2008 UCI ProTour

2008 UCI ProTour
Fourth edition of the UCI ProTour
Details
Dates22 January – 21 September
LocationAustralia and Europe
Races15
Champions
Individual champion Alejandro Valverde (ESP) (Caisse d'Epargne)
Teams' championCaisse d'Epargne
Nations' champion Spain
← 2007
2009 (UCI ProTour) →
2009 (UCI World Ranking) →

The 2008 UCI ProTour is the fourth year of the UCI ProTour system. Following protracted disagreement between the organisers of the Grand Tours (ASO, RCS and Unipublic) and the UCI, all races organized by ASO, RCS and Unipublic were withdrawn from the ProTour calendar. This removed all three Grand Tours (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España), four of the five monuments (Milan–San Remo, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Giro di Lombardia) and four further races (Paris–Nice, Tirreno–Adriatico, La Flèche Wallonne and Paris–Tours). As such, the quality of the races of the ProTour was diminished. The Australian race, the Tour Down Under was added to the calendar, making it the first race outside Europe on the ProTour (although races had previously been held outside Europe as part of the UCI Road World Cup).

The highly successful U.S. Postal Service ceased operations at the end of the 2007 season. Johan Bruyneel signed on to become the directeur sportif and revamp the embattled Astana; joining him are 2007 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and 2007 Tour of California champion Levi Leipheimer. Other major signings included American George Hincapie moving to Team High Road and Daniele Bennati from Lampre to Liquigas, while Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca left Liguigas for the UCI Professional Continental team LPR Brakes–Ballan.

2008 UCI ProTour races

As of September 28, 2008.[1]

Dates Race Winner ProTour leader
22–27 January Australia Tour Down Under  André Greipel (GER)
(Team High Road)
 André Greipel (GER)
(Team High Road)
6 April Belgium Tour of Flanders  Stijn Devolder (BEL)
(Soudal–Quick-Step)
7–12 April Spain Vuelta al País Vasco  Alberto Contador (ESP)
(Astana)
9 April Belgium Gent–Wevelgem  Óscar Freire (ESP)
(Rabobank)
20 April Netherlands Amstel Gold Race  Damiano Cunego (ITA)
(Lampre)
 Damiano Cunego (ITA)
(Lampre)
29 April–4 May Switzerland Tour de Romandie  Andreas Klöden (GER)
(Astana)
19–25 May Spain Volta a Catalunya  Gustavo César (ESP)
(Karpin–Galicia)
8–15 June France Dauphiné Libéré  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
(Caisse d'Epargne)
 Cadel Evans (AUS)
(Silence–Lotto)
14–22 June Switzerland Tour de Suisse  Roman Kreuziger (CZE)
(Liquigas)
 Damiano Cunego (ITA)
(Lampre)
2 August Spain Clásica de San Sebastián  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
(Caisse d'Epargne)
 Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
(Caisse d'Epargne)
20–27 August Belgium / Netherlands Eneco Tour of Benelux  Iván Gutiérrez (ESP)
(Caisse d'Epargne)
25 August France GP Ouest-France  Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA)
(Bouygues Télécom)
29 August–
6 September
Germany Deutschland Tour  Linus Gerdemann (GER)
(Team Columbia)
7 September Germany Vattenfall Cyclassics  Robbie McEwen (AUS)
(Silence–Lotto)
15–21 September Poland Tour de Pologne  Jens Voigt (GER)
(CSC–Saxo Bank)

Teams

As of 6 December 6, 2007[2][3]

