2008 in road cycling

In 2008, for the first time in ten years, two Grand Tours were won by one rider, the Spaniard Alberto Contador. Alessandro Ballan succeeded fellow Italian Paolo Bettini as World Champion, winning the road race in his home country, where Varese hosted the World Championships for the second time in history. Bettini and German sprinter Erik Zabel were among the most prominent riders to quit after this season, while Mario Cipollini made a brief comeback in the early months of the year.

Despite even tighter controls and warnings concerning doping, and the introduction of the blood passport by the UCI, several major races, including the Giro and Tour were faced with positive tests. In addition, the ongoing feud between the UCI and the race organizations almost came to a definite break in March, when the UCI threatened to suspend riders participating in ASO's Paris–Nice. The cycling federation's ProTour seemed bankrupt halfway through the year when all remaining licensed teams announced their withdrawal. However, at the start of 2009, 16 teams saw their ProTour license renewed and two new teams joined the elite division of cycling. Crédit Agricole and Gerolsteiner stopped sponsorship of a team, and were not succeeded by new sponsors. Other than Gerolsteiner, many German companies who participated in cycling sponsorship in recent years withdrew their financial backing after this year's latest of doping cases related to German cycling. As a result, fewer professional teams and races, among them the Deutschland Tour, will be part of the 2009 season.

Amongst professional riders, Mark Cavendish was the most successful with 17 victories, including 4 in the Tour de France and two in the Giro d'Italia.[1] His team, Team High Road (which got a new sponsor midway through the season, ever since going by the name Team Columbia), was by far the most successful with 77 victories.[2] Alejandro Valverde was the most successful allround rider of the year based on the CQ ranking.[3]

After the end of the season, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong announced his comeback to competitive road cycling for 2009, with the Astana Team.

Contents

Grand Tours

Race Date Winner Second Third
Tour de France[4] Jul 5 - Jul 27 Carlos Sastre Cadel Evans Bernhard Kohl
Giro d'Italia May 10 - Jun 1 Alberto Contador Riccardo Riccò Marzio Bruseghin
Vuelta a España Aug 30 - Sep 21 Alberto Contador Levi Leipheimer Carlos Sastre

World Championships Varese

Race Date Winner Second Third
World Championship Road Race Sep 28 Alessandro Ballan Damiano Cunego Matti Breschel
World Championship Time Trial Sep 25 Bert Grabsch Svein Tuft David Zabriskie

Olympic Games Beijing

Race Date Winner Second Third
Olympic Road Race Aug 9 Samuel Sánchez Davide Rebellin Fabian Cancellara
Olympic Time Trial Aug 13 Fabian Cancellara Gustav Larsson Levi Leipheimer

Monument Classics

Race Date Winner Second Third
Milan – San Remo Mar 22 Fabian Cancellara Filippo Pozzato Philippe Gilbert
Ronde van Vlaanderen Apr 6 Stijn Devolder Nick Nuyens Juan Antonio Flecha
Paris–Roubaix Apr 13 Tom Boonen Fabian Cancellara Alessandro Ballan
Liège–Bastogne–Liège Apr 27 Alejandro Valverde Davide Rebellin Fränk Schleck
Giro di Lombardia Oct 18 Damiano Cunego Janez Brajkovic Rigoberto Uran

UCI ProTour

Race Date Winner Second Third
Tour Down Under Jan 22 - Jan 27 André Greipel Allan Davis José Joaquín Rojas
Vuelta al País Vasco Apr 7 - Apr 12 Alberto Contador Cadel Evans Thomas Dekker
Gent–Wevelgem Apr 9 Óscar Freire Aurélien Clerc Wouter Weylandt
Amstel Gold Race Apr 27 Damiano Cunego Fränk Schleck Alejandro Valverde
Tour de Romandie Apr 29 - May 4 Andreas Klöden Roman Kreuziger Marco Pinotti
Volta a Catalunya May 19 - May 25 Gustavo César Rigoberto Urán Rémi Pauriol
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré Jun 8 - Jun 15 Alejandro Valverde Cadel Evans Levi Leipheimer
Tour de Suisse Jun 14 - Jun 22 Roman Kreuziger Andreas Klöden Igor Antón
Clásica de San Sebastián Aug 2 Alejandro Valverde Alexandr Kolobnev Davide Rebellin
Tour of Benelux Aug 20 - Aug 27 Iván Gutiérrez Sébastien Rosseler Michael Rogers
GP Ouest-France Aug 25 Pierrick Fédrigo Alessandro Ballan David López
Deutschland Tour Aug 29 - Sep 6 Linus Gerdemann Thomas Lövkvist Janez Brajkovic
Vattenfall Cyclassics Sep 7 Robbie McEwen Mark Renshaw Allan Davis
Tour de Pologne Sep 14 - Sep 20 Jens Voigt Lars Ytting Bak Franco Pellizotti

