In 2008, for the first time in ten years, two Grand Tours were won by one rider, the Spaniard Alberto Contador. Alessandro Ballan succeeded fellow Italian Paolo Bettini as World Champion, winning the road race in his home country, where Varese hosted the World Championships for the second time in history. Bettini and German sprinter Erik Zabel were among the most prominent riders to quit after this season, while Mario Cipollini made a brief comeback in the early months of the year.
Despite even tighter controls and warnings concerning doping, and the introduction of the blood passport by the UCI, several major races, including the Giro and Tour were faced with positive tests. In addition, the ongoing feud between the UCI and the race organizations almost came to a definite break in March, when the UCI threatened to suspend riders participating in ASO's Paris–Nice. The cycling federation's ProTour seemed bankrupt halfway through the year when all remaining licensed teams announced their withdrawal. However, at the start of 2009, 16 teams saw their ProTour license renewed and two new teams joined the elite division of cycling. Crédit Agricole and Gerolsteiner stopped sponsorship of a team, and were not succeeded by new sponsors. Other than Gerolsteiner, many German companies who participated in cycling sponsorship in recent years withdrew their financial backing after this year's latest of doping cases related to German cycling. As a result, fewer professional teams and races, among them the Deutschland Tour, will be part of the 2009 season.
Amongst professional riders, Mark Cavendish was the most successful with 17 victories, including 4 in the Tour de France and two in the Giro d'Italia. His team, Team High Road (which got a new sponsor midway through the season, ever since going by the name Team Columbia), was by far the most successful with 77 victories. Alejandro Valverde was the most successful allround rider of the year based on the CQ ranking.
After the end of the season, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong announced his comeback to competitive road cycling for 2009, with the Astana Team.
Grand Tours RaceDateWinnerSecondThird Tour de France2008 UCI Road Calendar Retrieved 9 December 2022Jul 5 – Jul 27 Carlos Sastre Cadel Evans Bernhard Kohl Giro d'ItaliaMay 10 – Jun 1 Alberto Contador Riccardo Riccò Marzio Bruseghin Vuelta a EspañaAug 30 – Sep 21 Alberto Contador Levi Leipheimer Carlos Sastre
World Championships Varese RaceDateWinnerSecondThird World Championship Road RaceSep 28 Alessandro Ballan Damiano Cunego Matti Breschel World Championship Time TrialSep 25 Bert Grabsch Svein Tuft David Zabriskie
Olympic Games Beijing RaceDateWinnerSecondThird Olympic Road RaceAug 9 Samuel Sánchez Davide Rebellin Fabian Cancellara Olympic Time TrialAug 13 Fabian Cancellara Gustav Larsson Levi Leipheimer
Monument Classics RaceDateWinnerSecondThird Milan–San RemoMar 22 Fabian Cancellara Filippo Pozzato Philippe Gilbert Tour of FlandersApr 6 Stijn Devolder Nick Nuyens Juan Antonio Flecha Paris–RoubaixApr 13 Tom Boonen Fabian Cancellara Alessandro Ballan Liège–Bastogne–LiègeApr 27 Alejandro Valverde Davide Rebellin Fränk Schleck Giro di LombardiaOct 18 Damiano Cunego Janez Brajkovič Rigoberto Urán
