2008 Tour de France
 | This article documents a current road bicycle race. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. Initial news reports, scores, or statistics may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
Template:Tour de France standings
The 2008 Tour de France is the 95th Tour de France. The event will take place from July 5 to July 27, 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour will enter Italy on the 15th stage and return to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which will be reached in the 21st stage. All time bonuses for intermediate sprints and at each stage finish line have been scrapped.
On February 13 2008, the event organisers, the Amaury Sport Organisation, announced that the Astana Team would be barred from the 2008 Tour due to its involvement in the doping scandals that marred the 2007 Tour and its links to the 2006 Operación Puerto doping case. This move comes despite an almost complete turnover of the team's management, and rider roster in the wake of the 2007 scandals. The ASO's decision means that defending champion Alberto Contador and last year's third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer, both of whom signed with the revamped Astana Team, will not compete in the 2008 Tour.[1] 2007 green jersey (points) winner Tom Boonen tested positive for cocaine in a test on May 26 2008. Since this was outside competition, Boonen does not face sanctions by the UCI or WADA. Despite the absence of official sanctions, Boonen was barred from the 2008 Tour de France. [2][3]
Stages
In previous years, the Tour started with a prologue, followed by a week of flat stages. The flat stages were dominated by the sprinters' teams, and the yellow jersey was worn by a sprinter who had a good prologue. Tour Director Christian Prudhomme announced that the 2008 Tour should be different: "We have wanted a first week of racing with much more rhythm. With no prologue, an uphill finish that will suit different types of sprinters at the end of stage one, with a short time trial on stage four and the first mountain at Super-Besse only 48 hours later, we have decided to change the scenario."[4] The time bonuses at the end of each stage were removed, and there will be 82 kilometres (51 mi) of time trials, rather less than usual.
The 2008 Tour de France is almost entirely in France, with only a small part in Italy.
| Stage | Route | Distance | Type | Date | Stage winner | GC leader | Official page | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brest - Plumelec | 195 km | Flat stage | Saturday, July 5 | Alejandro Valverde | link | |||
| 2 | Auray - Saint-Brieuc | 165 km | Flat stage | Sunday, July 6 | Thor Hushovd | Alejandro Valverde | link | ||
| 3 | Saint-Malo - Nantes | 195 km | Flat stage | Monday, July 7 | link | ||||
| 4 | Cholet | 29 km | Individual time trial | Tuesday, July 8 | link | ||||
| 5 | Cholet - Châteauroux | 230 km | Flat stage | Wednesday, July 9 | link | ||||
| 6 | Aigurande - Super-Besse Sancy | 195 km | Intermediate stage | Thursday, July 10 | link | ||||
| 7 | Brioude - Aurillac | 158 km | Intermediate stage | Friday, July 11 | link | ||||
| 8 | Figeac - Toulouse | 174 km | Flat stage | Saturday, July 12 | link | ||||
| 9 | Toulouse - Bagnères-de-Bigorre | 222 km | Mountain stage | Sunday, July 13 | link | ||||
| 10 | Pau - Hautacam | 154 km | Mountain stage | Monday, July 14 | link | ||||
| Rest day | Tuesday, July 15 | ||||||||
| 11 | Lannemezan - Foix | 166 km | Intermediate stage | Wednesday, July 16 | link | ||||
| 12 | Lavelanet - Narbonne | 168 km | Flat stage | Thursday, July 17 | link | ||||
| 13 | Narbonne - Nîmes | 182 km | Flat stage | Friday, July 18 | link | ||||
| 14 | Nîmes - Digne-les-Bains | 182 km | Flat stage | Saturday, July 19 | link | ||||
| 15[5] | Embrun -  Prato Nevoso
|
185 km | Mountain stage | Sunday, July 20 | link | ||||
| Rest day | Monday, July 21 | ||||||||
| 16 | Cuneo - Jausiers
|
157 km | Mountain stage | Tuesday, July 22 | link | ||||
| 17 | Embrun - Alpe d'Huez | 210 km | Mountain stage | Wednesday, July 23 | link | ||||
| 18 | Bourg-d'Oisans - Saint-Étienne | 197 km | Intermediate stage | Thursday, July 24 | link | ||||
| 19 | Roanne - Montluçon | 163 km | Flat stage | Friday, July 25 | link | ||||
| 20 | Cérilly - Saint-Amand-Montrond | 53 km | Individual time trial | Saturday, July 26 | link | ||||
| 21 | Étampes - Paris Champs-Élysées | 143 km | Flat stage | Sunday, July 27 | link | ||||
| Total | 3,554 km | ||||||||
Stage recaps
Jersey progress
- Notes
- (1) = As Alejandro Valverde led both the yellow and green jersey standings, Philippe Gilbert wore the green jersey on Stage 2.
