The 2008 Tour of Flanders

Tour of Flanders

The Tour of Flanders is a Flanders Classics road cycling race held in Belgium every spring, a week before the Paris–Roubaix road race. It is part of the UCI World Tour and one of the so-called monuments of the European professional calendar. It is the most important cycling race in Flanders...

cycle race was the 92nd edition of this monumental classic

Classic cycle races

The classic cycle races are one-day professional cycling road races in the international calendar. Most of the events, all run in western Europe, have been fixtures on the professional calendar for decades and the oldest ones date back to the 19th Century. They are normally held at roughly the same...

 and took place on April 6. The course was 264 km long and went from Brugge

Brügge

Brügge is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.Its small church and market square are noted for their beauty....

 to Meerbeke

Meerbeke

Meerbeke is a village in the Denderstreek in the province of East Flanders in Belgium. Administratively it is part of the municipality of Ninove. This rural community is located along the Dender River on the western border of what is known as "Pajottenland". With a total surface of 1047ha it is the...

.

Pre-race favorites included Fabian Cancellara

Fabian Cancellara

Fabian Cancellara is a Swiss professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . A time trial specialist, he is a four-time World Time Trial Champion and is the current Olympic gold medalist...

 (winner of Milan – San Remo and Tirreno–Adriatico), Alessandro Ballan

Alessandro Ballan

Alessandro Ballan is an Italian professional road bicycle racer for UCI Professional Continental team , and is a former world champion. Although he possesses a frame that is usually more associated with climbing, Ballan has established himself as a leading spring classics contender in recent years...

 (defending champion), Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who won the 2005 World Road Race Championship. He is a member of the team, and is considered a single-day road race specialist with a strong finishing sprint...

 (winner in 2005 and 2006) and Leif Hoste

Leif Hoste

Leif Hoste is a Belgian professional road racing cyclist since 1998. He rides on the UCI ProTour for . His career highlights include winning two stages and the overall title at the 2006 Three Days of De Panne, the 2001 and 2006 Belgian national time trial championships, and a second place finish...

 (second place position in 2004, 2006 and 2007).

General standings

Brugge

Brügge

Brügge is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.Its small church and market square are noted for their beauty....

 > Meerbeke

Meerbeke

Meerbeke is a village in the Denderstreek in the province of East Flanders in Belgium. Administratively it is part of the municipality of Ninove. This rural community is located along the Dender River on the western border of what is known as "Pajottenland". With a total surface of 1047ha it is the...

, 264 km (164 mi)

200 riders had started the race, just 101 riders managed to finish.

	Cyclist	Team	Time	UCI ProTour 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... Points
1			6h 24' 02"	50
2			+ 15"	40
3			+ 15"	35
4			+ 21"	30
5			+ 21"	25
6			+ 21"	20
7			+ 21"	15
8			+ 21"	10
9			+ 21"	5
10			+ 21"	2

Course

The 17 Tour of Flanders hills were:

Number	Name	Kilometer	Pavement	Length (m)	Average climb (%)
17	Kluisberg	99	asphalt Asphalt Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...	1250	5,3
16	Nokereberg	118	cobbles Cobblestone Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size...	375	5,9
15	Molenberg	157	cobbles/asphalt	463	7
14	Wolvenberg	167	asphalt	645	7,9
13	Oude Kwaremont	185	cobbles/asphalt	2200	4
12	Paterberg	189	cobbles	360	12,9
11	Koppenberg	195	cobbles	600	11,6
10	Steenbeekdries	200	cobbles	700	5,3
9	Taaienberg	203	cobbles	530	6,6
8	Berg Ter Stene	213	asphalt	1300	5
7	Leberg	216	cobbles	950	4,2
6	Berendries	222	asphalt	940	7
5	Valkenberg	227	asphalt	540	8,1
4	Tenbosse	233	asphalt	455	6,4
3	Eikenmolen	239	asphalt	610	5,9
2	Muur-Kapelmuur Muur van Geraardsbergen The Muur van Geraardsbergen is a steep narrow road with cobblestones located in Geraardsbergen, Belgium. It is also known as Kapelmuur, Muur-Kapelmuur or simply Muur. The hill starts near the river Dender at 18 m and reaches the top of the Oudenberg at 110 m...	249	cobbles	475	9,3
1	Bosberg	252	cobbles/asphalt	980	5,8

After Bosberg there was still 12 kilometers to go.

Individual 2008 UCI ProTour standings after race

Rank	Previous Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	1			62
2	-			50
3	-			40
4	2			38
5	-			35
6	3			30
6	-			30
8	4			25
8	-			25
10	5			21

External links

• Race website
• Race results