 |
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| Overview of the stages | |||
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | August 30–September 21 | ||
| Stages | 21 | ||
| Distance | 3,133.6 km (1,947 mi) | ||
| Winning time | 80h 40' 23" (38.84 km/h/24.13 mph) | ||
| Palmarès | |||
 |
Winner |  Alberto Contador |
(Astana) |
| Second |  Levi Leipheimer |
(Astana) | |
| Third | Carlos Sastre |
(Team CSC Saxo Bank) | |
|
|
|||
 |
Points |  Greg Van Avermaet |
(Silence–Lotto) |
 |
Mountains |  David Moncoutié |
(Cofidis) |
 |
Combination | Alberto Contador |
(Astana) |
| Team | Caisse d'Epargne | ||
The 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The event took place from 30 August to 21 September 2008 over 21 stages covering 3,133.6 kilometres (1,947.1 mi). The first stage was a 7 km (4.3 mi) team time trial in Granada. The event finished in Madrid 23 days later. The race saw the return of Angliru, one of the hardest climbs in professional road bicycle racing.
The race was won by Alberto Contador of the Astana cycling team, who assumed the race leadership after Angliru and kept it to the conclusion of the Vuelta.
Contents |
Race overview
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.[1] 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.[2] 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),[3] and took it the next day thanks to time bonuses in intermediate sprints.[4]
After the first rest day came the Vuelta's longest stage, said to be the queen stage,[4] 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,[5] but he was unable to remain in contention the next day. Leipheimer, who had been in second overall, re-assumed the overall lead.[6] 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.[7]
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[8] 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,[9] and kept it in the race's second and final ITT, where his strongest challenger was ironically his teammate Leipheimer.[10]
The points classification was won by Belgian Silence–Lotto rider Greg Van Avermaet, who had won Stage 9[7] and finished in the top ten of nine other stages. The King of the Mountains went to Cofidis' David Moncoutié, also a stage winner.[6] 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 red 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.[11]
Teams
The 19 teams invited to the race were:[12]
Scott – American Beef (formerly called 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.[13]
UCI ProTour Team Columbia did not participate in the race.[12][14]
Stages
| Stage | Date | Route | Distance | Type | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 Aug | Granada | 7 km | Team time trial | Liquigas | ||
| 2 | 31 Aug | Granada to Jaén | 167 km |  |
Flat stage | Alejandro Valverde (ESP) |
|
| 3 | 1 Sept | Jaén to Córdoba | 168 km | |
Flat stage | Tom Boonen (BEL) |
|
| 4 | 2 Sept | Córdoba to Puertollano | 170 km | |
Flat stage |  Daniele Bennati (ITA) |
|
| 5 | 3 Sept | Ciudad Real | 42 km | Individual time trial | Levi Leipheimer (USA) |
||
| 6 | 4 Sept | Ciudad Real to Toledo | 150 km | |
Flat stage | Paolo Bettini (ITA) |
|
| 5 Sept | Rest day | ||||||
| 7 | 6 Sept | Barbastro to Naturlandia-La Rabassa (Andorra) | 223 km |  |
Mountain stage | Alessandro Ballan (ITA) |
|
| 8 | 7 Sept | Escaldes-Engordany (Andorra) to Plá de Beret | 151 km | |
Mountain stage | David Moncoutié (FRA) |
|
| 9 | 8 Sept | Vielha e Mijaran to Sabiñánigo | 200 km |  |
Intermediate stage | Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) |
|
| 10 | 9 Sept | Sabiñánigo to Zaragoza | 151 km | |
Flat stage | Sébastien Hinault (FRA) |
|
| 11 | 10 Sept | Calahorra to Burgos | 178 km | |
Flat stage | Óscar Freire (ESP) |
|
| 12 | 11 Sept | Burgos to Suances | 186 km | |
Intermediate stage | Paolo Bettini (ITA) |
|
| 12 Sept | Rest day | ||||||
| 13 | 13 Sept | San Vicente de la Barquera to Alto de El Angliru | 209 km | |
Mountain stage | Alberto Contador (ESP) |
|
| 14 | 14 Sept | Oviedo to Fuentes de Invierno | 158 km | |
Mountain stage | Alberto Contador (ESP) |
|
| 15 | 15 Sept | Cudillero to Ponferrada | 202 km | |
Mountain stage | David García (ESP) |
|
| 16 | 16 Sept | Ponferrada to Zamora | 186 km | |
Flat stage | Tom Boonen (BEL) |
|
| 17 | 17 Sept | Zamora to Valladolid | 146 km | |
Flat stage | Wouter Weylandt (BEL) |
|
| 18 | 18 Sept | Valladolid to Las Rozas | 167 km | |
Flat stage | Imanol Erviti (ESP) |
|
| 19 | 19 Sept | Las Rozas to Segovia | 145 km | |
Mountain stage | David Arroyo (ESP) |
|
| 20 | 20 Sept | La Granja de San Ildefonso to Alto de Navacerrada | 17 km | Individual time trial | Levi Leipheimer (USA) |
||
| 21 | 21 Sept | San Sebastián de los Reyes to Madrid | 102 km | |
Flat stage |  Matti Breschel (DEN) |
|
External link.[15]
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Riders' jersey progress table
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 red 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 Categorie 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.
