2008 Vuelta a España

63rd edition of the Vuelta a España 2008 Vuelta a España Vuelta-a-Espana-2008.png 350px Overview of the stages 30 August – 21 September 21 3133.8 km 80h 40' 23" Alberto Contador ESP AST 2008 gold Levi Leipheimer USA AST 2008 Carlos Sastre ESP SAX 2008b Greg Van Avermaet BEL SIL 2008 blue David Moncoutié FRA COF 2008 granate Alberto Contador ESP AST 2008 white GCE 2008 2007 2009 The 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race began with a 7 km on team time trial on 30 August in Granada. The Vuelta came to a close twenty-three days later with a 102.2 km on flat stage, which brought the peloton into the streets of Madrid. Nineteen teams entered the race, which was won by the Spaniard Alberto Contador of AST 2008.http://hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com/preview/2008/09/22/pagina-51/1396697/pdf.html Un triplete para los elegidos es 22 September 2008 51 El Mundo Deportivo 27 July 2012 PDFGregor Brown Breschel tops sprint ahead of historic Contador win http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta0821 Cycling News 21 September 2008 29 July 2009 Second and third respectively were the American Levi Leipheimer of AST 2008 and the Spanish Carlos Sastre of SAX 2008b. Alberto Contador first gained the race lead after the race's thirteenth stage, which contained a summit finish on the Alto de El Angliru.Gregor Brown Contador reigns in Vuelta's most feared day http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta0813 Cycling News 13 September 2008 29 July 2009 Contador took the lead from EUS 2008's Egoi Martínez, who had held the race lead for four stages. Through the first nine days of racing the race leader's golden jersey had been worn by eight different riders. The day after Contador gained the lead of the race, he attacked again and won the stage, while also expanding his lead over his competitors. Contador lost about thirty seconds to his teammate Levi Leipheimer in the stage 20 individual time trial, but together he and Levi further distanced themselves from the other general classification contenders. Contador's win at the Vuelta allowed him to become the first Spaniard – and the fifth person in the history of cycling – to win all three Grand Tours in a career.https://www.espn.com/espn/topics/_/page/alberto-contador Alberto Contador – ESPN Topics – ESPN Espn.go.com 6 February 2012 27 July 2012Grand Tour Doubles – Alberto Contador http://www.cyclesportmag.com/features/grand-tour-doubles-alberto-contador/ Grand Tour Doubles – Alberto Contador Cycle Sport Cyclesportmag.com 24 September 2010 27 July 2012 At the age of 25, Contador became the youngest person to ever win all three Grand Tours. Contador was also the third cyclist to ever win the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta in the same calendar year.Cycling Hall of Fame Grand Tour Records. Cycling Hall of Fame.com (2002). Retrieved on 26 July 2012.http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=912 Cycling Hall of Fame.com Rider Biographies: Alberto Contador Cycling Hall of Fame.com 6 December 1982 27 July 2012 In addition to the general classification, Contador also won the combination classification. In the race's other classifications, SIL 2008's Greg Van Avermaet won the points classificationhttp://hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com/preview/2008/09/22/pagina-52/598598/pdf.html Breschel, en un accidentado sprint final es 22 September 2008 52 El Mundo Deportivo 27 July 2012 PDF and David Moncoutié of the COF 2008 team won the mountains classification. Finally, GCE 2008 won the team classification, which ranked each of the nineteen teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time. Teams List of teams and cyclists in the 2008 Vuelta a España A total of 19 teams were invited to participate in the 2008 Vuelta a España. Sixteen of the competing squads were UCI ProTour teams, while the other three teams were UCI Professional Continental teams. