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Here’s Shimano Europe’s press release:
The 2005 Tour de France has been a huge success for Shimanos sponsored riders. Of course most attention goes to Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) who said farewell with a historical seventh overall victory. Armstrong was accompanied on the podium by Ivan Basso (Team CSC) and Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team).
Armstrong was using Shimano Dura-Ace components in all his seven Tour de France wins. At his farewell from professional cycling we would like to say to him: Thank you Lance for your amazing performances and for your trust in our components to lead you from one victory to the other.
Also our other sponsored riders showed their best in three weeks of hard core racing. The polka dot jersey for best climber was won by Michael Rasmussen from Denmark. Due to a disastrous last time trial he could not keep his third position in the general classification but nevertheless he rode a fantastic Tour as undisputed leader of the Rabobank team. Rasmussen was riding Shimano Dura-Ace components, Shimano SH-R215 shoes and Shimano WH-7801-Carbon wheels, an excellent combination for success.
The green jersey of the Points Classification was won by another Shimano sponsored rider, Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole). He managed to keep Stuart OGrady and Robbie McEwen at a safe distance.
Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel) from the Ukraine won the white jersey as best young rider. Popovych was also riding Shimano components and so were the riders of T-Mobile Team who won the team classification.
We would like to thank all our sponsored riders for their efforts during the Tour de France, culminating in winning all classifications. After the victory of Paolo Savoldelli in the Giro dItalia and Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France, we are already looking forward to the Vuelta a Espana…
