2008 Tour de France

2008 Tour de France

Tour de France 2008 - Course Outline
Race details
Dates		5–27 July
Stages		21
Distance		3,559 km (2,211 mi)
Winning time		87h 52' 52"[1] (40.50 km/h/25.17 mph)
Palmarès
	Winner	Carlos Sastre (ESP)	(Team CSC Saxo Bank)
	Second	Cadel Evans (AUS)	(Silence-Lotto)
	Third	None[2]
	Points	Óscar Freire (ESP)	(Rabobank)
	Mountains	None[2]
	Youth	Andy Schleck (LUX)	(Team CSC Saxo Bank)
	Team	Team CSC Saxo Bank
← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th Tour de France. The event took place from 5–27 July 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage. The race was won by Carlos Sastre.

Unlike previous years, time bonuses were no longer awarded for intermediate sprints and for high placement on each stage. This altered the way the General Classification was awarded in comparison to previous seasons.

Teams

Long running disputes between the event organisers, the ASO and the UCI^[3] reached a head when the race organisers insisted upon the right to invite, or exclude, whichever teams it chose for the event. Under UCI rules, any ProTour event must be open to all member teams of the UCI's top level. The ASO made it clear that, despite changes in team management and personnel, it intended to exclude Astana from the event as a result its involvement in the doping scandals that marred the 2007 Tour and its links to the 2006 Operación Puerto doping case. This meant that the champion (Alberto Contador) and third-place finisher (Levi Leipheimer) from 2007, both of whom had since signed with Astana, could not compete in the 2008 Tour.^[4]

The ASO announced on 20 March 2008 that all ProTour teams except Astana would be invited, along with three "wildcard" teams: Agritubel, Barloworld, and Slipstream-Chipotle (subsequently renamed as Garmin-Chipotle-H30^[5]). With each team consisting of nine riders, 180 riders started the Tour.

The 20 teams invited to the race were:^[6]

Pre-race favourites

Because Astana was not invited to the 2008 Tour de France, the winner of the 2007 Tour de France, Alberto Contador, the 3rd place finisher Levi Leipheimer and the 2004 and 2006 Tour de France runner up Andreas Klöden did not compete. Ten days before the start of the tour, Contador picked Cadel Evans as the likely winner for 2008.^[8] Shown in the table below are the riders that, according to the bookmakers^[9] in the months before the start of the 2008 Tour de France, had a chance of winning the 2008 Tour better than or equal to 25/1. The odds shown are the odds in July 2008, directly before the start of the race. Thomas Dekker and Michael Rogers were also given odds in this range, but were not included in the Tour de France.

Stages

In previous years, the Tour started with a prologue, followed by a week of flat stages. The flat stages were dominated by the sprinters' teams, and the yellow jersey was worn by a sprinter who had a good prologue. At the presentation of the Tour de France 2008 schedule, Tour Director Christian Prudhomme announced that the 2008 Tour would be different: "We have wanted a first week of racing with much more rhythm. With no prologue, an uphill finish that will suit different types of sprinters at the end of stage one, with a short time trial on stage four and the first mountain at Super-Besse only 48 hours later, we have decided to change the scenario."^[10] The time bonuses at the end of each stage were removed, and there was 82 kilometres (51 mi) of time trials, less than usual.

The 2008 Tour de France was almost entirely in France, with only a small part in Italy.