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Vuelta began with a peloton of 171 cyclists. Out of the 171 riders that started this edition of the Vuelta, a total of 131 riders made it to the finish in Madrid. THR 2008b chose not participate in the race, as they withdrew their application to compete in the Vuelta in order to race the Tours of Ireland, Britain, and Missouri.http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/apr08/apr27news High Road confirms Vuelta non-participation cyclingnews.com 27 April 2008 12 August 2008 While FUJ 2008b – formerly known as Saunier Duval–Scott – was excluded from the event as a result of the doping cases of Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli in the 2008 Tour de France.http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/aug08/aug07news2 Scott–American Beef excluded from Vuelta cyclingnews.com 7 August 2008 12 August 2008 The 19 teams invited to the race were:https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/7373910.stm Astana in Vuelta, High Road out BBC Sport 29 April 2008 12 August 2008 22em ALM 2008 Andalucía–CajaSur† AST 2008 BBO 2008 GCE 2008 COF 2008 C.A 2008 EUS 2008 FDJ 2008 GST 2008 LAM 2008 LIQ 2008 MRM 2008 QST 2008 RAB 2008 SAX 2008b SIL 2008 Tinkoff Credit Systems† KGZ 2008b† †: Invited Pro-continental teams Route This edition of the Vuelta contained three time trial events, two of which were individual and one a team event. Six stages were classified as mountain stages, while two stages were deemed intermediate stages. Ten of the stages were designated as flat stages, which meant that they were primarily flat but could contain a climb or two of a lesser category. StageDateCoursehttp://www.lavuelta.com/08/ingles/recorrido/listado.html?e=21 Web Oficial de la Vuelta a España 2008 - Official Web Site Vuelta a España 2008 Lavuelta.com 26 July 2012DistanceTypeWinner130 AugustGranada 7.7 km 0 on22px|link=Team time trialTeam time trialLIQ 2008231 AugustGranada to Jaén 167.3 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageAlejandro Valverde ESP31 SeptemberJaén to Córdoba 168.6 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageTom Boonen BEL42 SeptemberCórdoba to Puertollano 170.3 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageDaniele Bennati ITA53 SeptemberCiudad Real 42.5 km 0 on22px|link=Individual time trialIndividual time trialLevi Leipheimer USA64 SeptemberCiudad Real to Toledo 150.1 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stagePaolo Bettini ITA5 September Rest day76 SeptemberBarbastro to Naturlandia-La Rabassa (Andorra) 223.2 km 0 on 22px|Mountain stageMountain stageAlessandro Ballan ITA87 SeptemberEscaldes-Engordany (Andorra) to Plá de Beret 151 km 0 on 22px|Mountain stageMountain stageDavid Moncoutié FRA98 SeptemberVielha e Mijaran to Sabiñánigo 200.8 km 0 on 22px|Intermediate stageIntermediate stageGreg Van Avermaet BEL109 SeptemberSabiñánigo to Zaragoza 151.3 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageSébastien Hinault FRA1110 SeptemberCalahorra to Burgos 178 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageÓscar Freire ESP1211 SeptemberBurgos to Suances 186.4 km 0 on 22px|Intermediate stageIntermediate stagePaolo Bettini ITA12 September Rest day1313 SeptemberSan Vicente de la Barquera to Alto de El Angliru 209.5 km 0 on 22px|Mountain stageMountain stageAlberto Contador ESP1414 SeptemberOviedo to Fuentes de Invierno 158.4 km 0 on 22px|Mountain stageMountain stageAlberto Contador ESP1515 SeptemberCudillero to Ponferrada 202 km 0 on 22px|Mountain stageMountain stageDavid García ESP1616 SeptemberPonferrada to Zamora 186.3 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageTom Boonen BEL1717 SeptemberZamora to Valladolid 148.2 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageWouter Weylandt BEL1818 SeptemberValladolid to Las Rozas 167.4 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageImanol Erviti ESP1919 SeptemberLas Rozas to Segovia 145.5 km 0 on 22px|Mountain stageMountain stageDavid Arroyo ESP2020 SeptemberLa Granja de San Ildefonso to Puerto de Navacerrada 17.1 km 0 on22px|link=Individual time trialIndividual time trialLevi Leipheimer USA2121 SeptemberSan Sebastián de los Reyes to Madrid 102.2 km 0 on 22px|Plain stageFlat stageMatti Breschel DEN Total 3133.8 km 0 on Race overview For details, see 2008 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11 and 2008 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21. The 2008 