- 2008 UCI ProTour
The 2008 UCI ProTour is the fourth year of the UCI ProTour system. Following protracted disagreement between the organisers of the
Grand Tours (ASO, RCS and Unipublic) and the UCI, all races organized by ASO, RCS and Unipublic were withdrawn from the ProTour calendar. This removed all three Grand Tours (Giro d'Italia ,Tour de France andVuelta a España ), four of the five monuments (Milan-Sanremo ,Paris-Roubaix ,Liège-Bastogne-Liège andGiro di Lombardia ) and four further races (Paris-Nice ,Tirreno-Adriatico ,La Flèche Wallonne andParis-Tours ). As such, the quality of the races of the ProTour was diminished. TheAustralia n race, theTour Down Under was added to the calendar, making it the first race outside of Europe on the ProTour (although races had previously been held outside of Europe as part of theUCI Road World Cup ).The highly successful
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team ceased operations at the end of the 2007 season.Johan Bruyneel signed on to become thedirecteur sportif and revamp the embattledAstana Team ; joining him are2007 Tour de France championAlberto Contador and2007 Tour of California championLevi Leipheimer . Other major signings included AmericanGeorge Hincapie moving toTeam High Road andDaniele Bennati from Lampre toLiquigas , while Giro d'Italia winnerDanilo Di Luca left Liguigas for theUCI Professional Continental team L.P.R. Brakes .2008 UCI ProTour races
As of September 28, 2008. [cite web| url=http://www.uciprotour.com/templates/UCI/UCI2/layout.asp?MenuId=MTUyODI |title=2008 UCI ProTour Races |publisher=UCI |accessdate=2008-08-31]
* 107 riders have scored at least one point on the 2008 UCI ProTour.
Team standings
Nation standings
* Riders from 23 nations have scored at least one (1) point on the 2008 UCI ProTour.
References
External links
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