Stage	Route	Distance	Type		Date	Official page
1	Brest - Plumelec	197.5 km (122.7 mi)		Flat stage	Saturday, July 5	link
2	Auray - Saint-Brieuc	164.5 km (102.2 mi)		Flat stage	Sunday, July 6	link
3	Saint-Malo - Nantes	208.0 km (129.2 mi)		Flat stage	Monday, July 7	link
4	Cholet	29.5 km (18.3 mi)		Individual time trial	Tuesday, July 8	link
5	Cholet - Châteauroux	232.0 km (144.2 mi)		Flat stage	Wednesday, July 9	link
6	Aigurande - Super-Besse Sancy	195.5 km (121.5 mi)		Transition stage	Thursday, July 10	link
7	Brioude - Aurillac	159.0 km (98.8 mi)		Transition stage	Friday, July 11	link
8	Figeac - Toulouse	172.5 km (107.2 mi)		Flat stage	Saturday, July 12	link
9	Toulouse - Bagnères-de-Bigorre	224.0 km (139.2 mi)		Mountain stage	Sunday, July 13	link
10	Pau - Hautacam	156.0 km (96.9 mi)		Mountain stage	Monday, July 14	link
Rest day					Tuesday, July 15
11	Lannemezan - Foix	167.5 km (104.1 mi)		Transition stage	Wednesday, July 16	link
12	Lavelanet - Narbonne	168.5 km (104.7 mi)		Flat stage	Thursday, July 17	link
13	Narbonne - Nîmes	182.0 km (113.1 mi)		Flat stage	Friday, July 18	link
14	Nîmes - Digne-les-Bains	194.5 km (120.9 mi)		Flat stage	Saturday, July 19	link
15	Embrun[11] - Prato Nevoso	183.0 km (113.7 mi)		Mountain stage	Sunday, July 20	link
Rest day					Monday, July 21
16	Cuneo - Jausiers	157.0 km (97.6 mi)		Mountain stage	Tuesday, July 22	link
17	Embrun - Alpe d'Huez	210.5 km (130.8 mi)		Mountain stage	Wednesday, July 23	link
18	Bourg-d'Oisans - Saint-Étienne	196.5 km (122.1 mi)		Transition stage	Thursday, July 24	link
19	Roanne - Montluçon	165.5 km (102.8 mi)		Flat stage	Friday, July 25	link
20	Cérilly - Saint-Amand-Montrond	53.0 km (32.9 mi)		Individual time trial	Saturday, July 26	link
21	Étampes - Paris Champs-Élysées	143.0 km (88.9 mi)		Flat stage	Sunday, July 27	link
Total: 3,559.5 km (2,211.8 mi)

In the first week of the 2008 Tour de France, the stages were mostly flat. As traditionally in the Tour de France, this resulted in small breakaways of cyclists, and the sprinters' teams trying to get them back. In the first stage, the sprinters won, with Thor Hushovd winning the stage, but in the second stage, four cyclists managed to stay away. The fourth stage was a time trial, won by Stefan Schumacher, who took over the lead. In the fifth stage, the sprinters won the battle and Mark Cavendish won the stage.

The Massif Central mountains were visitied in stage six and seven. In stage six, all the breakaways were caught, and the favourites stayed together and finished together. In stage seven, the same scenario, only now Luis León Sánchez managed to stay a few seconds ahead and win the stage. The eighth stage was a sprinter stage, won by Cavendish. Then, from stage nine, the Pyrénées were climbed. Riccardo Riccò broke away from the bunch on the final climb, and won the stage. On stage 10, a group of four with some main contenders escaped, and Leonardo Piepoli won the stage. Stage eleven had easier climbs, and a group of four riders, not important for the overall classification, were allowed to break away and win 14 minutes.

Stages twelve to fourteen were flat stages, and were dominated by the sprinters. Mark Cavendish won another two stages, and Oscar Freire took his first. In the fifteenth stage, a group of four cyclists escaped and stayed away, a similar thing happened in stage sixteen. In the seventeenth stage, Carlos Sastre placed his decisive attack for the general classification, and also won the stage. The eighteenth and nineteenth stage again saw breakaways of cyclists not important for the general classification. The twentieth stage, a time trial, was won by Stefan Schumacher who had also won the first time trial. The last stage was a sprinters' stage, won by Gert Steegmans.