Vuelta a España began with a short team time trial in Granada, a traditional city in the history of the Vuelta, having hosted a stage start or finish 39 previous times.Descripción de la etapa http://www.lavuelta.com/08/ingles/recorrido/etp1.asp Web Oficial de la Vuelta a España 30 August 2008 29 July 2009 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080705221423/http://www.lavuelta.com/08/ingles/recorrido/etp1.asp 5 July 2008 Though Astana and Team CSC Saxo Bank were thought to be favorites to win this stage, the top team was Liquigas, which put their team leader Filippo Pozzato in the first golden jersey.Liquigas surprise over time trialling favourites http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta081 Cycling News 30 August 2008 29 July 2009 This set the stage for an extremely turbulent first week in terms of race leadership, as Alejandro Valverde, Daniele Bennati, Levi Leipheimer, Sylvain Chavanel, and Alessandro Ballan would all don the maillot oro between the race's beginning and Stage 7. All but Chavanel did this by virtue of stage wins – Chavanel, for his part, had been 2 seconds behind Leipheimer for the race lead after the Vuelta's first individual time trial (ITT),Shane Stokes Double success for Leipheimer http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta085 Cycling News 3 September 2008 29 July 2009 and took it the next day thanks to time bonuses in intermediate sprints.Bjorn Haake Bettini is back as Chavanel storms into golden jersey http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta086 Cycling News 4 September 2008 29 July 2009 thumb|240px|right|Alberto Contador wearing the golden jersey during the 20th stage (time trial). After the first rest day came the Vuelta's longest stage, said to be the queen stage, as it had many high mountain climbs and an extremely difficult climb to the finish in Andorra. As it happened, the day the stage was run was marked by consistent rain and cold temperatures, making the stage harder still. Ballan won this stage from a breakaway and took the overall lead,Gregor Brown Ballan takes dramatic season first win http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta087 Cycling News 6 September 2008 29 July 2009 but he was unable to remain in contention the next day. Leipheimer, who had been in second overall, re-assumed the overall lead.Gregor Brown Moncoutié delivers solo punch ahead of Astana show http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta088 Cycling News 7 September 2008 29 July 2009 In Stage 9, Leipheimer's Astana team afforded a breakaway including Egoi Martínez sufficient time that Martínez took the overall lead, meaning that through nine stages the race lead had only been retained from one day to the next one time.Shane Stokes Van Avermaet scoops biggest triumph, Martinez grabs lead http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta089 Cycling News 8 September 2008 29 July 2009 The next several stages were flat, and won by sprinters and breakaways, meaning Martínez was able to retain the overall lead for a time. Stage 13, which ended at the storied Alto de El Angliru, revealed the race's overall contenders. Alberto Contador won the stage and in so doing gained a lead over Leipheimer, Carlos Sastre, Ezequiel Mosquera, and Valverde which he would never relinquish. Contador padded this lead by winning the stage the next day,Gregor Brown Contador puts golden stamp on Vuelta http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta0814 Cycling News 14 September 2008 29 July 2009 and kept it in the race's second and final ITT, where his strongest challenger was ironically his teammate Leipheimer.Gregor Brown Leipheimer and Contador deliver one-two Astana punch http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta0820 Cycling News 20 September 2008 29 July 2009 The points classification was won by Belgian SIL 2008 rider Greg Van Avermaet, who had won Stage 9 and finished in the top ten of nine other stages. The King of the Mountains went to COF 2008' David Moncoutié, also a stage winner. The summit stage finish won by Moncoutié as well as points gained by topping climbs at the head of the peloton in the Angliru stage proved to propel Moncoutié