The 2008 UCI ProTour is the fourth year of the
UCI UCI most commonly refers to:
* University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States
* Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling
UCI may also refer to:
* Uganda Cancer I ...
ProTour
The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, ea ...
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Grand Tours (ASO, RCS and Unipublic) and the UCI, all races organized by ASO, RCS and Unipublic were withdrawn from the ProTour calendar.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
Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...
,
Paris–Roubaix,
Liège–Bastogne–Liège and
Giro di Lombardia) and four further races (
Paris–Nice
Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlookin ...
,
Tirreno–Adriatico,
La Flèche Wallonne and
Paris–Tours
Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m, ...
). As such, the quality of the races of the ProTour was diminished. The
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n 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).
The highly successful ceased operations at the end of the 2007 season.
Johan Bruyneel signed on to become the
directeur sportif and revamp the embattled ; joining him are
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 to 29 July. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain. It was ...
champion
Alberto Contador and
2007 Tour of California
The Amgen Tour of California 2007 was the second edition of an eight-day, 650-mile (1,045 km) stage race that raced through the California redwoods, wine country and the Pacific Coast. The road bicycle racing event was held February 18, 2007 ...
champion
Levi Leipheimer. Other major signings included American
George Hincapie moving to and
Daniele Bennati from to , while
Giro d'Italia winner
Danilo Di Luca left Liguigas for the
UCI Professional Continental team
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) – the governing body of cycling – categorizes teams into three divisions. The first division, consisting of the top 18 teams, is classified as UCI WorldTeams, and competes in the UCI World Tour. The se ...
.
2008 UCI ProTour races
As of September 28, 2008.
Teams
As of 6 December 6, 2007
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
* 107 riders have scored at least one point on the 2008 UCI ProTour.
Team standings
Nation standings
* Riders from 23 nations have scored at least one point on the 2008 UCI ProTour.
2008 ProTour Points System
* 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
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Uci Protour
* ProTour
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...