- 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 red, 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.
- After stage 2, Alejandro Valverde received the golden jersey and the blue jersey, because he was leading both the general and the points classifications. In stage 3, he wore the golden jersey, and the blue jersey was worn by the second-place cyclist in the points classification, Davide Rebellin.
- In stage 5 and 17, Tom Boonen wore the blue jersey.
- In stage 8, Marc de Maar wore the red jersey.
- In stages 8 and 14 through 21, Levi Leipheimer wore the white jersey.
- In stage 15 and 16, Greg Van Avermaet wore the blue jersey.
Results
General Classification
|
Teams Classification
|
King of the Mountains Classification
|
Combination Classification
|
Points Classification
| Rider | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) |
Silence–Lotto | 158 |
| 2 | Alberto Contador (ESP) |
Astana | 137 |
| 3 | Alejandro Valverde (ESP) |
Caisse d'Epargne | 129 |
| 4 | Levi Leipheimer (USA) |
Astana | 116 |
| 5 | Koldo Fernández (ESP) |
Euskaltel–Euskadi | 88 |
| 6 | Matti Breschel (DEN) |
Team CSC Saxo Bank | 69 |
| 7 | Joaquín Rodríguez (ESP) |
Caisse d'Epargne | 69 |
| 8 | Sébastien Hinault (FRA) |
Crédit Agricole | 68 |
| 9 | Ezequiel Mosquera (ESP) |
Xacobeo–Galicia | 67 |
| 10 | David Moncoutié (FRA) |
Cofidis | 65 |
References
- ^ "Descripción de la etapa". Web Oficial de la Vuelta a España. 2008-08-30. http://www.lavuelta.com/08/ingles/recorrido/etp1.asp. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ "Liquigas surprise over time trialling favourites". Cycling News. 2008-08-30. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta081. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ Shane Stokes (09-03-08). "Double success for Leipheimer". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta085. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ a b Bjorn Haake (09-04-08). "Bettini is back as Chavanel storms into golden jersey". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta086. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ Gregor Brown (09-06-08). "Ballan takes dramatic season first win". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta087. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ a b Gregor Brown (09-07-08). "Moncoutié delivers solo punch ahead of Astana show". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta088. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ a b Shane Stokes (09-08-08). "Van Avermaet scoops biggest triumph, Martinez grabs lead". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta089. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ Gregor Brown (09-13-08). "Contador reigns in Vuelta's most feared day". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta0813. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ Gregor Brown (09-14-08). "Contador puts golden stamp on Vuelta". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta0814. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ Gregor Brown (2008-09-20). "Leipheimer and Contador deliver one-two Astana punch". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta0820. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ Gregor Brown (2008-09-21). "Breschel tops sprint ahead of historic Contador win". Cycling News. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/vuelta08/?id=results/vuelta0821. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
- ^ a b "Astana in Vuelta, High Road out". BBC Sport. 2008-04-29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/7373910.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
- ^ "Scott-American Beef excluded from Vuelta". cyclingnews.com. 2008-08-07. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/aug08/aug07news2. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
- ^ "High Road confirms Vuelta non-participation". cyclingnews.com. 2008-04-27. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/apr08/apr27news. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
- ^ http://www.lavuelta.com/08/ingles/recorrido/listado.html?e=21
External links
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