The Men's Individual Road Race of the

2008 UCI Road World Championships The 2008 UCI Road World Championships took place in Varese, Italy, between September 23 and September 28, 2008. The event consisted of a road race and a time trial for men, women and men under 23. Qualification Participating nations Cyclists fro ...

cycling event took place on September 28 in

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The course comprised 15 laps around 17.35-kilometre route, making a total distance of 260.25 km. Each lap featured two ascents: the first at Via Montello (6.5% gradient for 1.15 kilometres); and the second at Ronchi (4.5% for 3.13 kilometres). The highest elevation measured at Via Montello. Pre-race favourites included

Paolo Bettini Paolo Bettini (born 1 April 1974 in Cecina, Livorno, Tuscany) is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably ...

, who was trying for an unprecedented third consecutive title, and the 1999, 2001 and 2004 champion

Óscar Freire Óscar Freire Gómez (born 15 February 1976) is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the top sprinters in road bicycle racing, having won the world championship three times, equalling Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbe ...

. The race was won by

Alessandro Ballan Alessandro Ballan (born 6 November 1979 in Castelfranco Veneto, Veneto) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI World Tour team . He is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships, in ...

, with his fellow Italian

Damiano Cunego Damiano Cunego (born 19 September 1981) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2018 for the , and teams. Cunego's biggest wins were the 2004 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Amstel Gold Race, ...

in second and

Matti Breschel Matti Breschel (born 31 August 1984) is a Danish retired professional road racing cyclist, who competed between 2005 and 2019 for the , , and teams. Career Junior career Born in Ballerup, Breschel got his breakthrough with small Danish Tea ...

of Denmark taking the bronze medal.

Final classification

Did not finish

128 riders failed to finish the race.

Levi Leipheimer Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He was twice US national champion, winning the time trial title in 1999 and the road race in 2007, and is an Olympic medalist. Leipheimer was born a ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

did not start the race.

Nation qualification

References

External links

Varese 2008 home page

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 UCI Road World Championships - Men's road race Men's Road Race UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race