Classification leadership

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Young rider classification	Team classification	Combativity award
1	Alejandro Valverde	Alejandro Valverde	Alejandro Valverde	Thomas Voeckler	Riccardo Riccò	Caisse d'Epargne	Lilian Jegou
2	Thor Hushovd		Kim Kirchen				Sylvain Chavanel
3	Samuel Dumoulin	Romain Feillu			Romain Feillu	Garmin-Chipotle-H30	William Frischkorn
4	None *	Stefan Schumacher			Thomas Lövkvist		no award
5	Mark Cavendish		Thor Hushovd				Nicolas Vogondy
6	None*	Kim Kirchen	Kim Kirchen	Sylvain Chavanel			Sylvain Chavanel
7	Luis León Sánchez			David de la Fuente		Team CSC Saxo Bank	Luis León Sánchez
8	Mark Cavendish		Óscar Freire				Laurent Lefevre
9	None *		Kim Kirchen		Andy Schleck		Sebastian Lang
10	None *	Cadel Evans	Óscar Freire	Riccardo Riccò	Riccardo Riccò	Saunier Duval-Scott	Rémy Di Gregorio
11	Kurt Asle Arvesen					Team CSC Saxo Bank	Amaël Moinard
12	Mark Cavendish			Sebastian Lang	Vincenzo Nibali		Arnaud Gérard
13	Mark Cavendish						Niki Terpstra
14	Óscar Freire						José Ivan Gutierrez
15	Simon Gerrans	Fränk Schleck		Bernhard Kohl[2]			Egoi Martinez
16	Cyril Dessel				Andy Schleck		Stefan Schumacher
17	Carlos Sastre	Carlos Sastre					Peter Velits
18	Marcus Burghardt						Marcus Burghardt
19	Sylvain Chavanel						Sylvain Chavanel
20	None *						no award
21	Gert Steegmans						Nicolas Vogondy
Final		Carlos Sastre	Óscar Freire	None[2]	Andy Schleck	Team CSC Saxo Bank	Sylvain Chavanel

Romain Feillu was the only French cyclist to wear the yellow jersey in the 2008 Tour de France; he wore it for one day after stage 3.

Jersey wearers when one rider is leading two or more competitions

• In stage 2, Philippe Gilbert wore the green jersey
• In stage 4, Andy Schleck wore the white jersey
• In stage 7, Thor Hushovd wore the green jersey
• In stages 8 and 10, Óscar Freire wore the green jersey
• In stages 11 and 12, Vincenzo Nibali wore the white jersey.
• In stage 12, no-one wore the polka-dot jersey, due to Riccardo Riccò's withdrawal.

Other notes

• Riccardo Riccò, originally winner of stages 6 and 9, tested positive for and confessed to the use of MIRCERA^[12] after stage 4, and as a result he has been removed from the classification, although the 2nd place finishers on those stages (Alejandro Valverde on stage 6 and Vladimir Efimkin on stage 9) have not, as of January 2010, been upgraded. Stefan Schumacher (originally winner of stages 4 and 20) and Leonardo Piepoli (originally winner of stage 10) both tested positive in a re-test some two months after the completion of the race.^[13] Hence, their stage wins have also been removed, although as of January 2010, no-one has been promoted to stage winner in their stead. For Schumacher's wins on stages 4 and 20, the 2nd place finishers were Kim Kirchen (stage 4) and Fabian Cancellara (stage 20) and for Piepoli's win on stage 10, 2nd placed finisher was Juan José Cobo.^[14]

Race overview

General Classification

The battle for the general classification really started in the sixth stage, the first mountain stage. At the beginning of that stage, the main contenders were close to each other in the general classification. All the main contenders stayed together in that sixth stage, and Kirchen wore the yellow jersey after that stage. Stages seven to nine saw only little changes, but the classification was changed in the tenth stage, when Kirchen was dropped and Evans took over the lead, only one second ahead of Fränk Schleck. This situation did not change until the fifteenth stage, after which Fränk Schleck was leading, with Kohl, Evans, Menchov, Vandevelde and Sastre all within one minute. In the sixteenth stage, Vandevelde was dropped, and Menchov lost some time. In stage seventeen, Sastre rode away on his own, and he won two minutes over everybody else, and took the lead in the general classification. The only chance to win back time that remained for the other cyclists was the time trial in stage twenty. Although it caused some changes in the top of the classification, and a narrowing of his advantage, Sastre did not lose his lead, and the following day became the winner of the general classification.^[15]