2.HC Category Races

Race Date Winner Second Third
Tour de Langkawi Feb 9 - Feb 17 Ruslan Ivanov Matthieu Sprick Gustavo Cesar
Tour of California Feb 17 - Feb 24 Levi Leipheimer David Millar Christian Vande Velde
Paris–Nice Mar 9 - Mar 16 Davide Rebellin Rinaldo Nocentini Yaroslav Popovych
Tirreno–Adriatico Mar 12 - Mar 18 Fabian Cancellara Enrico Gasparotto Thomas Lövkvist
Critérium International Mar 29 - Mar 30 Jens Voigt Gustav Erik Larsson Luis León Sánchez
Three Days of De Panne Apr 1 - Apr 3 Joost Posthuma Manuel Quinziato Enrico Gasparotto
Tour de Georgia Apr 21 - Apr 27 Kanstantin Siutsou Trent Lowe Levi Leipheimer
Four Days of Dunkirk May 6 - May 11 Stéphane Augé Clément Lhotellerie Pierrick Fédrigo
Bayern-Rundfahrt May 28 - Jun 1 Christian Knees Andreas Dietziker Niki Terpstra
Tour de Luxembourg Jun 4 - Jun 8 Joost Posthuma Michael Albasini Frank Schleck
Euskal Bizikleta Jun 6 - Jun 8 Eros Capecchi Igor Antón Adrian Palomares
Tour of Austria July 6 - July 13 Thomas Rohregger Vladimir Gusev Ruslan Pidgornyy
Tour of Qinghai Lake July 11 - July 20 Tyler Hamilton Marek Rutkiewicz Hossein Askari
Tour de Wallonie July 26 - July 30 Sergei Ivanov Greg Van Avermaet Paolo Bettini
Tour of Denmark July 30 - Aug 3 Jakob Fuglsang Steve Cummings Tom Stamsnijder
Vuelta a Burgos Aug 5 - Aug 9 Xabier Zandio Echaide Iñigo Landaluze Walter Pedraza
Volta a Portugal Aug 13 - Aug 24 David Blanco Hector Guerra Ruben Plaza

1.HC Category Races

Race Date Winner Second Third
Omloop Het Volk Mar 1 Philippe Gilbert Nick Nuyens Thor Hushovd
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Mar 29 Kurt-Asle Arvesen David Kopp Greg Van Avermaet
GP Miguel Indurain Apr 5 Fabian Wegmann Michael Albasini Joaquim Rodríguez
Grote Scheldeprijs Apr 16 Mark Cavendish Tom Boonen Robbie McEwen
La Flèche Wallonne Apr 23 Kim Kirchen Cadel Evans Damiano Cunego
Rund um den Henninger Turm May 1 Karsten Kroon Davide Rebellin Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano
Commerce Bank International Championship Jun 8 Matti Breschel Kirk O'Bee Fred Rodriguez
GP du Canton d'Argovie Jun 8 Lloyd Mondory Manuel Quinziato Enrico Gasparotto
Dutch Food Valley Classic Jun 11 Robert Förster Sven Krauss Niko Eeckhout
Tre Valli Varesine Aug 19 Francesco Ginanni Leonardo Bertagnolli Damiano Cunego
Giro del Veneto Aug 31 Francesco Ginanni Serhiy Honchar Andrea Masciarelli
Coppa Placci Sep 6 Luca Paolini Enrico Gasparotto Mauro Finetto
Paris–Brussels Sep 13 Robbie McEwen Gert Steegmans Luca Paolini
GP de Fourmies Sep 14 Giovanni Visconti Stéphane Goubert Fabio Sacchi
Giro del Lazio Oct 5 Francesco Masciarelli Filippo Pozzato Danilo Di Luca
Giro dell'Emilia Oct 11 Danilo Di Luca Davide Rebellin Alexandr Kolobnev
Paris–Tours Oct 12 Philippe Gilbert Jan Kuyckx Sébastien Turgot
Giro del Piemonte Oct 16 Daniele Bennati Luca Paolini Alexandre Usov
Japan Cup Oct 26 Damiano Cunego Giovanni Visconti Ivan Basso