Overall standings
General Classification
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alejandro Valverde
|
Caisse d'Epargne | 8h 21'20" |
| 2 |  Kim Kirchen
|
Team Columbia | 1" |
| 3 | Óscar Freire
|
Rabobank | 1" |
| 4 | Juan José Cobo
|
Saunier Duval-Scott | 1" |
| 5 |  Cadel Evans
|
Silence-Lotto | 1" |
| 6 |  Jérôme Pineau
|
Bouygues Télécom | 1" |
| 7 |  David Millar
|
Team Garmin-Chipotle | 1" |
| 8 | Riccardo Riccò
|
Saunier Duval-Scott | 1" |
| 9 | Fränk Schleck
|
Team CSC Saxo Bank | 1" |
| 10 | Filippo Pozzato
|
Liquigas | 1" |
Points Classification
| Rank | Rider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kim Kirchen
|
Team Columbia | 54 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde
|
Caisse d'Epargne | 49 |
| 3 |  Thor Hushovd
|
Crédit Agricole | 46 |
| 4 | Óscar Freire
|
Rabobank | 36 |
| 5 |  Philippe Gilbert
|
Française des Jeux | 32 |
| 6 | Juan José Cobo
|
Saunier Duval-Scott | 27 |
| 7 | Jérôme Pineau
|
Bouygues Télécom | 26 |
| 8 |  Erik Zabel
|
Team Milram | 26 |
| 9 | Gerald Ciolek
|
Team Columbia | 26 |
| 10 |  Robert Hunter
|
Barloworld | 26 |
King of the Mountains Classification
| Rank | Rider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Voeckler |
Bouygues Télécom | 19 |
| 2 | Sylvain Chavanel |
Cofidis | 11 |
| 3 | Björn Schröder |
Team Milram | 9 |
| 4 | David de la Fuente |
Saunier Duval-Scott | 4 |
| 5 | Lilian Jegou |
Française des Jeux | 3 |
| 6 | Christophe Moreau |
Agritubel | 3 |
| 7 | Geoffroy Lequatre |
Agritubel | 1 |
| 8 | David Lelay |
Agritubel | 1 |
| 9 | David Arroyo |
Caisse d'Epargne | 1 |
| 10 |
Young Riders' Classification
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riccardo Riccò
|
Saunier Duval-Scott | 8h 21'21" |
| 2 | Andy Schleck
|
Team CSC Saxo Bank | 6" |
| 3 |  Yuri Trofimov
|
Bouygues Télécom | 6" |
| 4 | Luis León Sánchez
|
Caisse d'Epargne | 6" |
| 5 | Maxime Monfort
|
Cofidis | 6" |
| 6 |  Roman Kreuziger
|
Liquigas | 6" |
| 7 | Trent Lowe
|
Team Garmin-Chipotle | 6" |
| 8 |  Thomas Lövkvist
|
Team Columbia | 6" |
| 9 | Vincenzo Nibali
|
Liquigas | 17" |
| 10 | Eduardo Gonzalo
|
Agritubel | 17" |
Teams Classification
| Rank | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caisse d'Epargne |
25h 04'08" |
| 2 |  Team Columbia |
7" |
| 3 |  Team CSC Saxo Bank |
7" |
| 4 | Team Garmin-Chipotle |
7" |
| 5 | Quick Step |
7" |
| 6 | Liquigas |
7" |
| 7 | Euskaltel-Euskadi |
13" |
| 8 | Saunier Duval-Scott |
20" |
| 9 | Ag2r-La Mondiale |
24" |
| 10 | Crédit Agricole |
24" |
Withdrawals
Riders who withdrew, were disqualified, or injured
| Type | Stage | Rider | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DNF | 1 | Hervé Duclos-Lassalle
|
Cofidis | Broken left wrist due to crash |
Teams
Because of the struggles between the ASO and the UCI, the 2008 Tour de France is not organized under UCI rules. Therefore the UCI protour teams were not automatically all invited. The ASO announced on 20 March 2008 that all UCI-teams except Astana were invited. Additionally, Agritubel, Barloworld and Slipstream-Chipotle (renamed Garmin-Chipotle before the race[7]) were given a wildcard. The 20 teams invited to the race are:[8]
|
|
Pre-race favourites
Because Astana Team is not invited to the 2008 Tour de France, the winner of the 2007 Tour de France, Alberto Contador, and the 3rd place finisher Levi Leipheimer are not competing. Ten days before the start of the tour, Contador picked Cadel Evans as the likely winner for 2008.[10] Shown in the table below are the riders that, according to the bookmakers[11] in May 2008, June 2008 or July 2008, before the start of the 2008 Tour de France, had a chance of winning the 2008 Tour better than or equal to 25/1.
| Omitted from squad |
Notes and references
- ^ Associated Press (2008-02-13). "Tour de France organizers exclude Astana team; Alberto Contador may not defend title". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Boonen participation in Tour de France to be decided: Ouick Step". afp.google.com. 2008-06-11.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Former world champion Tom Boonen barred from Tour de France". afp.google.com. 2008-06-11.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Gregor Brown. "A Grand Tour with minimal transfers and mythical mountains". cyclingnews.
- ^ The 15th stage was due to start at Digne-les-Bains but due to the risk of rock falls in the climb up the Col de Larche, the organisers decided to modify the itinerary. The stage will take off from Embrun and head to Prato Nevoso facing the climb up the Col d’Agnel (2744 m).
- ^ a b c d e Official Tour de France standing
- ^ "Garmin is the new title sponsor of the Slipstream-Chipotle team" (Press release). VeloNews. June 18 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
{{cite press release}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ TOUR 2008 : VINGT ÉQUIPES INVITÉES (PDF)
- ^ renamed with effect from the date of commencement of the 2008 Tour de France, formerly known as Team High Road : "Columbia Sportswear Announces Sponsorship" (Press release). Team Columbia & High Road Sports, Inc. June 15 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
{{cite press release}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Contador rates Evans as Tour favourite". 2008-06-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ All odds taken from skybet.com
External links
- The official Tour de France site
- Template:Nl Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{lang-en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. Template:Fr A presentation of the Tour de France 2008 stages
- Tour de France 2008 on Google Earth
- The stages of the official Tour de France 2008 route on Google Maps New: Google interactive map in Terrain View
- Tour de France 2008 List of Stages and Trip Planner
- The individual stages of the official Tour de France 2008 route on Google Maps New: Google interactive map with all the single stages based on detailed KML file
- Le dico du Tour / Le Tour de France de 1947 à 2008 (French)
- 2008 Tour de France: Stage by stage Interactive application with Google Maps