King of the Mountains

David de la Fuente took enough hilltop points in the first eight stages to take the lead in the mountains classification. In the ninth stage, stage winner Riccò won more and was coming in close, followed by Sebastian Lang, who was in an initial breakaway. In the tenth stage, Riccò won enough points to take over the lead. Nothing changed in stage 11. Before stage 12, Riccò was withdrawn from the race, together De La Fuente and the rest of his team mates. The lead in the mountain classification was therefore held by Sebastian Lang, with his team mate Kohl in second place. Kohl took over the lead in the fifteenth stage. In the last mountain stage, stage seventeen, Kohl secured his mountains classification win, with Sastre in second place, with the same points as third place Fränk Schleck, but ranked above him because he had reached tops first more often.

After the race finished, the news came that Kohl had used CERA, a doping agent. His results have been removed, but second-place finisher Sastre has not been retroactively awarded the jersey.

Points classification

Although Mark Cavendish won four stages, he never gained enough points to lead the points classification and pulled out of the competition after stage 14. Instead, Óscar Freire, who won one stage, took the lead after stage nine, and kept leading the points classification until the end of the race.

Other categories

The team classification in the 2008 Tour de France was won by Team CSC Saxo Bank, team of Carlos Sastre, Fränk Schleck and Andy Schleck. They had a margin of more than fifteen minutes over Ag2r-La Mondiale. Andy Schleck, in 11th place overall, was the highest placed rider who qualified for the young rider classification, and so won the white jersey. Sylvain Chavanel, who had won three daily combativity awards for his participation in breakaways, was given the supercombativity award.

Overall standings

General Classification

Rank Rider Team Time 1  Carlos Sastre (ESP) Team CSC Saxo Bank 87h 52' 52" 2  Cadel Evans (AUS) Silence-Lotto + 58" 3 None[2] 4  Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank + 2' 10" 5  Christian Vandevelde (USA) Garmin-Chipotle-H30 + 3' 05" 6  Fränk Schleck (LUX) Team CSC Saxo Bank + 4' 28" 7  Samuel Sánchez (ESP) Euskaltel-Euskadi + 6' 25" 8  Kim Kirchen (LUX) Team Columbia + 6' 55" 9  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Caisse d'Epargne + 7' 12" 10  Tadej Valjavec (SLO) Ag2r-La Mondiale + 9' 05"

Carlos Sastre entering Paris wearing the yellow jersey. Team classification [15] Rank Team Time 1 Team CSC Saxo Bank 263h 29' 57" 2 Ag2r-La Mondiale + 15' 35" 3 Rabobank + 1h 05' 26" 4 Euskaltel-Euskadi + 1h 16' 26" 5 Silence-Lotto + 1h 17' 15" 6 Caisse d'Epargne + 1h 20' 28" 7 Team Columbia + 1h 23' 00" 8 Lampre + 1h 26' 24" 9 Gerolsteiner + 1h 27' 40" 10 Crédit Agricole + 1h 37' 16"

King of the Mountains Classification [15] Rank Rider Team Points 1 None[2] 2  Carlos Sastre (ESP) Team CSC Saxo Bank 80 3  Fränk Schleck (LUX) Team CSC Saxo Bank 80 4  Thomas Voeckler (FRA) Bouygues Télécom 65 5  Sebastian Lang (GER) Gerolsteiner 62 6  Stefan Schumacher (GER) Gerolsteiner 61 7  John-Lee Augustyn (RSA) Barloworld 61 8  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Caisse d'Epargne 58 9  Rémy Di Gregorio (FRA) Française des Jeux 52 10  Egoi Martínez (ESP) Euskaltel-Euskadi 51

Points Classification [15] Rank Rider Team Points 1  Óscar Freire (ESP) Rabobank 270 2  Thor Hushovd (NOR) Crédit Agricole 220 3  Erik Zabel (GER) Team Milram 217 4  Leonardo Duque (COL) Cofidis 181 5  Kim Kirchen (LUX) Team Columbia 155 6  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Caisse d'Epargne 136 7  Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 131 8  Robbie McEwen (AUS) Silence-Lotto 129 9  Julian Dean (NZL) Garmin-Chipotle-H30 119 10  Gerald Ciolek (GER) Team Columbia 116

Óscar Freire in the green jersey that he received for winning the points classification.

