2005 Tour de France

The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd Tour de France, taking place from July 2 to July 24, 2005. It comprised 21 stages over 3607 km, ridden at an average speed of 41.654 km/h. 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 was 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 there that year, and ended that stage 7 minutes behind the peloton. Fortunately, this year they took the bridge to the island.

Later in the race, there was one more time trial, on the penultimate day. Also, there were 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 was, as has been since 1975, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The Tour commemorated the death of Fabio Casartelli. During the 15th stage the riders passed the Col du Portet d'Aspet, where Casartelli died exactly 10 years earlier. The Tour also commemorated the first time there was an official mountain climb in the Tour, the Ballon d'Alsace. During the 9th stage this mountain was passed again, exactly 100 years after the first ascent in the Tour.

The race jury invoked the 'rain rule' for the Champs-Elysees, meaning that Lance Armstrong became the winner of the General classification the first time the race passed the finish line, rather than the eighth time as normal.

Stages

Stage	Route	Distance	Type	Date
1	Fromentine - Noirmoutier en l'Île	19 km (12 mi)	Individual time trial	Saturday, July 2
2	Challans - Les Essarts	181.5 km (112.5 mi)		Sunday, July 3
3	La Châtaigneraie - Tours	212.5 km (132 mi)		Monday, July 4
4	Tours - Blois	67.5 km (42 mi)	Team time trial	Tuesday, July 5
5	Chambord - Montargis	183 km (113.7 mi)		Wednesday, July 6
6	Troyes - Nancy	199 km (123.7 mi)		Thursday, July 7
7	Lunéville - Karlsruhe (Germany)	228.5 km (142 mi)		Friday, July 8
8	Pforzheim (Germany) - Gérardmer	231.5 km (143.8 mi)		Saturday, July 9
9	Gérardmer - Mulhouse	170 km (105.6 mi)	Mountain stage	Sunday, July 10
Rest day				Monday, July 11
10	Grenoble - Courchevel	192.5 km (119.6 mi)	Mountain stage	Tuesday, July 12
11	Courchevel - Briançon	173 km (107 mi)	Mountain stage	Wednesday, July 13
12	Briançon - Digne-les-Bains	187 km (116 mi)	Mountain stage	Thursday, July 14
13	Miramas - Montpellier	173.5 km (107.8 mi)		Friday, July 15
14	Agde - Ax-3 Domaines	220.5 km (137 mi)	Mountain stage	Saturday, July 16
15	Lézat-sur-Lèze - Saint-Lary Soulan (Pla d'Adet)	205.5 km (127 mi)	Mountain stage	Sunday, July 17
Rest day				Monday, July 18
16	Mourenx - Pau	180.5 km (112.2 mi)	Mountain stage	Tuesday, July 19
17	Pau - Revel	239.5 km (148 mi)		Wednesday, July 20
18	Albi - Mende	189 km (117 mi)		Thursday, July 21
19	Issoire - Le Puy-en-Velay	153.5 km (95 mi)		Friday, July 22
20	Saint-Étienne - Saint-Étienne	55 km (34 mi)	Individual time trial	Saturday, July 23
21	Corbeil-Essonnes - Paris Champs-Élysées	144 km (89.5 mi)		Sunday, July 24
Total		3606 km (2240.7 mi)

Teams and riders

189 riders in 21 teams commenced the 2005 Tour de France, 155 riders finished.

Final standings

Rank	Name	Country	Team	Time (Ave. Speed)
1	Lance Armstrong	United States	Discovery Channel	86h 15' 02" (41.654km/h)
2	Ivan Basso	Italy	Team CSC	4' 40"
3	Jan Ullrich	Germany	T-Mobile	6' 21"
4	Francisco Mancebo	Spain	Illes Balears	9' 59"
5	Alexander Vinokourov	Kazakhstan	T-Mobile	11' 01"
6	Levi Leipheimer	United States	Gerolsteiner	11' 21"
7	Michael Rasmussen	Denmark	Rabobank	11' 33"
8	Cadel Evans	Australia	Davitamon-Lotto	11' 55"
9	Floyd Landis	United States	Phonak	12' 44"
10	Oscar Pereiro Sio	Spain	Phonak	16' 04"
11	Christophe Moreau	France	Crédit Agricole	16' 26"
12	Yaroslav Popovych	Ukraine	Discovery Channel	19' 02"
13	Eddy Mazzoleni	Italy	Lampre-Caffita	21' 06"
14	George Hincapie	United States	Discovery Channel	23' 40"
15	Haimar Zubeldia	Spain	Euskaltel	23' 43"
16	Jörg Jaksche	Germany	Liberty Seguros	24' 07"
17	Bobby Julich	United States	Team CSC	24' 08"
18	Oscar Sevilla	Spain	T-Mobile	27' 45"
19	Andrey Kashechkin	Kazakhstan	Crédit Agricole	28' 04"
20	Giuseppe Guerini	Italy	T-Mobile	33' 02"
21	Carlos Sastre	Spain	Team CSC	34' 24"
22	Xabier Zandio	Spain	Illes Balears	36' 20"
23	Leonardo Piepoli	Italy	Saunier Duval-Prodir	36' 20"
24	Michael Boogerd	Netherlands	Rabobank	38' 29"
25	Paolo Savoldelli	Italy	Discovery Channel	44' 30"
26	Georg Totschnig	Austria	Gerolsteiner	49' 14"
27	Mikel Astarloza	Spain	AG2R Prévoyance	54' 03"
28	Laurent Brochard	France	Bouygues Telecom	55' 29"
29	Sandy Casar	France	Francaise des Jeux	56' 47"
30	José Azevedo	Portugal	Discovery Channel	59' 48"

