The Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
Axel Eddy Lucien Jonkheer Merckx is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and the son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx. He is team director of UCI Continental team Hagens Berman Axeon.
Astana Qazaqstan Team is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated and new management brought in for the 2008 season. The team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, although Astana in this period was very successful.
Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1996 and 2015. A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 48 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010. He also won the classics Milan – San Remo in 2005 and Paris–Tours in 2007. His career spanned over 18 years during which he earned 183 victories.
Damiano Cunego is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2018 for the Saeco, Lampre–Merida and Nippo–Vini Fantini–Europa Ovini teams.
The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most revered races are often described as the cycling monuments.
Lotto–Dstny is a Belgian professional cycling team at UCI ProTeam level sponsored by the Belgian lottery and Dstny, a business communications provider. The same organisations also sponsor a women's cycling team, Lotto–Dstny Ladies.
Phonak was a Swiss professional cycling team from 2000 until 2006. The team was one of 20 teams in the first UCI ProTour in 2005. It won one race – Santiago Botero's victory in the Tour de Romandie – and came second in the team ranking on the 2005 ProTour circuit.
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.
The 2005 ProTour was the first year of the newly introduced UCI ProTour system, in which the ProTour teams are guaranteed, and obliged to, participate in the series of ProTour races. In certain ways the ProTour replaced the UCI Road World Cup series of one-day races, which in 2004 was won by one-day specialist Paolo Bettini for the third time in a row. The beginning of the ProTour saw difficult negotiations with the organizers of the Grand Tours, the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España.
Víctor Hugo Peña Grisales is a Colombian professional retired road racing cyclist. He last rode for the Colombia professional cycling team. In 2003, Peña became the first Colombian to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. He held the yellow jersey for three days following the 4th, 5th and 6th stages of that year's tour.
Alessandro Ballan is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI World Tour team BMC Racing Team. He is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships, in 2008. Although he possessed a frame that was usually more associated with climbing, Ballan established himself as a leading spring classics contender. His nickname, Bontempino, is a diminutive reference to Guido Bontempi, to whom he bears a resemblance.
Cycle Collstrop was a Swedish UCI Professional Continental cycling team. It was the successor to Unibet.com, which was mainly sponsored by the online gambling website Unibet.com and as a continuation of the MrBookmaker.com cycling team.
Gustav Erik Larsson is a Swedish former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2016 for nine different teams. Larsson specialised as a time trialist, winning the Swedish National Time Trial Championships seven times between 2006 and 2015, and won silver medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the 2009 World Championships in Mendrisio.
The 2007 UCI ProTour was the third year of the UCI ProTour system. Following a dispute and power struggle between the UCI and the organisers of the Grand Tours, ASO, RCS and Unipublic, a number of events were run as ProTour events, although without ProTour licences. Races counted towards the ProTour standings, although the organisers were not obliged to invite all 20 UCI ProTeams, notably not inviting Unibet.com.
Roman Kreuziger is a Czech former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2021 for six different teams. His father, Roman Kreuziger Sr., was also a bicycle racer who won the Tour of Austria in 1991 and the Cyclocross Junior World Championships in 1983.
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. This removed all three Grand Tours, four of the five monuments and four further races. As such, the quality of the races of the ProTour was diminished. The Australian race, the Tour Down Under was added to the calendar, making it the first race outside Europe on the ProTour.
CCC Pro Team was a UCI WorldTeam co-owned and managed by American cyclist Jim Ochowicz, who founded the 7-Eleven Cycling Team. After its last title sponsor, CCC, a Polish shoe retailer, pulled out due to financial difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Ochowicz was unable to find another major sponsor, so the team disbanded at the end of the 2020 season. In its place, Belgian UCI ProTeam Circus–Wanty Gobert took over the team's license and was promoted to a UCI WorldTeam.
In 2008, for the first time in ten years, two Grand Tours were won by one rider, the Spaniard Alberto Contador. Alessandro Ballan succeeded fellow Italian Paolo Bettini as World Champion, winning the road race in his home country, where Varese hosted the World Championships for the second time in history. Bettini and German sprinter Erik Zabel were among the most prominent riders to quit after this season, while Mario Cipollini made a brief comeback in the early months of the year.
Fränk René Schleck is a Luxembourgish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2016, for Team Saxo Bank and Trek–Segafredo. Schleck is the older brother of Andy, winner of the 2010 Tour de France. Their father, Johny Schleck, was a professional road bicycle racer between 1965 and 1974, as was their grandfather, Gustave Schleck, who contested events in the 1930s.
: Included in ProTour
: Race held, but not as part of ProTour
Australia
France
Italy
Spain
Belgium
Netherlands
Switzerland
Germany
Poland
Canada
