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organisers of the Grand Tours (ASO, RCS and Unipublic) and the UCI, all races organized by ASO, RCS and Unipublic were withdrawn from the ProTour calendar.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
← 2007
2009 (UCI ProTour) →
2009 (UCI World Ranking) →

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

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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)
(Soudal–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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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  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]
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