2008 UCI ProTour

2008 UCI ProTour

Fourth edition of the UCI ProTour
Details
Dates	22 January – 21 September
Location	Australia and Europe
Rounds	15
Champions
Individual champion	Alejandro Valverde (ESP) (Caisse d'Epargne)
Teams' champion	Caisse 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organisers of the Grand Tours (ASO, RCS and Unipublic) and the UCI, all races organized by ASO, RCS and Unipublic were withdrawn from the ProTour calendar.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 of 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	Tour Down Under	André Greipel (GER) (Team High Road)	André Greipel (GER) (Team High Road)
6 April	Tour of Flanders	Stijn Devolder (BEL) (Etixx–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^[4]

• 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.

References

External links

• Official website