It’s official: Team CSC will claim the overall team classification in the inaugural ProTour series as the best squad in professional cycling.

The honor caps the team’s most successful season, which included stage victories, podiums and leader’s jerseys in all the major events during the intense racing calendar stretching from February to October.

“It is a great victory for us as a team to finish this season as the best team in the world,” said Team CSC manager Bjarne Riis. “We have had a fantastic year with numerous wins and we have continued to make our mark up front in the big races.”

To underscore its dominance, Team CSC put three riders into the top 20 in Sunday’s Paris-Tours one-day classic to clinch the team rankings title.

The team widened its lead to 31 points to Dutch rival Rabobank, and no matter what happens in this weekend’s season finale at the Giro di Lombardia, Team CSC will win the prestigious title.

“It has always been our ambition to be the world’s greatest team, but not just in points and rankings,” Riis said. “We have done things our own way and this has proven to work extremely well. I have never doubted the fact that the results would follow.”

The ProTour was a new innovation that overhauled cycling’s racing calendar year, with an elite league of 20 top international teams duking it out in the season-long, 28-race series that included most of the major events.

Team CSC proved most consistent, taking in an impressive haul that included stage wins in all three grand tours as well as top-three podiums in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

Team CSC won the first ProTour race at Paris-Nice with Bobby Julich in early March and remained competitive throughout the entire season. While some teams preferred to focus on the one-day classics or the major stage races, Team CSC was committed to being a player in every race it started.

“We have spread ourselves over a variety of races and this has proven a success,” Riis said. “The fact that we have now achieved this goal is a great triumph for the entire team, for the riders as well as staff, our sponsors and everyone who follows us.”

The new ProTour rankings system confounded many at first. Riders weren’t awarded points in non-ProTour events (such as Criterium International, which Julich also won). Stage victories in major tours such as the Tour de France or Giro d’Italia scored low, while a top 10 in a one-day classic scored higher.

“To be the best team has been one of our goals for a long time now, even though the new points system took some getting used to,” Riis continued. “It’s the first year of the new ProTour. I am proud that our team is the very first to enter history at the top of the list. Regardless of how you look at it though, we are this season’s most successful team.”

Team CSC ends the racing season with Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia in northern Italy. As always, the team will line up with motivation to win. That attitude reflects the values at Team CSC, something that won’t change into 2006 and beyond.

“We have a unique thing here and it is part of our way of thinking that you should always continue to improve,” Riis concluded. “Of course, we should be proud of what we have achieved, but at the same time it should also heighten our motivation even further for the tasks ahead.”

ProTour team standings through Oct. 10
1. Team CSC 372 points
2. Rabobank 341
3. Phonak 337
4. Davitamon-Lotto 318
5. Liberty Seguros 307
6. Saunier Duval 291
7. Gerolsteiner 289
8. Discovery Channel 263
9. Crédit Agricole 261
10. Cofidis 246

ProTour individual standings through Oct. 10
1. Danilo Di Luca, Liquigas 229 pts
2. Tom Boonen, Quick Step 171
3. Jan Ullrich, T-Mobile 140
4. Lance Armstrong, Discovery Channel 139
5. Alexandre Vinokourov, T-Mobile 136

Team CSC individual standings
7. Bobby Julich 130
21. Ivan Basso 86
27. Frank Schleck 75
28. Jens Voigt 73
40. Carlos Sastre 53
83. Lars Michaelsen 25
85. Michael Blaudzun 25
128. David Zabriskie 7
129. Vladimir Gusev 6
135. Kurt-Asle Arvesen 5
150. Nicki Sorensen 3
175. Linus Gerdemann 1