Giro d'Italia 2008 ( Italian: Giro d'Italia 2008 ) - 91st super - great day on the roads of Italy . Started in Palermo on May 10, ended in Milan on June 1. The Spanish rider Alberto Contador won the race for the Astana cycling team. The second and third were respectively Italian Riccardo Ricco and Marzio Brusegin
 Giro d'Italia 2008 | |
|---|---|
| Race details | |
| Route | Giro d'Italia |
| Stages | 21 |
| Dates | May 10 - June 1 |
| Distance | 3407 km |
| A country | |
| Start place | |
| Finish place | |
| average speed | 37.883 km / h |
| Winners | |
 Winner |  Alberto Contador( Astana ) |
| Second |  Riccardo Ricco( Saunier Duval-Scott ) |
| Third | Marzio Brusegin ( Lampre ) |
 Spectacled | Daniel Benati ( Liquigas ) |
 Mountain | Emanuel Sella ( CSF Group-Navigare ) |
 Youth | Riccardo Ricco ( Saunier Duval-Scott ) |
| Time team | CSF Group-Navigare |
| Points Team | Liquigas |
 Stage overview: The path from Palermo to Milan covered by cyclists at the stage is marked in red, between stages - green | |
 20072009  | |
Contador took the lead after the second mountain stage in Maromlad , finishing almost fifteen minutes earlier than previous leader Gabriel Boziz . A few days before, the general classification of the race was headed by Giovanni Visconti , who participated in the breakaway and won in the sixth stage with such a time that the pink shirt did not come off his shoulders for more than a week. In the final week of the race, Contador faced serious resistance from Ricco and defending champion Jiro Danilo Di Luca . Although Contador did not win a single stage, he was tough enough to ultimately lead the race.
The CSF Group-Navigare team performed well enough to win the title of the fastest team, as well as become the leader of the mountain classification. In August 2008, mountain classification winner Emanuel Sella was accused of using the banned drug MIRCERA (an eryprotein derivative ) based on inter-competition control conducted by the International Cyclists Union (UCI). He subsequently acknowledged the fact of doping, and also issued his supplier Mateo Primo to a player of the same team. The career of both riders was suspended. Ricco, who received positive doping tests during the 2008 Tour de France , was also suspected of reconciling them during the Giro.
Members
At the start came 22 teams , 9 riders in each. 16 UCI ProTeams teams (all except Bouygues TΓ©lΓ©com and CrΓ©dit Agricole ) and 6 UCI Continental teams ( LPR Brakes-Ballan , Barloworld , CSF Group-Navigare , Diquigiovanni-Androni , Slipstream-Chipotle and Tinkoff Credit Systems ) took part in the race.