The
2005 ProTour was the first year of the newly introduced
UCI ProTour system, in which the ProTour teams are guaranteed, and obliged to, participate in the series of ProTour races. In certain ways the ProTour replaced the
UCI Road World Cup series of one-day races, which in 2004 was won by one-day specialist
Paolo Bettini for the third time in a row. The beginning of the ProTour saw difficult negotiations with the organizers of the
Grand Tours, the
Tour de France, the
Giro d'Italia and the
Vuelta a España.