Young Riders' Classification

^[15]

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Andy Schleck (LUX)	Team CSC Saxo Bank	88h 04' 24"
2	Roman Kreuziger (CZE)	Liquigas	+ 1' 27"
3	Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)	Liquigas	+ 17' 01"
4	Maxime Monfort (BEL)	Cofidis	+ 24' 09"
5	Eduardo Gonzalo (ESP)	Agritubel	+ 1h 08' 34"
6	Thomas Lövkvist (SWE)	Team Columbia	+ 1h 13' 55"
7	John-Lee Augustyn (RSA)	Barloworld	+ 1h 24' 49"
8	Peter Velits (SVK)	Team Milram	+ 1h 38' 17"
9	Rémy Di Gregorio (FRA)	Française des Jeux	+ 1h 38' 22"
10	Luis León Sánchez (ESP)	Caisse d'Epargne	+ 1h 44' 07"

Graphical representation of nine prominent riders' time gaps throughout the 2008 race

Prize money

A total prize fund of approximately €3.25 million was awarded throughout the tour. In addition, each team received €51,243 towards expenses of participation, with an additional €1,600 per rider who completed the race, provided that at least seven did so.^[16][17]

By tradition, a team's winnings were pooled and shared among the riders and support team. Team CSC, the team of Tour winner Sastre, won the most prize money, more than €600,000. Saunier Duval's prize money was not awarded after the positive tests of Riccardo Riccò.^[18]

Team CSC received €450,000 for the overall victory of Carlos Sastre.

Doping

Writing on the street during Tour de France 2008 at Alpe d'Huez, satirically saying that EPO is available in 500 meters.

On 26 May 2008, the 2007 green jersey (points) winner Tom Boonen tested positive for cocaine. Since this was outside competition, Boonen was not sanctioned by the UCI or WADA, but he was nevertheless barred from the 2008 Tour de France.^[19][20]

Following protracted disagreement between the organisers of the Tour de France (ASO) and the UCI, the race was sanctioned by the French cycling federation (FFC), as was the 2008 Paris–Nice in March. Thus the FFC were in charge of the doping controls before and during the race, and rather than increasing the number of doping controls during the Tour, they applied a more targeted approach on suspect riders.^[21] The anti-doping agency AFLD carried out approximately 60 random and targeted tests in the weeks leading up to the Tour. They took blood samples from all the 180 riders in a two-day period just before the first stage, and during the race took samples from up to 14 riders a day shortly after the stage was finished, 250 tests being run in total.^[22] The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) also performed unannounced doping tests of riders at the finish of stage 15, which ended at the ski resort of Prato Nevoso, Italy.^[23] On 3 July 2008, France enacted a law criminalizing using or trafficking in doping substances.^[24]

On July 11 news broke that Spanish rider Manuel Beltrán tested positive for erythropoietin after the first stage of the tour. Blood abnormalities before the tour start had led AFLD to target the rider. Beltrán's team Liquigas withdrew him from the tour with immediate effect. French law enforcement authorities questioned Beltrán over possible offences and searched his hotel room, but he claimed his innocence. The B-Sample has not yet been tested.^[25]

On July 13, prior to the ninth stage, it was revealed that AFLD had informed team doctors that five riders had unusually high hematocrit levels. The Italian press reported that Riccardo Riccò, who won the stage later that day, had been selected for testing several times during the first week, which led to a suspicion that he was among those whose teams had been notified. Riccò has for some time been known to have a naturally high hematocrit level of 51%, above the 50%-level which usually is taken to be an indicator of possible blood manipulation. Riccò stated that he has a license confirming that this is a natural, long-term condition, which he gave to the doping agencies before the start of the race,^[26] but he later admitted to the offence at a hearing of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI).^[27]

On July 16 Barloworld started the 11th stage without Moisés Dueñas, who had been withdrawn from the team after being tested positive for EPO at the end of the time trial fourth stage.^[28] Barloworld Ltd, two days later, announced that they were withdrawing from sponsorship after this year's Tour de France,^[29] but on October 28, they announced that they would sponsor the team for another year.^[30]

Stefan Schumacher tested positive for MIRCERA following additional testing of his blood samples.

