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 (Team CSC), 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 (Discovery Channel), thirteenth, became second. Max van Heeswijk (DSC) wore the red jersey two days (the 2nd and the 3rd) 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)

Cyclist Team Time
1 Rik Verbrugghe Quick Step 6' 45"
2 Carlos Barredo Liberty Seguros + 1"
3 Servais Knaven Quick Step + 2"

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

Cyclist Team Time
1 Max van Heeswijk Discovery Channel 4h 20' 08"
2 Marco Zanotti Liquigas s.t.
3 Steven de Jongh Rabobank s.t.

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

Cyclist Team Time
1 Simone Cadamuro Domina Vacanze 4h 14' 48"
2 Marco Zanotti Liquigas s.t.
3 Enrico Gasparotto Liquigas s.t.

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

Cyclist Team Time
1 Allan Davis Liberty Seguros 4h 56' 44"
2 Erik Dekker Rabobank + 5"
3 Daniele Bennati Lampre-Caffita + 5"

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

Cyclist Team Time
1 Alessandro Ballan Lampre-Caffita 6h 06' 05"
2 Rik Verbrugghe Quick Step s.t.
3 Leif Hoste Discovery Channel s.t.

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

Cyclist Team Time
1 Max van Heeswijk Discovery Channel 4h 41' 06"
2 Alberto Ongarato Fassa Bortolo s.t.
3 Stefan van Dijk Mr Bookmaker s.t.

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

Cyclist Team Time
1 Stefan van Dijk Mr Bookmaker 4h 10' 37"
2 Max van Heeswijk Discovery Channel s.t.
3 Simone Cadamuro Domina Vacanze s.t.

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

Cyclist Team Time
1 Bobby Julich Team CSC 31' 14"
2 Leif Hoste Discovery Channel + 21"
3 Erik Dekker Rabobank + 45"

General Standings

Cyclist Team Time
1 Bobby Julich Team CSC 29h 08' 01"
2 Erik Dekker Rabobank + 21"
3 Leif Hoste Discovery Channel + 41"
4 Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 54"
5 Michael Blaudzun Team CSC + 1' 07"
6 Rik Verbrugghe Quick-Step–Innergetic + 1' 16"
7 Carlos Barredo Liberty Seguros–Würth + 1' 22"
8 Jurgen van den Broeck Discovery Channel + 1' 28"
9 Andreas Klier T-Mobile Team + 1' 57"
10 Sergei Ivanov T-Mobile Team + 2' 12"

KOM Classification

Cyclist Team
1 Christian Vandevelde Team CSC

Points Classification

Cyclist Team
1 Allan Davis Liberty Seguros

Best Young Rider

Cyclist Team
1 Thomas Dekker Rabobank

Best Team

Team Country
1 Team CSC Denmark