into the granate jersey. The combination classification, an award unique to the Vuelta among the Grand Tours, was won by Contador, as his first in the General Classification, second in the points classification, and third in the King of the Mountains Classification was by far the strongest combined showing by any rider. With the overall victory, Contador became the first Spaniard and fifth rider ever to complete the career sweep of the Grand Tours. Classification Leadership In the 2008 Vuelta a España, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding the finishing times of the stages per cyclist, the leader received a golden jersey. This classification is considered the most important of the Vuelta a España, and the winner of the general classification is considered the winner of the Vuelta. Additionally, there was also a points classification, which awarded a blue jersey. In the points classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. The winner got 25 points, second place 20, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point per place less down the line, to a single point for fifteenth. In addition, some points could be won in intermediate sprints. There was also a mountains classification, which awarded a granate jersey. In the mountains classifications, points were won by reaching the top of a mountain before other cyclists. Each climb was categorized, with most of the climbs being either first, second, third, or fourth category. There were also two "special category" climbs (equivalent to hors catégorie in the Tour de France), the stage finishes into Andorra and the Alto de El Angliru. "Special category" climbs paid 30 points for the first rider over the summit, then 25, 20, 16, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1. First category climbs paid 16 points for the leader, then 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1, second category climbs 10, 7, 5, 3, 2 and 1, and third category climbs 6, 4, 2 and 1. Finally, there was the combination classification. This was calculated by adding the rankings in the general, points and mountains classifications; the cyclist with the lowest combined ranking was the leader in the combination classification, and received a white jersey. There was also a classification for teams. In this classification, the times of the best three cyclists per stage were added, and the team with the lowest time was leader. The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run. +Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification25px|link=|alt=a golden jersey Points classification25px|link=|alt=a blue jersey Mountains classification25px|link=|alt=a granate jersey Combination classification25px|link=|alt=a white jersey Team classification 1 Liquigas Filippo Pozzato not awarded not awarded not awardedLIQ 2008 2 Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Jesús Rosendo Egoi MartínezGCE 20083 Tom Boonen Daniele Bennati4 Daniele Bennati Daniele Bennati Paolo BettiniQST 20085 Levi Leipheimer Levi Leipheimer Egoi MartínezAST 20086 Paolo Bettini Sylvain Chavanel Paolo Bettini7 Alessandro Ballan Alessandro Ballan Alessandro Ballan Alessandro Ballan8 David Moncoutié Levi Leipheimer Alejandro Valverde Alberto Contador9 Greg Van Avermaet Egoi Martínez David MoncoutiéGCE 200810 Sébastien Hinault Greg Van Avermaet11 Óscar Freire12 Paolo BettiniAST 200813 Alberto Contador Alberto ContadorGCE 200814 Alberto Contador Alberto Contador15 David García16 Tom Boonen17 Wouter Weylandt Greg Van Avermaet18 Imanol Erviti19 David Arroyo20 Levi Leipheimer21 Matti Breschel FinalAlberto ContadorGreg Van AvermaetDavid MoncoutiéAlberto ContadorGCE 2008 Jersey wearers when one rider is leading two or more competitions If a cyclist leads two or more competitions at the end of a stage, he receives all those jerseys. In the next stage, he can only wear one jersey, and he wears the jersey representing leadership in the most important competition (golden first, then blue, then granate, then white). The other jerseys that the cyclists owns are worn in the next stage by the second-place (or, if needed, third or fourth-place) rider in that classification. In stage 3, Davide Rebellin, who was in second in the