Vuelta a Espana 2008

The 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling’s Grand Tours. The race began with a 7 km (4.3 mi) team time trial on 30 August in Granada. 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 of Madrid. Nineteen teams entered the race, which was won by the Spaniard Alberto Contador of Astana. Second and third respectively were the American Levi Leipheimer of Astana and the Spanish Carlos Sastre of CSC–Saxo Bank.

Alberto Contador first gained the race lead after the race’s thirteenth stage, which contained a summit finish on the Alto de El Angliru. Contador took the lead from Euskaltel–Euskadi’s Egoi 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 teammate Levi 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. At the age of 25, Contador became the youngest person to ever win all three Grand Tours. Contador was also the third cyclist to ever win the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta in the same calendar year. In addition to the general classification, Contador also won the combination classification. In the race’s other classifications, Silence–Lotto’s Greg Van Avermaet won the points classification and David Moncoutié of the Cofidis team won the mountains classification. Finally, Caisse d’Epargne won the team classification, which ranked each of the nineteen teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.

2008 Vuelta a España

Overview of the stages
Race details
Dates	30 August – 21 September
Stages	21
Distance	3,133.8 km (1,947 mi)
Winning time	80h 40′ 23″
Results
Winner  Alberto Contador (ESP) (Astana) Second  Levi Leipheimer (USA) (Astana) Third  Carlos Sastre (ESP) (CSC–Saxo Bank) Points  Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) (Silence–Lotto) Mountains  David Moncoutié (FRA) (Cofidis) Combination  Alberto Contador (ESP) (Astana) Team Caisse d’Epargne
← 2007 2009 →

Teams

Routes and Stages

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	30 August	Granada	7.7 km (5 mi)		Team time trial	Liquigas
2	31 August	Granada to Jaén	167.3 km (104 mi)		Flat stage	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
3	1 September	Jaén to Córdoba	168.6 km (105 mi)		Flat stage	Tom Boonen (BEL)
4	2 September	Córdoba to Puertollano	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 to Toledo	150.1 km (93 mi)		Flat stage	Paolo Bettini (ITA)
	5 September	Rest day
7	6 September	Barbastro to Naturlandia-La Rabassa (Andorra)	223.2 km (139 mi)		Mountain stage	Alessandro Ballan (ITA)
8	7 September	Escaldes-Engordany (Andorra) to Plá de Beret	151 km (94 mi)		Mountain stage	David Moncoutié (FRA)
9	8 September	Vielha e Mijaran to Sabiñánigo	200.8 km (125 mi)		Intermediate stage	Greg Van Avermaet (BEL)
10	9 September	Sabiñánigo to Zaragoza	151.3 km (94 mi)		Flat stage	Sébastien Hinault (FRA)
11	10 September	Calahorra to Burgos	178 km (111 mi)		Flat stage	Óscar Freire (ESP)
12	11 September	Burgos to Suances	186.4 km (116 mi)		Intermediate stage	Paolo Bettini (ITA)
	12 September	Rest day
13	13 September	San Vicente de la Barquera to Alto de El Angliru	209.5 km (130 mi)		Mountain stage	Alberto Contador (ESP)
14	14 September	Oviedo to Fuentes de Invierno	158.4 km (98 mi)		Mountain stage	Alberto Contador (ESP)
15	15 September	Cudillero to Ponferrada	202 km (126 mi)		Mountain stage	David García (ESP)
16	16 September	Ponferrada to Zamora	186.3 km (116 mi)		Flat stage	Tom Boonen (BEL)
17	17 September	Zamora to Valladolid	148.2 km (92 mi)		Flat stage	Wouter Weylandt (BEL)
18	18 September	Valladolid to Las Rozas	167.4 km (104 mi)		Flat stage	Imanol Erviti (ESP)
19	19 September	Las Rozas to Segovia	145.5 km (90 mi)		Mountain stage	David Arroyo (ESP)
20	20 September	La Granja de San Ildefonso to Alto de Navacerrada	17.1 km (11 mi)		Individual time trial	Levi Leipheimer (USA)
21	21 September	San Sebastián de los Reyes to Madrid	102.2 km (64 mi)		Flat stage	Matti Breschel (DEN)
	Total		3,133.8 km (1,947 mi)

Classification Leadership

Classification leadership by stage

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Combination classification	Team classification
1	Liquigas	Filippo Pozzato	not awarded	not awarded	not awarded	Liquigas
2	Alejandro Valverde	Alejandro Valverde	Alejandro Valverde	Jesús Rosendo	Egoi Martínez	Caisse d’Epargne
3	Tom Boonen	Daniele Bennati
4	Daniele Bennati		Daniele Bennati		Paolo Bettini	Quick-Step
5	Levi Leipheimer	Levi Leipheimer			Egoi Martínez	Astana
6	Paolo Bettini	Sylvain Chavanel			Paolo Bettini
7	Alessandro Ballan	Alessandro Ballan		Alessandro Ballan	Alessandro Ballan
8	David Moncoutié	Levi Leipheimer	Alejandro Valverde		Alberto Contador
9	Greg Van Avermaet	Egoi Martínez		David Moncoutié		Caisse d’Epargne
10	Sébastien Hinault		Greg Van Avermaet
11	Óscar Freire
12	Paolo Bettini					Astana
13	Alberto Contador	Alberto Contador				Caisse d’Epargne
14	Alberto Contador		Alberto Contador
15	David García
16	Tom Boonen
17	Wouter Weylandt		Greg Van Avermaet
18	Imanol Erviti
19	David Arroyo
20	Levi Leipheimer
21	Matti Breschel
Final		Alberto Contador	Greg Van Avermaet	David Moncoutié	Alberto Contador	Caisse d’Epargne

Final standings

Legend
	Denotes the winner of the General classification[2][8]		Denotes the winner of the Mountains classification[2][8]
	Denotes the winner of the Points classification[2][8]		Denotes the winner of the Combination classification[2]

General classification

Final general classification (1–10)

	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″

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)	CSC–Saxo Bank	69
7	Joaquim 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

King of the Mountains classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1	David Moncoutié (FRA)	Cofidis	149
2	Christophe Kern (FRA)	Crédit Agricole	106
3	Alberto Contador (ESP)	Astana	99
4	Juan Manuel Gárate (ESP)	Quick-Step	89
5	Levi Leipheimer (USA)	Astana	65
6	Ezequiel Mosquera (ESP)	Xacobeo–Galicia	56
7	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Caisse d’Epargne	51
8	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	Caisse d’Epargne	48
9	Iñigo Landaluze (ESP)	Euskaltel–Euskadi	46
10	Maarten Tjallingii (NED)	Silence–Lotto	43

Combination classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1	Alberto Contador (ESP)	Astana	6
2	Levi Leipheimer (USA)	Astana	11
3	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	Caisse d’Epargne	16
4	Ezequiel Mosquera (ESP)	Xacobeo–Galicia	19
5	David Moncoutié (FRA)	Cofidis	19
6	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Caisse d’Epargne	20
7	Carlos Sastre (ESP)	CSC–Saxo Bank	26
8	Robert Gesink (NED)	Rabobank	41
9	David Arroyo (ESP)	Caisse d’Epargne	50
10	Juan Manuel Gárate (ESP)	Quick-Step	58

Teams classification