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disagreement between the organisers of the Grand Tours and the UCI, all races organized by ASO, RCS and Unipublic were withdrawn from the ProTour calendar. This removed all three Grand Tours, four of the five monuments and four further races. As such, the quality of the races of the ProTour was diminished. The Australian race, the Tour Down Under was added to the calendar, making it the first race outside Europe on the ProTour.
The highly successful ceased operations at the end of the 2007 season. Johan Bruyneel signed on to become the directeur sportif and revamp the embattled ; joining him are 2007 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and 2007 Tour of California champion Levi Leipheimer. Other major signings included American George Hincapie moving to and Daniele Bennati from to, while Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca left Liguigas for the UCI Professional Continental team.

2008 UCI ProTour races

As of September 28, 2008.
DatesRaceWinnerProTour leader
22–27 January Tour Down Under

6 April Tour of Flanders

7–12 April Vuelta al País Vasco

9 April Gent–Wevelgem

20 April Amstel Gold Race

29 April–4 May Tour de Romandie

19–25 May Volta a Catalunya

8–15 June Dauphiné Libéré

14–22 June Tour de Suisse

2 August Clásica de San Sebastián

20–27 August / Eneco Tour of Benelux

25 August GP Ouest-France

29 August–
6 September		 Deutschland Tour

7 September Vattenfall Cyclassics

15–21 September Tour de Pologne

Teams

As of 6 December 6, 2007
CodeOfficial Team NameCountryWebsite
ALM
AST
BTL
GCE
COF
C.A
CSC
SIL
EUS
FDJ
GST
LAM
LIQ
MRM
QST
RAB
SDV
THR

Unibet.com Cycling Team, whose sponsors have pulled out of cycling, failed to submit its application renewal by the November 20, 2007 deadline.

Individual standings

Nation standings