UCI ProTour RaceDateWinnerSecondThird Tour Down UnderJan 22–27 André Greipel Allan Davis José Joaquín Rojas Vuelta al País VascoApr 7–12 Alberto Contador Cadel Evans Thomas Dekker Gent–WevelgemApr 9 Óscar Freire Aurélien Clerc Wouter Weylandt Amstel Gold RaceApr 27 Damiano Cunego Fränk Schleck Alejandro Valverde Tour de RomandieApr 29 – May 4 Andreas Klöden Roman Kreuziger Marco Pinotti Volta a CatalunyaMay 19–25 Gustavo César Rigoberto Urán Rémi Pauriol Critérium du Dauphiné LibéréJun 8–15 Alejandro Valverde Cadel Evans Levi Leipheimer Tour de SuisseJun 14–22 Roman Kreuziger Andreas Klöden Igor Antón Clásica de San SebastiánAug 2 Alejandro Valverde Alexandr Kolobnev Davide Rebellin Tour of BeneluxAug 20–27 Iván Gutiérrez Sébastien Rosseler Michael Rogers GP Ouest-FranceAug 25 Pierrick Fédrigo Alessandro Ballan David López Deutschland TourAug 29 – Sep 6 Linus Gerdemann Thomas Lövkvist Janez Brajkovič Vattenfall CyclassicsSep 7 Robbie McEwen Mark Renshaw Allan Davis Tour de PologneSep 14–20 Jens Voigt Lars Bak Franco Pellizotti
2.HC Category races RaceDateWinnerSecondThird Tour de LangkawiFeb 9–17 Ruslan Ivanov Matthieu Sprick Gustavo César Tour of CaliforniaFeb 17–24 Levi Leipheimer David Millar Christian Vande Velde Paris–NiceMar 9–16 Davide Rebellin Rinaldo Nocentini Yaroslav Popovych Tirreno–AdriaticoMar 12–18 Fabian Cancellara Enrico Gasparotto Thomas Lövkvist Critérium InternationalMar 29–30 Jens Voigt Gustav Larsson Luis León Sánchez Three Days of De PanneApr 1–3 Joost Posthuma Manuel Quinziato Enrico Gasparotto Tour de GeorgiaApr 21–27 Kanstantsin Sivtsov Trent Lowe Levi Leipheimer Four Days of DunkirkMay 6–11 Stéphane Augé Clément Lhotellerie Pierrick Fédrigo Bayern RundfahrtMay 28 – Jun 1 Christian Knees Andreas Dietziker Niki Terpstra Tour de LuxembourgJun 4–8 Joost Posthuma Michael Albasini Fränk Schleck Euskal BizikletaJun 6–8 Eros Capecchi Igor Antón Adrián Palomares Tour of AustriaJuly 6–13 Thomas Rohregger Vladimir Gusev Ruslan Pidgornyy Tour of Qinghai LakeJuly 11–20 Tyler Hamilton Marek Rutkiewicz Hossein Askari Tour de WallonieJuly 26–30 Sergei Ivanov Greg Van Avermaet Paolo Bettini Danmark RundtJuly 30 – Aug 3 Jakob Fuglsang Steve Cummings Tom Stamsnijder Vuelta a BurgosAug 5–9 Xabier Zandio Echaide Iñigo Landaluze Walter Pedraza Volta a PortugalAug 13–24 David Blanco Héctor Guerra Rubén Plaza
1.HC Category races RaceDateWinnerSecondThird Omloop Het VolkMar 1 Philippe Gilbert Nick Nuyens Thor Hushovd E3 Prijs VlaanderenMar 29 Kurt Asle Arvesen David Kopp Greg Van Avermaet GP Miguel InduráinApr 5 Fabian Wegmann Michael Albasini Joaquim Rodríguez ScheldeprijsApr 16 Mark Cavendish Tom Boonen Robbie McEwen La Flèche WallonneApr 23 Kim Kirchen Cadel Evans Damiano Cunego Rund um den Henninger TurmMay 1 Karsten Kroon Davide Rebellin Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano Commerce Bank International ChampionshipJun 8 Matti Breschel Kirk O'Bee Fred Rodriguez GP du Canton d'ArgovieJun 8 Lloyd Mondory Manuel Quinziato Enrico Gasparotto Dutch Food Valley ClassicJun 11 Robert Förster Sven