2008 in men's road cycling

2008 in road cycling
List of men's road bicycle races
List of women's road bicycle races
← 2007 2009 →  Men (2008)
← 2007 2009 →  Women (2008)

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.

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
Tour of Flanders	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 Brajkovič	Rigoberto Urán

UCI ProTour

Race	Date	Winner	Second	Third
Tour Down Under	Jan 22–27	André Greipel	Allan Davis	José Joaquín Rojas
Vuelta al País Vasco	Apr 7–12	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 19–25	Gustavo César	Rigoberto Urán	Rémi Pauriol
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré	Jun 8–15	Alejandro Valverde	Cadel Evans	Levi Leipheimer
Tour de Suisse	Jun 14–22	Roman Kreuziger	Andreas Klöden	Igor Antón
Clásica de San Sebastián	Aug 2	Alejandro Valverde	Alexandr Kolobnev	Davide Rebellin
Tour of Benelux	Aug 20–27	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 Brajkovič
Vattenfall Cyclassics	Sep 7	Robbie McEwen	Mark Renshaw	Allan Davis
Tour de Pologne	Sep 14–20	Jens Voigt	Lars Bak	Franco Pellizotti

2.HC Category races

Race	Date	Winner	Second	Third
Tour de Langkawi	Feb 9–17	Ruslan Ivanov	Matthieu Sprick	Gustavo César
Tour of California	Feb 17–24	Levi Leipheimer	David Millar	Christian Vande Velde
Paris–Nice	Mar 9–16	Davide Rebellin	Rinaldo Nocentini	Yaroslav Popovych
Tirreno–Adriatico	Mar 12–18	Fabian Cancellara	Enrico Gasparotto	Thomas Lövkvist
Critérium International	Mar 29–30	Jens Voigt	Gustav Larsson	Luis León Sánchez
Three Days of De Panne	Apr 1–3	Joost Posthuma	Manuel Quinziato	Enrico Gasparotto
Tour de Georgia	Apr 21–27	Kanstantsin Sivtsov	Trent Lowe	Levi Leipheimer
Four Days of Dunkirk	May 6–11	Stéphane Augé	Clément Lhotellerie	Pierrick Fédrigo
Bayern Rundfahrt	May 28 – Jun 1	Christian Knees	Andreas Dietziker	Niki Terpstra
Tour de Luxembourg	Jun 4–8	Joost Posthuma	Michael Albasini	Fränk Schleck
Euskal Bizikleta	Jun 6–8	Eros Capecchi	Igor Antón	Adrián Palomares
Tour of Austria	July 6–13	Thomas Rohregger	Vladimir Gusev	Ruslan Pidgornyy
Tour of Qinghai Lake	July 11–20	Tyler Hamilton	Marek Rutkiewicz	Hossein Askari
Tour de Wallonie	July 26–30	Sergei Ivanov	Greg Van Avermaet	Paolo Bettini
Danmark Rundt	July 30 – Aug 3	Jakob Fuglsang	Steve Cummings	Tom Stamsnijder
Vuelta a Burgos	Aug 5–9	Xabier Zandio Echaide	Iñigo Landaluze	Walter Pedraza
Volta a Portugal	Aug 13–24	David Blanco	Héctor Guerra	Rubén 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 Induráin	Apr 5	Fabian Wegmann	Michael Albasini	Joaquim Rodríguez
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	Jürgen Roelandts	Sven Vanthourenhout	Niko Eeckhout
Canada	Jul 6	Christian Meier	Bruno Langlois	Jacob Erker
Czech Republic & Slovakia	Jun 29	Matej Jurčo	Roman Broniš	Petr Benčík
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	Dan 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	Aleksandr Bazhenov	Roman Klimov
Spain	Jun 29	Alejandro Valverde	Óscar Sevilla	Óscar 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	František Raboň	Jan Hruška	Matej Jurčo
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 Zabriskie	Tom Zirbel	Christian Vande Velde

References

See also

• 2008 in women's road cycling
• 2008 in track cycling

This page was last edited on 19 February 2023, at 19:44