 Overview of the stages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Dates | 30 August – 21 September | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 3,133.8 km (1,947 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 80h 40' 23" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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← 2007 2009 → | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of theVuelta a España, one of cycling'sGrand Tours. The race began with a 7 km (4.3 mi)team time trial on 30 August inGranada. The Vuelta came to a close twenty-three days later with a 102.2 km (63.5 mi) flat stage, which brought the peloton into the streets ofMadrid. Nineteen teams entered the race, which was won by the SpaniardAlberto Contador ofAstana.[1][2] Second and third respectively were the AmericanLevi Leipheimer ofAstana and the SpanishCarlos Sastre ofCSC–Saxo Bank.[2]
Alberto Contador first gained the race lead after the race's thirteenth stage, which contained a summit finish on theAlto de El Angliru.[3] Contador took the lead fromEuskaltel–Euskadi'sEgoi Martínez, who had held the race lead for four stages. Through the first nine days of racing the race leader's golden jersey had been worn by eight different riders. The day after Contador gained the lead of the race, he attacked again and won the stage, while also expanding his lead over his competitors. Contador lost about thirty seconds to his teammateLevi Leipheimer in the stage 20 individual time trial, but together he and Levi further distanced themselves from the other general classification contenders.
Contador's win at the Vuelta allowed him to become the first Spaniard – and the fifth person in the history of cycling – to win all three Grand Tours in a career.[1][4][5] At the age of 25, Contador became the youngest person to ever win all three Grand Tours.[1] Contador was also the third cyclist to ever win theGiro d'Italia and the Vuelta in the same calendar year.[6][7] In addition to the general classification, Contador also won thecombination classification.[2] In the race's other classifications,Silence–Lotto'sGreg Van Avermaet won thepoints classification[2][8] andDavid Moncoutié of theCofidis team won themountains classification.[2][8] Finally,Caisse d'Epargne won the team classification,[2][8] which ranked each of the nineteen teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.
A total of 19 teams were invited to participate in the 2008 Vuelta a España. Sixteen of the competing squads wereUCI ProTour teams, while the other three teams were UCI Professional Continental teams. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Vuelta began with a peloton of 171 cyclists. Out of the 171 riders that started this edition of the Vuelta, a total of 131[2] riders made it to the finish in Madrid.Team Columbia chose not participate in the race, as they withdrew their application to compete in the Vuelta in order to race the Tours ofIreland,Britain, andMissouri.[9][10] WhileScott–American Beef – formerly known as Saunier Duval–Scott – was excluded from the event as a result of the doping cases ofRiccardo Riccò andLeonardo Piepoli in the2008 Tour de France.[11]
The 19 teams invited to the race were:[9]
†: Invited Pro-continental teams
This edition of the Vuelta contained three time trial events, two of which wereindividual and one ateam event. Six stages were classified as mountain stages, while two stages were deemed intermediate stages. Ten of the stages were designated as flat stages, which meant that they were primarily flat but could contain a climb or two of a lesser category.
| Stage | Date | Course[12] | Distance | Type | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 August | Granada | 7.7 km (5 mi) |  | Team time trial | Liquigas | |
| 2 | 31 August | Granada toJaén | 167.3 km (104 mi) |  | Flat stage |  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) | |
| 3 | 1 September | Jaén toCórdoba | 168.6 km (105 mi) | | Flat stage |  Tom Boonen (BEL) | |
| 4 | 2 September | Córdoba toPuertollano | 170.3 km (106 mi) | | Flat stage |  Daniele Bennati (ITA) | |
| 5 | 3 September | Ciudad Real | 42.5 km (26 mi) | | Individual time trial |  Levi Leipheimer (USA) | |
| 6 | 4 September | Ciudad Real toToledo | 150.1 km (93 mi) | | Flat stage | Paolo Bettini (ITA) | |
| 5 September | Rest day | ||||||
| 7 | 6 September | Barbastro toNaturlandia-La Rabassa (Andorra) | 223.2 km (139 mi) |  | Mountain stage | Alessandro Ballan (ITA) | |
| 8 | 7 September | Escaldes-Engordany (Andorra) toPlá de Beret | 151 km (94 mi) | | Mountain stage |  David Moncoutié (FRA) | |
| 9 | 8 September | Vielha e Mijaran toSabiñánigo | 200.8 km (125 mi) |  | Intermediate stage | Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) | |
| 10 | 9 September | Sabiñánigo toZaragoza | 151.3 km (94 mi) | | Flat stage | Sébastien Hinault (FRA) | |
| 11 | 10 September | Calahorra toBurgos | 178 km (111 mi) | | Flat stage | Óscar Freire (ESP) | |
| 12 | 11 September | Burgos toSuances | 186.4 km (116 mi) | | Intermediate stage | Paolo Bettini (ITA) | |
| 12 September | Rest day | ||||||
| 13 | 13 September | San Vicente de la Barquera toAlto de El Angliru | 209.5 km (130 mi) | | Mountain stage | Alberto Contador (ESP) | |
| 14 | 14 September | Oviedo toFuentes de Invierno | 158.4 km (98 mi) | | Mountain stage | Alberto Contador (ESP) | |
| 15 | 15 September | Cudillero toPonferrada | 202 km (126 mi) | | Mountain stage | David García (ESP) | |
| 16 | 16 September | Ponferrada toZamora | 186.3 km (116 mi) | | Flat stage | Tom Boonen (BEL) | |
| 17 | 17 September | Zamora toValladolid | 148.2 km (92 mi) | | Flat stage | Wouter Weylandt (BEL) | |
| 18 | 18 September | Valladolid toLas Rozas | 167.4 km (104 mi) | | Flat stage | Imanol Erviti (ESP) | |
| 19 | 19 September | Las Rozas toSegovia | 145.5 km (90 mi) | | Mountain stage | David Arroyo (ESP) | |
| 20 | 20 September | La Granja de San Ildefonso toPuerto de Navacerrada | 17.1 km (11 mi) |  | Individual time trial | Levi Leipheimer (USA) | |
| 21 | 21 September | San Sebastián de los Reyes toMadrid | 102.2 km (64 mi) | | Flat stage |  Matti Breschel (DEN) | |
| Total | 3,133.8 km (1,947 mi) | ||||||
For details, see2008 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11 and2008 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21.
