2008 UCI ProTour

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organisers of the Grand Tours (ASO, RCS and Unipublic) and the UCI, all races organized by ASO, RCS and Unipublic were withdrawn from the ProTour calendar.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).

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

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 Tour Down Under  André Greipel (GER)
(Team High Road)
 André Greipel (GER)
(Team High Road)
6 April Tour of Flanders  Stijn Devolder (BEL)
(Deceuninck–Quick-Step)
7–12 April Vuelta al País Vasco  Alberto Contador (ESP)
(Astana)
9 April Gent–Wevelgem  Óscar Freire (ESP)
(Rabobank)
20 April Amstel Gold Race  Damiano Cunego (ITA)
(Lampre)
 Damiano Cunego (ITA)
(Lampre)
29 April–4 May Tour de Romandie  Andreas Klöden (GER)
(Astana)
19–25 May Volta a Catalunya  Gustavo César (ESP)
(Karpin–Galicia)
8–15 June Dauphiné Libéré  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
(Caisse d'Epargne)
 Cadel Evans (AUS)
(Silence–Lotto)
14–22 June Tour de Suisse  Roman Kreuziger (CZE)
(Liquigas)
 Damiano Cunego (ITA)
(Lampre)
2 August Clásica de San Sebastián  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
(Caisse d'Epargne)
 Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
(Caisse d'Epargne)
20–27 August / Eneco Tour of Benelux  Iván Gutiérrez (ESP)
(Caisse d'Epargne)
25 August GP Ouest-France  Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA)
(Bouygues Télécom)
29 August–
6 September
Deutschland Tour  Linus Gerdemann (GER)
(Team Columbia)
7 September Vattenfall Cyclassics  Robbie McEwen (AUS)
(Silence–Lotto)
15–21 September 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
AST Astana  Luxembourg
BTL Bouygues Télécom  France
GCE Caisse d'Epargne  Spain
COF Cofidis  France
C.A Crédit Agricole  France
CSC Team CSC  Denmark
SIL Silence–Lotto  Belgium
EUS Euskaltel–Euskadi  Spain
FDJ Française des Jeux  France
GST Gerolsteiner  Germany
LAM Lampre  Italy
LIQ Liquigas  Italy
MRM Team Milram  Germany
QST Quick-Step  Belgium
RAB Rabobank  Netherlands
SDV Saunier Duval–Scott  Spain
THR Team High Road  United States

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 (1) 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.
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