Having earned the ProTour white leader's jersey, Di Luca further increased his lead with a stage win and fourth place in the general classification of the
2005 Giro d'Italia, joining
Gilberto Simoni of in igniting the queen mountain stage of
Sestriere. The same race also saw
Damiano Cunego, who finished at the top UCI ranking last year, fall ill. In the end, the descending skills and strong form of
Paolo Savoldelli earned him the
maglia rosa in
Milan. The
2005 Tour de France again brought
Lance Armstrong to the win, extending his record for consecutive Tour wins to 7. Despite promises of igniting the race with the trio of
Jan Ullrich,
Andreas Klöden and Vinokourov, the failed to wrestle the race control from Armstrong's Discovery team, and allegations flew abound of internal dispute within the team. Instead
Ivan Basso showed himself as a main contender, though he never seemed to pressure Armstrong. As in the previous editions, Armstrong's team launched a vicious attack on an early mountain stage to discourage other contenders from pursuing the top podium.
Spanish racer
Alejandro Valverde of showed that he is a serious contender for the future by not only staying with Armstrong, but by sprinting away to win the stage at the finale. However, both Valverde and
green jersey contender Tom Boonen were forced to quit due to injuries. The
Vuelta brought an exciting race in which
Denis Menchov was able to stave off attacks by
Roberto Heras and his strong team until the closing days of the race. A choreographed attack by Liberty Seguros climbers, and Heras' thrilling ride down a treacherous descent, finally won him the leader's jersey. However, a
doping scandal erupted two months after the Vuelta. Urine samples taken from Heras after the final time trial proved to be positive for
EPO. Heras was stripped of what had been his record-setting fourth win, and Menchov was elevated to first place. ==World championships==