Watching the video the impression is that 1) Rasmussen did not spend much if any time training on his time trial bike. He looks uncomfortable riding it especially on the descents. 2) He is a bundle of nerves and is choking. Yes, the Chicken was choking that day

Now compare this to earlier in the 2005 Tour when Rasmussen was on one of his customary solo mountain stage breakaways.

Very smooth and fast. He definitely looks like a better bike handler there than in his TT bike. If Rasmussen does hope to be in Yellow in Paris then hopefully he has been training at least once a week on his TT bike.

The second rider to consider is Tom Boom-Boom Boonen. The young Johan Museeuw protege one-upped The Lion of Flanders himself by winning the Flanders Paris-Roubaix double and getting a bunch of stage wins in the Tour all at the tender age of 24. For some reason he was overlooked as a favorite for the World Championships as AleJet Petacchi was the man to watch. As Peta fizzled Boonen made sure he was in the right spot during the most critical moments and topped off a tremendous year with the World Championship Jersey. Boonen made the Euro-mullet almost seem stylish again. Luckily, he is still young and can take some time to get his hairstyle settled.

Each year, the Tour de France winner would get a nod in the Cyclist of the Year bidding. I am mixed about this honor as the Tour is one of many races in the calendar. True it is the biggest race, but we are discussing riders of the year, so that means for the entire 2005 season. Velochimp honors Lance Armstrong for his awesome performance at the Tour de France, but he needs to ride more races to win during the year to get a consideration for this category.

Ivan Basso decided to race the Giro to win for the first time in several years. He lit up the mountainous roads of Italy until the Stelvio where a stomach bug got the best of him. Basso kept on going even though he was 25 minutes behind the leaders. A few days later he came bak and won a mountain stage and the following days Time Trial. Basso made the other Giro competitors glad that he lost all of the time in the Stelvio. In July, Basso improved upon his third place of 2004 by notching up one place higher in second. He was one of the few riders to actually attack Armstrong on some of the more viscious climbs and certainly put Ullrich in some difficulty. His Time Trialing skills needed a little more work for the Tour as Basso lost a little bit of time to Ullrich in the final TT, but he had enough time in to keep his second place behind Armstrong and ahead of Ullrich. After the Tour, Basso raced in Team CSC’s home race where he claimed practically every stage win.
Other riders to consider are Paolo Bettini who was quiet during the spring classics, but was brought back to life during the Giro and the late summer classics.

Gilberto Simoni had a great Giro, coming in second to a great Paolo Salvodelli, but could not muster enough climbing speed to get the final two minutes to topple the reinvigorated Disco-man. Simoni picked up the pace in the fall to claim a few wins and be in contention for the Giro Di Lombardia win where he was beaten by the superior sprint of Bettini.
Paolo Salvodelli won the Giro for the second time with not the best Discovery Channel team available. He time trialed well, and limited his losses in the mountains. After a great Giro win, Il Falco won a stage in the Tour de France while playing super-domestique to Armstrong.

George Hincapie had a great year winning the toughest mountain stage in the Tour de France in the same season he placed second in Paris-Roubaix. Hincapie also beat his boss in several Time Trials leading up to the Tour and also won the final stage in the Dauphine Libere. His Tour de France mountain stage win was so impressive that there was talk of Hincapie going for the GC in 2006.

These are just a few of the riders that lit up the 2005 cycling season. I will not pick a rider of the year since that moniker is somewhat of a waste. Cycling is a sport where different types of riders can showcase their skills. It is becoming diversified enough where riders like DiLuca and Boonen will never truly compete head-to-head, they simply have different specialities. But, DiLuca and Boonen are bringing back the notion of the year-round cyclist. These guys raced elongated seasons compared to riders such as Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich and others. Next year promises to bring out more year rounders as Ivan Basso has declared he is going to try and win the Giro and Tour in the same season, while other riders are looking to other goals.

L’EQUIPE.FR, l’actualité du Cyclisme