Rider's jerseys progress chart

Retirement/Withdrawals

189 riders started the 2005 Tour de France, 34 did not complete the event.

Constantino Zaballa, Saunier Duval - Prodir (SDV) – Withdrawal, Stage 5
Claudio Corioni, Fassa Bortolo (FAS) – Withdrawal, Stage 6
Steve Zampieri, Phonak (PHO) – Withdrawal, Stage 7
Alessandro Spezialetti, Lampre-Caffita (LAM) – Withdrawal, Stage 7
Christophe Mengin, Française des Jeux (FDJ) – Did Not Start, Stage 8
Serhiy Honchar, Domina Vacanze (DOM) – Did Not Start, Stage 8
Sylvain Calzati, AG2R Prévoyance (A2R) – Withdrawal, Stage 8
Isaac Gálvez, Illes Balears (IBA) – Withdrawal, Stage 8
Leon van Bon, Davitamon-Lotto (DVL) – Withdrawal, Stage 8
Luciano Pagliarini, Liquigas-Bianchi (LIQ) – Withdrawal, Stage 9
Jaan Kirsipuu, Crédit Agricole (C.A) – Withdrawal, Stage 9
Igor González Galdeano, Liberty Seguros team (LSW) – Withdrawal, Stage 9
Jose Angel Gómez Marchante, Saunier Duval - Prodir (SDV) – Withdrawal, Stage 9
David Zabriskie, Team CSC (CSC) – Withdrawal, Stage 9
Gerrit Glomser, Lampre-Caffita (LAM) – Withdrawal, Stage 10
Jevgeni Petrov, Lampre-Caffita (LAM) – Excluded (Did not pass blood test after 10th stage), Stage 10
Dario Frigo, Fassa Bortolo (FAS) – Excluded (due to finding of doping products in his wife's car before 11th stage), Stage 11
Kim Kirchen, Fassa Bortolo (FAS) – Withdrawal, Stage 11
Stefano Zanini, Quick-Step (QST) – Withdrawal, Stage 11
Jean-Patrick Nazon, AG2R Prévoyance (A2R) – Withdrawal, Stage 11
Jens Voigt, Team CSC (CSC) – Eliminated on time, Stage 11
Kevin Hulsmans, Quick-Step (QST) – Eliminated on time, Stage 11
Tom Boonen, Quick-Step (QST) – Did Not Start, Stage 12
Manuel Beltran, Discovery Channel (DSC) – Withdrawal, Stage 12
Robert Hunter, Phonak Hearing Systems (PHO) – Withdrawal, Stage 12
Nicolas Fritsch, Saunier Duval - Prodir (SDV) – Withdrawal, Stage 12
Angelo Furlan, Domina Vacanze (DOM) – Withdrawal, Stage 12
Alejandro Valverde, Illes Balears (IBA) – Withdrawal, Stage 13
Gerben Löwik, Rabobank (RAB) – Did Not Start, Stage 14
David Herrero, Euskaltel-Euskadi (EUS) – Withdrawal, Stage 15
Wilfried Cretskens, Quick-Step (QST) – Withdrawal, Stage 15
Magnus Backstedt, Liquigas-Bianchi (LIQ) – Did Not Start, Stage 16
Gianluca Bortolami, Lampre-Caffita (LAM) – Did Not Start, Stage 16
Andreas Klöden, T-Mobile Team (TMO) – Withdrawal, Stage 17

Riders' physical statistics

Of the competitors in the 2005 Tour, the tallest rider was Johan van Summeren at 1.98 metres and the shortest was Samuel Dumoulin at 1.58 metres. The heaviest rider was Magnus Backstedt at 95 kg, the lightest was Leonardo Piepoli at 57 kg. Christopher Horner and Laurent Lefevre shared the lowest resting heart rate, 35 beats per minute. The "average" rider in 2005 was 1.79 metres tall, weighed 71 kg, and had a resting heart rate of 50 beats per minute.