Cyclingnews 2005 Reader Poll Results

Best Moment of 2005

George Hincapie (Discovery Channel)
Photo ©: Jon Devich

In 2005, there was one moment that did it for you more than any other: George Hincapie's stage win in the 15th stage of the Tour de France, between Lézat-sur-Lèze and Saint-Lary Soulan (Pla d'Adet). For a cobbled classics specialist who has normally spent the Tour working in the service of Lance Armstrong, Hincapie's victory in one of the toughest mountain stages in the race was a real surprise. Not only was he allowed the rare luxury of going up the road in a breakaway on a potentially dangerous stage for Armstrong, he was also able to use his tactical nous to go with Oscar Pereiro on the final ascent to Pla d'Adet. The frustrated Spaniard was unable to shake Hincapie, and the big American was able to easily beat the Phonak rider in the sprint to the top.

In second place, with 1123 votes compared to Hincapie's 1829, was Tom Boonen's Paris-Roubaix / Tour of Flanders double. Boonen is certainly not the first rider to do this; his compatriot Peter van Petegem did it as recently as 2003. But it is still an impressive feat, and formed a big part of Boonen's fantastic season.

In third place, just ahead of Lance Armstrong passing Ullrich in the first stage of the Tour, was Paolo Savoldelli's nail biting victory in the Giro d'Italia. The Discovery Channel rider had to endure a very difficult penultimate stage, where Gilberto Simoni, Jose Rujano and Danilo Di Luca all threatened the pink jersey. Savoldelli, without any teammates, found assistance from Davitamon-Lotto's Wim van Huffel and Mauricio Ardila, among others, and managed to save the day...just.

Results

                                                        Votes    %ge
 
1 George Hincapie winning a Tour stage - at last!                                 1829  25.7
2 Tom Boonen winning Roubaix AND Flanders                                         1123  15.8
3 Paolo Savoldelli holding off Simoni & Rujano in penultimate stage to win Giro    881  12.4
4 Lance Armstrong passing Jan Ullrich in tour stage 1                              876  12.3
5 Alexander Vinokourov winning final Tour stage in Paris                           832  11.7
6 Lance Armstrong winning Tour number 7                                            552   7.8
7 Cadel Evans constantly attacking in Tour                                         308   4.3
8 Tom Boonen winning world's                                                       273   3.8
9 Erik Zabel winning paris-Tour                                                    204   2.9
10 Paolo Bettini winning Zurich by three minutes                                   119   1.7
11 Alessandro Petacchi crying after winning Milan-San Remo                         117   1.6

Total                                                                             7114