and carried on as a duo. Cioni had trouble following Rasmussen over the mountains and eventually gave up. Meanwhile the original breakout group was reduced to Christophe Moreau and Jens Voigt. Moreau was a contender for the polka dot jersey and Voigt was in position for the yellow jersey, so they both had an interest in chasing Rasmussen. He however kept the distance even though he had been riding alone for almost the entire stage and won the stage. Moreau and Voigt came in three minutes later, which gave Voigt the yellow jersey.

tage 10 (July 12th): Grenoble - Courchevel (192.5 km, shortened to 177.5 km)

The start of the stage was delayed by as much as 40 minutes because of a protest staged by farmers who were angry over wolves being reintroduced to the Alps. Even though Discovery had shown some signs of weakness in the stage won by Weening, it was the American team which lead the peloton in pursuit of a breakaway which contained Óscar Pereiro, Jörg Jaksche and some other riders. Even though most of Discovery's team fell back quite soon, Yaroslav Popovych prepared a brutal attack for his leader. The peloton broke and only Rasmussen, Valverde and Mancebo could hold Armstrong's wheel. Even though they did not collaborate with the American, a gap formed between this group, then Basso and then Ullrich and Klöden. Vinokourov had failed badly, like Christophe Moreau, who had hoped to get the yellow jersey on this stage. Armstrong's attempt to win the stage on a sprint breakaway was foiled by Valverde in the closing meters. Nonetheless, the Texan regained the "maillot jaune" and seemed to acknowledge Valverde's win perhaps indicating that he saw him as future heir apparent.

tage 11 (July 13th): Courchevel - Briançon (173 km)

Stage 11 was another major mountain stage in the Alps including the legendary Col de Madeleine and Col du Galibier climbs, the latter being the highest point of this years tour at 2645m. Alexandre Vinokourov, after a disastrous day in the previous stage to Courchevel when he lost over 5 minutes, attacked on the Col de Madelaine. Lance Armstrong and his Discovery Channel Team rode strongly behind mindful of the threat from Vinokourov but aware of the advantage that they had over him. The tactics of the T-Mobile team riders, including Vinokourov, in support of their apparent team leader Jan Ullrich were, as ever, questionable. Three riders, Óscar Pereiro (this year's most aggressive rider) and Santiago Botero (both of Phonak) established a breakaway before Pereiro was dropped after the Col du Telegraphe and before the fearsome ascent of the Col du Galibier. Vinokourov crossed the summit of the Galibier first, taking the Henri Desgrange prize, in front of Botero, a rider who was enjoying a renaissance in 2005. Meanwhile Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel Team were controlling the peloton at just over 2 minutes behind although Michael Rasmussen jumped ahead to get more King of the Mountain points and to continue his domination of the polka dot jersey. Botero joined Vino on the now wet and dangerous descent and the pair continued together to Briancon where the Kazakhstan champion outsprinted Botero to take his second stage victory after his first one to Gap in the 2003 Tour de France that had seen the major injury to Joseba Beloki and the remarkable cross-country exploits of Lance Armstrong. The peloton, and all the main contenders, came in at 1'15" behind thus preserving Armstrong in the yellow jersey and Vinokourov's exploits not making up for the previous day's losses.

ee also

*2005 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21
*2005 Tour de France