The 2008 Vuelta a España began with a short team time trial inGranada, a traditional city in the history of the Vuelta, having hosted a stage start or finish 39 previous times.[13] 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 leaderFilippo Pozzato in the first golden jersey.[14] This set the stage for an extremely turbulent first week in terms of race leadership, asAlejandro Valverde,Daniele Bennati,Levi Leipheimer,Sylvain Chavanel, andAlessandro Ballan would all don themaillot 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 firstindividual time trial (ITT),[15] and took it the next day thanks to time bonuses in intermediate sprints.[16]
After the first rest day came the Vuelta's longest stage, said to be the queen stage,[16] as it had many high mountain climbs and an extremely difficult climb to the finish inAndorra. 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,[17] but he was unable to remain in contention the next day. Leipheimer, who had been in second overall, re-assumed the overall lead.[18] In Stage 9, Leipheimer's Astana team afforded a breakaway includingEgoi 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.[19]
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 storiedAlto de El Angliru, revealed the race's overall contenders.Alberto Contador won the stage[3] 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,[20] and kept it in the race's second and final ITT, where his strongest challenger was ironically his teammate Leipheimer.[21]
Thepoints classification was won by BelgianSilence–Lotto riderGreg Van Avermaet, who had won Stage 9[19] and finished in the top ten of nine other stages. TheKing of the Mountains went toCofidis'David Moncoutié, also a stage winner.[18] 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 granate 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 theGrand Tours.[2]
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 apoints 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 amountains classification, which awarded a granate 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 tohors catégorie 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.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.
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 granate, 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.
| Legend | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | Denotes the winner of theGeneral classification[2][8] |  | Denotes the winner of theMountains classification[2][8] |
 | Denotes the winner of thePoints classification[2][8] |  | Denotes the winner of theCombination classification[2] |
| Rider | Team | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alberto Contador (ESP) | Astana | 80h 40' 08" |
| 2 | Levi Leipheimer (USA) | Astana | + 46" |
| 3 | Carlos Sastre (ESP) | CSC–Saxo Bank | + 4' 12" |
| 4 | Ezequiel Mosquera (ESP) | Xacobeo–Galicia | + 5' 19" |
| 5 | Alejandro Valverde (ESP) | Caisse d'Epargne | + 6' 00" |
| 6 | Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP) | Caisse d'Epargne | + 6' 50" |
| 7 |  Robert Gesink (NED) | Rabobank | + 6' 55" |
| 8 | David Moncoutié (FRA) | Cofidis | + 10' 10" |
| 9 | Egoi Martínez (ESP) | Euskaltel–Euskadi | + 10' 57" |
| 10 | Marzio Bruseghin (ITA) | Lampre | + 11' 56" |
| Team | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caisse d'Epargne | 241h 20' 38" |
| 2 | Euskaltel–Euskadi | + 39' 22" |
| 3 | CSC–Saxo Bank | + 39' 35" |
| 4 | Astana | + 42' 01" |
| 5 | Xacobeo–Galicia | + 51' 31" |
| 6 | Lampre | + 1h 14' 51" |
| 7 | Rabobank | + 1h 17' 22" |
| 8 | Ag2r–La Mondiale | + 1h 27' 42" |
| 9 | Crédit Agricole | + 1h 28' 56" |
| 10 | Silence–Lotto | + 1h 42' 42" |
| By year men |
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| By year women | |||||||||||||
| Classifications ("jerseys") |
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| Lists and topics | |||||||||||||
| Related articles | |||||||||||||