Code Official Team Name Country Website
ALM Ag2r–La Mondiale  France [1] Archived 2007-05-21 at the Wayback Machine
AST Astana  Luxembourg [2]
BTL Bouygues Télécom  France [3]
GCE Caisse d'Epargne  Spain [4]
COF Cofidis  France [5]
C.A Crédit Agricole  France [6]
CSC Team CSC  Denmark [7]
SIL Silence–Lotto  Belgium [8]
EUS Euskaltel–Euskadi  Spain [9]
FDJ Française des Jeux  France [10]
GST Gerolsteiner  Germany [11]
LAM Lampre  Italy [12]
LIQ Liquigas  Italy [13]
MRM Team Milram  Germany [14]
QST Quick-Step  Belgium [15]
RAB Rabobank  Netherlands [16]
SDV Saunier Duval–Scott  Spain [17]
THR Team High Road  United States [18] Archived 2020-09-23 at the Wayback Machine

Unibet.com Cycling Team, whose sponsors have pulled out of cycling, failed to submit its application renewal by the November 20, 2007 deadline.

Individual standings

Rank Name Team Points
1  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Caisse d'Epargne 123
2  Damiano Cunego (ITA) Lampre 104
3  Andreas Klöden (GER) Astana 96
4  Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Liquigas 94
5  Cadel Evans (AUS) Silence–Lotto 85
6  André Greipel (GER) Team High Road 62
7  Mikel Astarloza (ESP) Euskaltel–Euskadi 60
8  Alberto Contador (ESP) Astana 58
9  Thomas Dekker (NED) Rabobank 54
10  Stijn Devolder (BEL) Quick-Step 50
  • 107 riders have scored at least one point on the 2008 UCI ProTour.

Team standings

Rank Team Nationality Points
1 Caisse d'Epargne  Spain 147
2 Astana  Kazakhstan 145
3 Team CSC  Denmark 126
4 Euskaltel–Euskadi  Spain 114
5 Team High Road  United States 111
6 Saunier Duval–Scott  Spain 109
7 Silence–Lotto  Belgium 108
8 Liquigas  Italy 107
9 Rabobank  Netherlands 105
10 Gerolsteiner  Germany 102
11 Française des Jeux  France 102
12 Quick-Step  Belgium 95
13 Crédit Agricole  France 76
14 Ag2r–La Mondiale  France 94
15 Bouygues Télécom  France 93
16 Cofidis  France 73
17 Lampre  Italy 63
18 Team Milram  Germany 54

Nation standings

Rank Nation Points
1  Spain 336
2  Italy 237
3  Germany 198
4  Belgium 155
5  France 147
6  Australia 113
7  Czech Republic 94
8  Luxembourg 94
9  Netherlands 80
10  Russia 86
  • Riders from 23 nations have scored at least one point on the 2008 UCI ProTour.

2008 ProTour Points System

Place Tour Down Under
Tour of Flanders
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
Tour de Romandie
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
Tour de Suisse
Deutschland Tour
Eneco Tour
Tour de Pologne
Gent–Wevelgem
Amstel Gold Race
Vattenfall Cyclassics
Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian
GP Quest France-Plouay
Eindhoven Team Time Trial
Overall Classification
1st 50 40 10
2nd 40 30 9
3rd 35 25 8
4th 30 20 7
5th 25 15 6
6th 20 11 5
7th 15 7 4
8th 10 5 3
9th 5 3 2
10th 2 1 1
Stage wins (if applicable)
1st 3
2nd 2
3rd 1
  • If a rider is not part of UCI ProTour, no points are given. The points corresponding to the place are not awarded
  • Top 20 teams get points in scale 20-19-18...1.
  • Team time trials in stage races doesn't give points for riders.
  • In Eindhoven time trial rider has to finish to earn points.
  • In country ranking, top 5 riders of each country count towards the ranking.

[4]

References

  1. ^ "2008 UCI ProTour Races". UCI. Archived from the original on 2008-11-12. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  2. ^ "Press release : UCI ProTour: 18 teams registered by the UCI". UCI. 2007-12-04. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  3. ^ "2008 UCI ProTeams". UCI. Archived from the original on 2007-10-28. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  4. ^ "2008 UCI ProTour Points scales". UCI. Retrieved 2009-08-04.[permanent dead link]