points classification, wore the blue jersey, because Alejandro Valverde (in first place) wore the golden jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage. In stage 5, Tom Boonen, who was in second in the points classification, wore the blue jersey, because Daniele Bennati (in first place) wore the golden jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage. In stage 8, Marc de Maar, who was in second in the mountains classification, wore the granate jersey, because Alessandro Ballan (in first place) wore the golden jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage. In stages 8, Levi Leipheimer, who was in second in the combination classification, wore the white jersey, because Alessandro Ballan (in first place) wore the golden jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage. In stages 14 through 21, Levi Leipheimer, who was in second in the combination classification, wore the white jersey, because Alberto Contador (in first place) wore the golden jersey as leader of the general classification during those stages. In stages 15 and 16, Greg Van Avermaet, who was in second in the points classification, wore the blue jersey, because Alberto Contador (in first place) wore the golden jersey as leader of the general classification during those stages. In stage 17, Tom Boonen, who was in second in the points classification, wore the blue jersey, because Alberto Contador (in first place) wore the golden jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage. Final standings Legend   20px|alt=A pink jersey   Denotes the winner of the General classification   20px|alt=A green jersey   Denotes the winner of the Mountains classification   20px|alt=A granate jersey   Denotes the winner of the Points classification   20px|alt=A white jersey   Denotes the winner of the Combination classification General classification + Final general classification (1–10)RiderTeamTime1Alberto Contador ESP20px|alt=A golden jersey 20px|alt=a white jerseyAST 2008 80h 40' 08"2Levi Leipheimer USAAST 2008 + 46"3Carlos Sastre ESPSAX 2008b + 4' 12"4Ezequiel Mosquera ESPXAG 2008b + 5' 19"5Alejandro Valverde ESPGCE 2008 + 6' 00"6Joaquim Rodríguez ESPGCE 2008 + 6' 50"7Robert Gesink NEDRAB 2008 + 6' 55"8David Moncoutié FRA 20px|alt=a granate jerseyCOF 2008 + 10' 10"9Egoi Martínez ESPEUS 2008 + 10' 57"10Marzio Bruseghin ITALAM 2008 + 11' 56" Points classification RiderTeamPoints1Greg Van Avermaet BEL 20px|alt=a blue jerseySIL 2008 1582Alberto Contador ESP 20px|alt=A golden jersey 20px|alt=a white jerseyAST 2008 1373Alejandro Valverde ESPGCE 2008 1294Levi Leipheimer USAAST 2008 1165Koldo Fernández ESPEUS 2008 886Matti Breschel DENSAX 2008b 697Joaquim Rodríguez ESPGCE 2008 698Sébastien Hinault FRACrédit Agricole 689Ezequiel Mosquera ESPXAG 2008b 6710David Moncoutié FRA20px|alt=a granate jerseyCOF 2008 65 King of the Mountains classification RiderTeamPoints1 David Moncoutié FRA 20px|alt=a granate jersey COF 2008 149 2 Christophe Kern FRA Crédit Agricole 1063 Alberto Contador ESP 20px|alt=A golden jersey 20px|alt=a white jersey AST 2008 994 Juan Manuel Gárate ESP QST 2008 895 Levi Leipheimer USA AST 2008 656 Ezequiel Mosquera ESP XAG 2008b 567 Joaquim Rodríguez ESP GCE 2008 518 Alejandro Valverde ESP GCE 2008 489 Iñigo Landaluze ESP EUS 2008 4610 Maarten Tjallingii NED SIL 2008 43 Combination classification RiderTeamPoints1Alberto Contador ESP 20px|alt=a white jersey 20px|alt=A golden jerseyAST 2008 62Levi Leipheimer USAAST 2008 113Alejandro Valverde ESPGCE 2008 164Ezequiel Mosquera ESPXAG 2008b 195David Moncoutié FRA 20px|alt=a granate jerseyCOF 2008 196Joaquim Rodríguez ESPGCE 2008 207Carlos Sastre ESPSAX 2008b 268Robert Gesink NEDRAB 2008 419David Arroyo ESPGCE 2008 5010Juan Manuel Gárate ESPQST 2008 58 Teams classification TeamTime1 GCE 2008 241h 20' 38"2 EUS 2008 + 39' 22"3 SAX 2008b + 39' 35"4 AST 2008 + 42' 01"5 XAG 2008b + 51' 31"6 LAM 2008 + 1h 14' 51"7 RAB 2008 + 1h 17' 22"8 ALM 2008 + 1h 27' 42"9 C.A 2008 + 1h 28' 56"10SIL 2008 + 1h 42' 42" References 30em External links Official website cyclingnews.com 2008 Vuelta a España 1 11 12 21 2008 Category:2008 in Spanish road cycling Category:August 2008 sports events in Spain Category:September 2008 sports events in Spain