With three riders among the 17 best in Sunday's classic Paris-Tours, team CSC secured the title as best team in the UCI ProTour rankings in 2005. Russian Vladimir Gussev placed 12th behind the winner, Erik Zabel, and Danish Lars Michaelsen achieved the 15th position. Matti Breschel, who came in 17th in the end, launched an attack with his future team mate Karsten Kroon (Rabobank) on one of the last climbs during the race, and when the two were about to get caught, Breschel countered again. But in the end the young Dane was also reeled in by the chasing peloton shortly before the final stretch along Avenue de Grammont.
"We tried our best and got away with a decent result," said sports director Alain Gallopin after the race. "We were well represented in the front group, but unfortunately our riders lost momentum, as they were close to getting involved in a crash, just as the two escapees were caught. Once again Matti showed his potential and overall I'm satisfied with our performance, which gave us enough points to win the ProTour team rankings."
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