August 22, 2005

Tour de France: the Final Stage

Final attack on the Champs-Élysées

The Tour de France has ended and Lance Armstrong emerged as the winner of the 2005 edition, sealing a record-extending seventh consecutive win. Alexander Vinokourov finished with a magnificent stage win in Paris. Even in the last stage, the SAUNIER DUVAL-PRODIR riders kept on fighting: Quinziato, Bertogliati and Horner attacked right up to the finish line. Although they didn´t grab the victory, the SAUNIER DUVAL PRODIR team is really excited about having participated for the first time in the grandest and toughest stage race of them all. Piepoli was 23rd in the overall GC, and Gárate 20th in the King of the Mountain classification. The team, in turn, finished in 9th place, but all these accomplishments are not as important as the team´s spirit and aggressiveness. The riders of SAUNIER DUVAL-PRODIR made every effort to win, attacking up to the last minute.

At the end of the final stage, as they do every year, all the teams paraded along the Champs-Élysées.