National Road Race Championships

Race Date Winner Second Third
Australia Jan 13 Matthew Lloyd Adam Hansen Rory Sutherland
Austria Jun 29 Christian Pfannberger Hans Peter Obwaller Stefan Rucker
Belgium Jun 29 Jurgen Roelandts Sven Vanthourenhout Niko Eeckhout
Canada Jul 6 Christian Meier Bruno Langlois Jacob Erker
Czech Republic & Slovakia Jun 29 Matej Jurco Roman Bronis Petr Bencík
Denmark Jun 29 Nicki Sørensen Matti Breschel Jens-Erik Madsen
France Jun 29 Nicolas Vogondy Arnaud Coyot Julien Loubet
Germany Jun 29 Fabian Wegmann Erik Zabel Gerald Ciolek
Great Britain Jun 29 Robert Hayles Peter Kennaugh Dean Downing
Ireland Jun 29 Daniel Martin Paídi O'Brien Brian Kenneally
Italy Jun 29 Filippo Simeoni Giovanni Visconti Filippo Pozzato
Luxembourg Jun 27 Fränk Schleck Benoît Joachim Christian Poos
Netherlands Jun 29 Lars Boom Koos Moerenhout Steven De Jongh
New Zealand Jan 13 Julian Dean Heath Blackgrove Scott Lyttle
Norway Jun 29 Kurt Asle Arvesen Stian Remme Lars Petter Nordhaug
Portugal Jun 29 João Cabreira Tiago Machado Cândido Barbosa
Russia Jun 29 Sergey Ivanov Alexander Bazhenov Roman Klimov
Spain Jun 29 Alejandro Valverde Oscar Sevilla Oscar Pereiro
Sweden Jun 29 Jonas Ljungblad Nicklas Axelsson Thomas Lövkvist
Switzerland Jun 29 Markus Zberg Martin Elmiger Mathias Frank
Ukraine Jun 28 Ruslan Pidgornyy Denis Kostiuk Volodymyr Zagorodniy
USA Aug 31 Tyler Hamilton Blake Caldwell Danny Pate

National Time Trial Championships

Race Date Winner Second Third
Australia Jan 10 Adam Hansen Rory Sutherland Ben Day
Austria Jun 28 Stefan Denifl Josef Benetseder Matthias Brändle
Belgium Aug 15 Stijn Devolder Leif Hoste Dominique Cornu
Canada Jul 4 Svein Tuft Ryan Roth Zach Bell
Czech Republic & Slovakia Jun 27 Frantisek Rabon Jan Hruska Matej Jurco
Denmark Jun 26 Lars Bak Frank Høj Michael Blaudzun
France Jun 26 Sylvain Chavanel Christophe Kern Noan Lelarge
Germany Jun 27 Bert Grabsch Stefan Schumacher Tony Martin
Great Britain Jun 27 Michael Hutchinson Wouter Syybrandy Matthew Brottrill
Ireland Jun 27 Paul Healion Neil Delahaye John Heverin
Italy Jun 22 Marco Pinotti Luca Celli Maurizio Biondo
Luxembourg Jun 26 Kim Kirchen Christian Poos Benoît Joachim
Netherlands Aug 31 Lars Boom Joost Posthuma Koen de Kort
New Zealand Jan 11 Logan Hutchings Paul Odlin Gordon McCauley
Norway Jun 27 Edvald Boasson Hagen Geir Lien Knut Anders Fostervold
Portugal Jun 28 Sérgio Paulinho Tiago Machado Helder Oliveira
Russia Jun 27 Vladimir Gusev Timofey Kritskiy Vladimir Karpets
Spain Jun 28 Luis León Sánchez Rubén Plaza Iván Gutiérrez
Sweden Jun 25 Fredrik Ericsson Gustav Larsson Thomas Lövkvist
Switzerland Jun 29 Fabian Cancellara Rubens Bertogliati Andreas Dietziker
Ukraine Jun 26 Andrey Grivko Sergey Matveev Denis Kostiuk
USA Sep 1 David Zabriske Tom Zirbel Christian Vandevelde

References

  1. ^ "Cycling Quotient". Archived from the original on 2009-06-01. http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/VictoryRankingRider.asp?year=2008. Retrieved 2009-04-02. 
  2. ^ http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/VictoryRankingTeam.asp?year=2008
  3. ^ http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/cqRankingRider.asp
  4. ^ http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/?id=cal08
2008 in road cycling
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