aiming for stage victories. In 2005, Erik Zabel, who had won the points classification six times, was left out of the team, and Ullrich was supported by Klöden and Vinokourov, who both had already reached the podium on the Tour. On the day before the Tour started, Ullrich crashed into his team director's car, but was not seriously injured. Route and stages The Tour commemorated the death of Fabio Casartelli. During the 15th stage the riders passed the Col de Portet d'Aspet, where Casartelli died exactly 10 years earlier, in the 1995 Tour de France. The Tour also commemorated the first time there was an official mountain climb in the Tour, the Ballon d'Alsace. During the 9th stage this mountain was passed again, exactly 100 years after the first ascent in the Tour. The 2005 Tour de France was divided into 21 stages. These stages belong to different categories: 8 were flat stages, 5 were medium mountain stages, 5 were high mountain stages, 2 were individual time trials and 1 was a team time trial. The distinction between flat stage, medium mountain stage and high mountain stage is important for the points classification. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the Col du Galibier mountain pass on stage 11. There were two rest days, in Grenoble and in Pau. The traditional prologue on the first day was replaced by an individual time trial of more than twice the length of a standard prologue. This stage crossed from the mainland of France to the Île de Noirmoutier. The most famous route to this island is the Passage du Gois, a road that is under water at high tide. This road was included in the 1999 Tour. Several of the favourites crashed there that year, and ended that stage 7 minutes behind the peloton. This year they took the bridge to the island. Later in the race, there was one more time trial, on the penultimate day. Also, there were just three uphill finishes (Courchevel, Ax-3 Domaines and Pla d'Adet), a lower number than in previous years. The finish line of the last stage was, as has been since 1975, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. In the stages that were not time trials, there were intermediate sprints. Cyclist who crossed the intermediate sprints first received points for the points classification, and bonification seconds for the general