2008 Tour de Suisse

The 72nd Tour de Suisse was held until 22 June 2008 of 14.

The cycling stage race consisted of a total of nine stages, including an individual time trial. The race was part of the UCI ProTour racing series in 2008. The tour started in Langnau im Emmental and ended in Bern.

Participating teams

It took all of 18 UCI Pro Tour and two UCI Professional Continental teams participating in the Tour de Suisse 2008. The wildcards were Team Volksbank and BMC.

Last year's winner Vladimir Karpets refrained from participating because of a hand fracture. The winner of Paris -Roubaix 2008 Tom Boonen was excluded after the positive test for cocaine in the run-up to the Tour de Suisse from organizers. The leader of the UCI Pro Tour 2008 Damiano Cunego, however, was at the start.

Stages

Survey

1st stage: Langnau im Emmental- Langnau im Emmental

The first leg took the low-profile around Langnau in the Emmental. David Loosli, Steve Zampieri and Iñigo Landaluze formed the breakaway group. Loosli won both intermediate sprints and both climbs (both third category ). The last mountain, the Chuderhüsi was too steep for most sprinters. Nevertheless, the peloton caught just before the finish, the. Óscar Freire decided the mass sprint.

Stage 2: Langnau im Emmental- Flums

The finale of the second stage took up to Flumserberg ( first category ). In between, there were two other ways to collect mountain points. This brought especially David Loosli and Martin Elmiger. Loosli defended the sprint and the mountain jersey. The decision in the final stage Stijn Devolder was looking too early. He was caught and in the end only seventh. The winner was Igor Antón.

Stage 3: Flums - Gossau

The breakaway of the day consisted of Hervé Duclos - Lassalle (Cofidis ) and René Weissinger (People's Bank), concluded after ten kilometers Jeff Louder (BMC Racing). Your leadership grew in the meantime up to 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Weissinger won both sprint and won the sprint jersey so. The escapees were asked ten kilometers from the finish. The last mountain stage of the fourth category won David Loosli ( Lampre ). The bunch sprint won after good work by Greg Van Avermaet Robbie McEwen before Óscar Freire.

Stage 4: Gossau-Domat/Ems

The fourth stage was a good opportunity for a mass sprint. There were only two votes Bert the third category ( Schellenberg and Saint - Luzisteig ). The escape group consisted of Matej Jurčo, Jérôme Pineau and Jonathan Garcia. Pineau won the climbs, and Jurčo the intermediate sprints. As on the previous day were named the top three McEwen, Freire and Ciolek.

Stage 5: Domat / Ems Caslano

The 190 km long stage started in Domat / Ems in the canton of Grisons. Until Disentis you followed the course of the Anterior Rhine. At kilometer 14 was the first mountain stage (3rd category) in Flims. The ride then went south to Lukmanierpass ( 1st category, 1940 meters high) at kilometer 70 The descent led to Biasca in the canton of Ticino. In the last fifty kilometers followed the summit of the Monte Ceneri ( 3rd category ), an increase in Cademario ( 2nd category ), 16 kilometers from the finish. The departure led to the destination Caslano.

After the first mountain stage, a dozen riders were able to sell from the field: Pietro Caucchioli ( Crédit Agricole ), Pieter Jacobs ( Silence- Lotto), Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis ), Maxim Iglinski ( Astana ), Marco Marzano ( Lampre ), Mathieu Perget ( Caisse d' Epargne ), Morris Possoni (Team high Road ), José Rujano ( Caisse d' Epargne ), Johann Tschopp ( Bouygues Telecom), Alessandro Vanotti (Liquigas ), Benoît Vaugrenard (La Française des Jeux ) and Giovanni Visconti ( Quick · Step ), Jens Voigt (Team CSC). After an unsuccessful attack by Chavanel at Monte Ceneri, 25 kilometers from the finish, the whole group was caught by the peloton.

Up to Cademario there were further attacks. Stijn Devolder ( Quick Step) and Sergei Ivanov ( Astana ) put away, but the group the leader Igor Antón began after. At the end of the rise Fränk Schleck attacked (Team CSC ), followed by Markus Fothen ( Gerolsteiner ) at. In the descent Fothen Schleck overtook, but crashed four kilometers from the finish. Fothen won the stage in Caslano, Schleck came with almost 3 minutes behind in 44th place finish.

Sergei Ivanov attacked again and finished second. The group of Igor Antón, consisting of 17 riders, came with 57 seconds down on the winner. Damiano Cunego lost almost a minute to Antón.

Stage 6 Quinto Verbier

The group of outliers was great. In her driver as José Rujano, Giovanni Visconti, Maxim Iglinski and Jens Voigt. In the last climb all the drivers were caught again. In the sprint was Kim Kirchen of Andreas Klöden Strongest ago. Antón lost half a minute, churches took the yellow jersey.

Stage 7: Gruyères - Lyss

After two groups had tried in vain to settle from the main field, a group of four riders formed: Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas ), Sébastien Rosseler ( Quick · Step ), Ronny Scholz ( Gerolsteiner ) and Johan Vansummeren ( Silence- Lotto). Kreuziger, second in the overall standings, dropped back after a few kilometers, because the field did not let get away decisively the outliers. The three drivers drove to 17 kilometers from the finish in front of the field.

Shortly before the last hill attacked Leif Hoste ( Silence- Lotto), Maxim Iglinski ( Astana ) and David Loosli ( Lampre ), followed by Fabian Cancellara and Mark Fothen, later also Philippe Gilbert and Kim Kirchen. But Cancellara attacked again and was able to break away from his companions. These were provided by the peloton on the last five kilometers. Cancellara drove alone to Lyss and won with two seconds ahead of the peloton, led by Erik Zabel and Robbie McEwen.

Stage 8: Altdorf -Klausenpass ( BZF )

Stijn Devolder had a bad day and lost more than 6 minutes on Kreuziger, who took over the yellow jersey from Kim Kirchen with his stage victory.

Stage 9: Altdorf- Bern

The last stage offered a fairly flat profile with a mountain stage of the fourth category around 10 kilometers from the finish. The chance for the winner of the seventh stage Fabian Cancellara in his birth city of Bern to win. The early breakaway with Hervé Duclos - Lassalle (Cofidis ), Darren Lill (BMC Racing), Francisco Perez Sanchez ( Caisse d' Epargne ), Maarten Tjallingii ( Silence- Lotto) and René Weissinger (People's Bank) was placed just before the last summit.

Silence-Lotto led the field. 1500 meters from the finish Philippe Gilbert tried his luck, only Cancellara could repositioning and won scarce. As the leader of the points classification Freire had not gone to the start of the last stage, Cancellara secured so the points jersey. In the overall there was no change: The young Czech Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas ) won the first major success of his career

Jerseys in the itinerary

The table shows the support of the respective jerseys during each stage or the leaders of the respective Ranking in the evening of the previous day.

• During the second stage Martin Elmiger wore the polka-dot jersey.
• The third stage Martin Elmiger wore the sprint jersey.

ProTour standings

The score of the ProTour in 2008 after the Tour de Suisse (as of 22 June 2008).