2005 Eneco Tour


The 2005 Eneco Tour of Benelux road cycling race took place from August 3 to August 10. The Eneco tour is the continuation of the Tour of the Netherlands. This first edition covered parts of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. 184 cyclists and 23 cycling teams participated. 20 are UCI ProTour teams, the three remaining are Shimano Memory-Corp and the Belgian teams MrBookmaker and Chocolade Jacques. The winner, Bobby Julich, won the last stage, an individual time trial with a time of 31'14". This launched him from the twelfth place 12 to the first. Leif Hoste, thirteenth, became second. Max van Heeswijk wore the red jersey two days and Rik Verbrugghe five days.
This edition was somewhat tainted by an incident during stage 4. Near Stavelot, the peloton were sent in the wrong direction, while the handful of men ahead were on the correct course. As a result, their lead grew to about 15 minutes, which would have made it nearly impossible for anyone else to attain the overall victory, destroying the appeal of the race. The jury decided that the leaders would have to halt until the peloton's lag was reduced to what it was before, but they initially refused. Eventually, they had to be halted by the police, causing leader Bart Dockx to sit on the ground by way of protest.
In the final time trial, Bobby Julich climbed from 12th to 1st overall.

Stages

03-08-2005: Mechelen, 5.7 km. (ITT)

CyclistTeamTime
1Rik VerbruggheQuick Step6' 45"
2Carlos BarredoLiberty Seguros+ 1"
3Servais KnavenQuick Step+ 2"

04-08-2005: Geel-Mierlo, 189 km.

CyclistTeamTime
1Max van HeeswijkDiscovery Channel4h 20' 08"
2Marco ZanottiLiquigass.t.
3Steven de JonghRabobanks.t.

05-08-2005: Geldrop-Sittard, 178 km.

CyclistTeamTime
1Simone CadamuroDomina Vacanze4h 14' 48"
2Marco ZanottiLiquigass.t.
3Enrico GasparottoLiquigass.t.

06-08-2005: Beek-Landgraaf, 205 km.

CyclistTeamTime
1Allan DavisLiberty Seguros4h 56' 44"
2Erik DekkerRabobank+ 5"
3Daniele BennatiLampre-Caffita+ 5"

07-08-2005: Landgraaf-Verviers, 232 km.

CyclistTeamTime
1Alessandro BallanLampre-Caffita6h 06' 05"
2Rik VerbruggheQuick Steps.t.
3Leif HosteDiscovery Channels.t.

08-08-2005: Verviers-Hasselt, 194 km.

CyclistTeamTime
1Max van HeeswijkDiscovery Channel4h 41' 06"
2Alberto OngaratoFassa Bortolos.t.
3Stefan van DijkMr Bookmakers.t.

09-08-2005: Sint Truiden-Hoogstraten, 195 km.

CyclistTeamTime
1Stefan van DijkMr Bookmaker4h 10' 37"
2Max van HeeswijkDiscovery Channels.t.
3Simone CadamuroDomina Vacanzes.t.

10-08-2005: Etten-Leur, 26 km. (ITT)

CyclistTeamTime
1Bobby JulichTeam CSC31' 14"
2Leif HosteDiscovery Channel+ 21"
3Erik DekkerRabobank+ 45"

General Standings

CyclistTeamTime
1Bobby Julich29h 08' 01"
2Erik Dekker+ 21"
3Leif Hoste+ 41"
4Thomas Dekker+ 54"
5Michael Blaudzun+ 1' 07"
6Rik Verbrugghe+ 1' 16"
7Carlos Barredo+ 1' 22"
8Jurgen van den Broeck+ 1' 28"
9Andreas Klier+ 1' 57"
10Sergei Ivanov+ 2' 12"

KOM Classification

CyclistTeam
1Christian VandeveldeTeam CSC

Points Classification

CyclistTeam
1Allan DavisLiberty Seguros

Best Young Rider

CyclistTeam
1Thomas DekkerRabobank

Best Team