Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006 and 2007 World Road Race Championships. He is nicknamed Il Grillo for his repeated sudden attacks and his sprinting style.
Gerolsteiner was a German road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour. It was sponsored by the mineral water company Gerolsteiner Brunnen and Specialized.
Davide Rebellin was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1992 and 2022 for twelve different teams, taking more than sixty professional wins. He was considered one of the finest classics specialists of his generation with more than fifty top ten finishes in UCI Road World Cup and UCI ProTour classics.
Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for the Euskaltel–Euskadi and BMC Racing Team squads. He was the gold medal winner in the road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the following years Sánchez proved himself in hilly classics and stage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton. He was also known as one of the best descenders in the peloton. He finished in the top 6 of the Tour de France three times and in the top 10 of the Vuelta a España 6 times. Other notable achievements include winning the Vuelta a Burgos in 2010, the 2012 Tour of the Basque Country and five stages of the Vuelta a España.
CCC Development Team is a UCI Continental cycling team based in Poland. Formerly CCC-Mat, the team became known as CCC-Polsat in 2002. In 2004 and 2005, the team was known as Hoop CCC-Polsat, reverting to CCC-Polsat in 2006. From 2007 to 2011, the team was known as CCC-Polsat-Polkowice (abbreviated to CCC-Polsat), and team kit colours are orange and black.
The 2007 edition of the Paris–Nice stage race took place from March 11 until March 18 on the 2007 UCI ProTour. The race was won by Spaniard Alberto Contador riding for the Discovery Channel, who going into the final stage was six seconds behind Davide Rebellin from Gerolsteiner. Contador broke away on the Col d'Eze, the last climb of the race, to claim both the stage victory along the Promenade des Anglais and the overall race victory.
The 2004 UCI Road World Cup was the sixteenth and last edition of the UCI Road World Cup. There was no change in the calendar from the 2003 edition, meaning the final seven editions had the same calendar.
The 71st edition of the La Flèche Wallonne cycling classic took place on April 25, 2007 and was won by the 2004 winner Davide Rebellin ahead of 2006 winner Alejandro Valverde and 2005 winner Danilo Di Luca.
The 2007 Liège–Bastogne–Liège road bicycle race monument was held on April 29. The race was run in the Belgian region of Wallonia. The race is organised by Amaury Sport Organisation and the Royal Pesant Club Liégeois according to the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the Royal Belgian Cycling League
The 2004 Liège–Bastogne–Liège took place April 25, 2004 and saw Davide Rebellin win his first Liège–Bastogne–Liège, capping a victorious week having already won the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne to complete a rare Ardennes triple. The previous year's winner, Tyler Hamilton, finished in ninth position.
The 2008 Paris–Nice, the 66th running of the race, took place from March 9 to March 16, 2008, and was won by Italian Davide Rebellin from Gerolsteiner, who finished second last year. The race started in Amilly and ended in Nice. The 2008 edition returned to the fabled climb of Mont Ventoux, with stage four finishing at the mountain's ski facility, Mont Serein. The Mont Ventoux stage saw a winning break by Cadel Evans and Robert Gesink. Evans took the stage victory as Gesink moved into the overall lead. However, Gesink could not hold on to the lead in stage six when Rebellin attacked on the final descent and took enough time to move into the overall lead.
The Russian Federation competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, represented by the Russian Olympic Committee. Russia competed in all sports except baseball, field hockey, football, softball, and taekwondo. They ranked third in the medal table by golds (24) and overall (60). Russia also had 14 medals stripped for doping violations, the most of any nation at the 2008 Olympics.
The 2008 Liège–Bastogne–Liège monument classic cycling race took place on April 27, 2008 and was won by Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d'Epargne, beating Italian Davide Rebellin of Gerolsteiner and Luxembourger Fränk Schleck of Team CSC in a sprint finish. It was the 94th running of the Liège–Bastogne–Liège, organised by Amaury Sport Organisation and the Royal Pesant Club Liégeois.
Switzerland competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This is a list of all of the Swiss athletes who have qualified for the Olympics and have been nominated by Swiss Olympic Association.
The 2008 Clásica de San Sebastián, the 28th edition of the Clásica de San Sebastián road cycling race took place on August 2, 2008 in Spain and was won by Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d'Epargne in a sprint finish on the Donostia avenue. He held off Russian Alexandr Kolobnev of Team CSC Saxo Bank and Italian Davide Rebellin of Gerolsteiner, from a group that had shrunk to less than 15 riders. Rebellin tried several times to avoid a sprint, but the winner of 1997 could not get away.
The men's road race, a part of the cycling events at the 2008 Summer Olympics, took place on August 9 at the Urban Road Cycling Course in Beijing. It started at 11:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8), and was scheduled to last until 17:30 later that day. The 245.4-kilometre (152.5 mi) course ran north across the heart of the Beijing metropolitan area, passing such landmarks as the Temple of Heaven, the Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square and the Beijing National Stadium. After rolling over relatively flat terrain for 78.8 km (49.0 mi) north of the Beijing city center, the route entered a decisive circuit encompassing seven loops on a 23.8 km (14.8 mi) section up and down the Badaling Pass, including ramps as steep as a 10 percent gradient.
The 2009 Amstel Gold Race was the 44th edition of the Amstel Gold Race classic cycle race and took place on April 19, 2009. It was held on a 257.4-kilometre (159.9 mi) course from Maastricht to Cauberg, the Netherlands, as the fifth event of the 2009 UCI ProTour, and the ninth event in the inaugural UCI World Ranking series. It was won by Serguei Ivanov, who formed a late breakaway with Robert Gesink and Karsten Kroon with 8 km to go.
The 2009 La Flèche Wallonne cycling race took place on 22 April 2009. It was the 73rd running of the La Flèche Wallonne between Charleroi and Huy in Belgium.
The 2015 Ugo Agostoni was a one-day cycling semi-classic that took place on 16 September 2015, starting in Monza and finishing in Lissone in northern Italy. It was the first leg of the 2015 Trittico Lombardo and the 69th edition of the Coppa Ugo Agostoni. The race was won by Davide Rebellin (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice), who sprinted to the race victory ahead of his breakaway companion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). Niccolò Bonifazio (Lampre–Merida won the sprint for third. Nibali went on to win the Coppa Bernocchi and the Tre Valli Varesine to win the Trittico Lombardo competition.
The 1997 Grand Prix de Suisse was the 82nd edition of the Züri-Metzgete road cycling one day race. It was held on 24 August 1997 as part of the 1997 UCI Road World Cup. The race took place between the cities of Basel and Zürich was won by Davide Rebellin of Italy.