Krauss Niko Eeckhout Tre Valli VaresineAug 19 Francesco Ginanni Leonardo Bertagnolli Damiano Cunego Giro del VenetoAug 31 Francesco Ginanni Serhiy Honchar Andrea Masciarelli Coppa PlacciSep 6 Luca Paolini Enrico Gasparotto Mauro Finetto Paris–BrusselsSep 13 Robbie McEwen Gert Steegmans Luca Paolini GP de FourmiesSep 14 Giovanni Visconti Stéphane Goubert Fabio Sacchi Giro del LazioOct 5 Francesco Masciarelli Filippo Pozzato Danilo Di Luca Giro dell'EmiliaOct 11 Danilo Di Luca Davide Rebellin Alexandr Kolobnev Paris–ToursOct 12 Philippe Gilbert Jan Kuyckx Sébastien Turgot Giro del PiemonteOct 16 Daniele Bennati Luca Paolini Alexandre Usov Japan CupOct 26 Damiano Cunego Giovanni Visconti Ivan Basso
National Road Race Championships RaceDateWinnerSecondThirdJan 13 Matthew Lloyd Adam Hansen Rory SutherlandJun 29 Christian Pfannberger Hans Peter Obwaller Stefan RuckerJun 29 Jürgen Roelandts Sven Vanthourenhout Niko EeckhoutJul 6 Christian Meier Bruno Langlois Jacob Erker Czech Republic & SlovakiaJun 29 Matej Jurčo Roman Broniš Petr BenčíkJun 29 Nicki Sørensen Matti Breschel Jens-Erik MadsenJun 29 Nicolas Vogondy Arnaud Coyot Julien LoubetJun 29 Fabian Wegmann Erik Zabel Gerald CiolekJun 29 Robert Hayles Peter Kennaugh Dean DowningJun 29 Dan Martin Paídi O'Brien Brian KenneallyJun 29 Filippo Simeoni Giovanni Visconti Filippo PozzatoJun 27 Fränk Schleck Benoît Joachim Christian PoosJun 29 Lars Boom Koos Moerenhout Steven de JonghJan 13 Julian Dean Heath Blackgrove Scott LyttleJun 29 Kurt Asle Arvesen Stian Remme Lars Petter NordhaugJun 29 João Cabreira Tiago Machado Cândido BarbosaJun 29 Sergey Ivanov Aleksandr Bazhenov Roman KlimovJun 29 Alejandro Valverde Óscar Sevilla Óscar PereiroJun 29 Jonas Ljungblad Nicklas Axelsson Thomas LövkvistJun 29 Markus Zberg Martin Elmiger Mathias FrankJun 28 Ruslan Pidgornyy Denis Kostiuk Volodymyr ZagorodniyAug 31 Tyler Hamilton Blake Caldwell Danny Pate
National Time Trial Championships RaceDateWinnerSecondThirdJan 10 Adam Hansen Rory Sutherland Ben DayJun 28 Stefan Denifl Josef Benetseder Matthias BrändleAug 15 Stijn Devolder Leif Hoste Dominique CornuJul 4 Svein Tuft Ryan Roth Zach Bell Czech Republic & SlovakiaJun 27 František Raboň Jan Hruška Matej JurčoJun 26 Lars Bak Frank Høj Michael BlaudzunJun 26 Sylvain Chavanel Christophe Kern Noan LelargeJun 27 Bert Grabsch Stefan Schumacher Tony MartinJun 27 Michael Hutchinson Wouter Syybrandy Matthew BrottrillJun 27 Paul Healion Neil Delahaye John HeverinJun 22 Marco Pinotti Luca Celli Maurizio BiondoJun 26 Kim Kirchen Christian Poos Benoît JoachimAug 31 Lars Boom Joost Posthuma Koen de KortJan 11 Logan Hutchings Paul Odlin Gordon McCauleyJun 27 Edvald Boasson Hagen Geir Lien Knut Anders FostervoldJun 28 Sérgio Paulinho Tiago Machado Hélder OliveiraJun 27 Vladimir Gusev Timofey Kritskiy Vladimir KarpetsJun 28 Luis León Sánchez Rubén Plaza Iván GutiérrezJun 25 Fredrik Ericsson Gustav Larsson Thomas LövkvistJun 29 Fabian Cancellara Rubens Bertogliati Andreas DietzikerJun 26 Andrey Grivko Sergey Matveev Denis KostiukSep 1 David Zabriskie Tom Zirbel Christian Vande Velde
References
See also 2008 in women's road cycling 2008 in track cycling