Highlights 2005

At the start in Liège, all eyes were on the Italian riders. Di Luca, already a winner of the Amstel Gold Race and the Fléche Wallonne a few days earlier was on his way to an historical treble that only Rebellin had managed in 2004. Rebellin, the title holder, also looked in shape while bettini, Cunego and Basso were among the most serious outsiders. However, after an eventful race, it was Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov that triumphed while Voigt present in all the breakaways in the last part of the race, confirmed that he was an untiring fighter. The two men, who had managed to break away from a pack including all the favourites with 52 kilometres to go, battled it out for victory after an impressive effort keeping an advantage on their followers than never went over the 1'20 mark. On the finish line in Ans, Voigt couldn't do anything against Vinokourov who offered his T-Mobile team its first win of the season.