July 31, 2005 – The ProTour continued in earnest with the beginning of the Fall “Classics”; those with Tour de France form were keen to show off against those who have had the last month more or less off.

After 250km of riding, it was Filippo Pozzato (Quick.Step-Innergetic) who took the race, beating teammate Luca Paolini and Liberty’s Aussie Allan Davis in a 15-man sprint. With Quick.Step being the big winners of the day, it was definitely Fassa Bortol who won the polar opposite award: with four of their fastest riders in the break, they could only come up with fourth – Fabian Cancellara – on the day.

Liquigas’ Danilo Diluca continues to lead the ProTour over a certain Lance Armstrong (Discovery); the Italian can more or less (unless the Texan pulls a Michael Jordan and un-retires) rest assured the latter won’t be challenging for the lead…

Results:

1. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quick Step 6.00.59 (42 km/h)
2. Luca Paolini (Ita) Quick Step
3. Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team
4. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo
5. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
6. Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
7. Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
8. Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team CSC
9. Juan Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
10. Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems
11. Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) Domina Vacanze
12. Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team
13. Bram Tankink (Ned) Quick Step
14. Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
15. Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
16. Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.28
17. Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole
18. Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick Step
19. Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
20. Simone Cadamuro (Ita) Domina Vacanze