On July 17, shortly before the start of stage 12, Ricardo Riccò and the rest of the Saunier Duval-Scott team, withdrew from the race after the announcement that he had tested positive for MIRCERA, a new type of EPO, at the end of stage 4.^[31][32] Leonardo Piepoli, winner of stage 10, was sacked by his team for "violation of the team's ethics code" the following day, though no positive test was reported at that time.^[33] Almost 3 months later his tests came back positive for samples taken one day prior to the start of the Tour, on July 4, and also on July 15, on the rest day in Pau.^[34]

On the last day of the race, but after the end of the stage, Dmitry Fofonov was announced to have tested positive for the banned stimulant heptaminol after Stage 18. He was asked for a medical exemption to use the stimulant, but did not produce one.^[35] He was subsequently fired by his team Crédit Agricole.^[36]

After the race ended, French cyclist Jimmy Casper was suspended from Agritubel because he tested positive after the stage to Super Besse for glucocorticoids, an asthma drug that is banned unless the user has a medical exemption for its use. Casper, an asthmatic, carried a therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) for the last twelve years but failed to renew this exemption. His authorisation expired on May 29 and was not renewed before the 2008 Tour de France.^[37] The French cycling federation's disciplinary commission exonerated Casper.^[38]

In late September it was announced that several Tour de France riders were to have their blood samples retested for traces of EPO. Pierre Bordry, the head of AFLD, claimed the testing involved riders who were already under scrutiny for suspicious urine samples. AFLD had suspicion that there was MIRCERA in some samples but the laboratory could not say definitively. The urine tests were somewhat unreliable at giving definitive results, so the AFLD decided to order the blood samples taken before and during the Tour for additional testing with a newly developed CERA blood test.^[39][40]

As a result of this additional testing, both Leonardo Piepoli and Stefan Schumacher tested positive for the same substance which Riccò used, MIRCERA. The riders were declared positive by AFLD.^[34]

On 13 October 2008, the AFLD announced that Bernhard Kohl, who finished in third place overall and winner of the climbers' competition, had also tested positive for MIRCERA on July 3 and 15, before and during the Tour de France.^[41][42] Initial results were verified, and Kohl also confessed to doping. His third-place overall finish in the 2008 Tour and his first place in the King of the Mountains competition are considered vacancies in the Tour's official history.^[2]

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

Notes and references

See also

• 2008 in road cycling

External links

• The official Tour de France site
• Le dico du Tour / Le Tour de France de 1947 à 2008 (French)
• 2008 Tour de France: Stage by stage Interactive application with Google Maps

Tour de France 1903 · 1904 · 1905 · 1906 · 1907 · 1908 · 1909 · 1910 · 1911 · 1912 · 1913 · 1914 suspended because of World War I 1919 · 1920 · 1921 · 1922 · 1923 · 1924 · 1925 · 1926 · 1927 · 1928 · 1929 · 1930 · 1931 · 1932 · 1933 · 1934 · 1935 · 1936 · 1937 · 1938 · 1939 suspended because of World War II 1947 · 1948 · 1949 · 1950 · 1951 · 1952 · 1953 · 1954 · 1955 · 1956 · 1957 · 1958 · 1959 · 1960 · 1961 · 1962 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 · 1966 · 1967 · 1968 · 1969 · 1970 · 1971 · 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979 · 1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989 · 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 General classification (maillot jaune) Points classification (maillot vert) Mountains classification (maillot à pois) Young rider classification (maillot blanc) Team classification (classement d'équipes) Combativity award (prix de combativité) Defunct jerseys: Combination classification (maillot du combiné) • Intermediate sprints classification (maillot rouge)