Despite having won the 2007 Tour de France, Alberto Contador was never going to win the 2008 edition for one simple reason – he wouldn’t be racing.
After the 2007 racing season, Team Discovery Channel had dissolved and the most promising young rider in world cycling had joined Kazakhstan-based team Astana.
Alberto Contador had been signed on as a new captain for Astana as their previous captain, Alexandre Vinokourov, would be serving a two year ban for doping in the previous year’s Tour.
However, Tour officials announced at the start of 2008 that Astana would not be invited to ride in the tour that year after having too many doping controversies against their name. Thus Contador would not be permitted to defend his title.
This meant the man who had finished second the year before was the unbackable favourite to win the Tour. Compounding Cadel’s favouritism was the fact that the man who had come third in 2007 – Levi Leipheimer – had also signed with Astana and therefore would not be competing either.
The race began well for Cadel and after the ninth stage he pulled on his very first yellow jersey as the leader of the Tour de France – only the fifth Australian to ever achieve this feat.
He left the Pyrenees in as good a shape as one could hope physically but psychologically he would have been feeling the pressure.
He had perhaps having taken the maillot jaune a little too early for comfort and had only a one second advantage over Frank Schleck of team CSC.
But it was another Schleck who was to capture imaginations in 2008 – Andy.
Andy Schleck rode the 2008 Tour de France as a 23-year-old first-timer and set a cracking pace as a domestique for his brother Frank and team CSC’s official and eventual leader, Carlos Sastre.
It was this three man line-up that was to make CSC so formidable.
Andy came in to the tour regarded as a dark horse to win overall, having won the previous year’s Giro d’Italia’s best young rider’s jersey. His brother Frank was seen as a more likely contender, having finished in the top 20 in the previous two Tours. Finally there was Carlos Sastre of Spain – CSC’s official captain – who had five top 20 results in previous Tours including forth the previous year and third in 2006.
After holding the maillot jaune for five stages, the Alps were to prove Cadel’s undoing. Frank Schleck took the yellow jersey from Cadel after the fifteenth stage by a mere eight seconds.
However, it was the legendary Alpe d’Huez where team CSC finally showed their hand.
Well aware that eight seconds was never going to be enough time against Cadel in the time trial, team CSC knew they had to get serious time in the final stage of the alps.
Though it will forever (quite rightly) be remembered that Carlos Sastre rode off alone to take what was to be an insurmountable two minute lead in the general classification that day, it was Andy Schleck who covered Sastre, making that lead possible.
After that day it was suggested to young Andy he would one day win the Tour, to which he responded: “I’m not listening when people say I’m a future winner of the Tour de France.
I’ll stay with my feet on the ground.
“What everybody expects from me and what they say about me… well, that’s just talk but I’m the one who has to do the work and I’d like to come back here one day and try again. I know that it was a lot of work to do to be here and do what I’ve done this year.
“I will come back one year and try to reach the podium of the Tour. I think it’s possible; why not? But I’m not going to say that I’m going to win it one day.”
(Thus far, wise words.)
Cadel rode in to Paris only to stand on the podium and once again listen to the Spanish national anthem play as Sastre was applauded as the winner of the tour, beating Cadel by 58 seconds.
Perhaps a larger buffer made it easier to be the runner up but more likely, since it was for the second year in a row, it burned all the more.
Fancy a wager on your favourite sport? Head on over to PlayUp for great odds and friendly customer service and pick a winner. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Australia's Jai Hindley has said he is "lost for words" after a shock stage victory at the Tour de France earned him the leader's…
Australia's Jai Hindley has said he is "lost for words" after a shock stage victory at the Tour de France earned him the leader's…
Tadej Pogacar has won a drama-packed Tour of Flanders, winning in a breakaway with Matieu van der Poel second, Mads Pedersen third and Wout…
Women are not allowed to compete in the Tour de France. However you choose to re-read that sentence, the fact remains: the most famous…
The jam-packed month-by-month quiz full of 2022 sports trivia!
Australian Grace Brown has won silver in the women's time trial, the first event at the world road cycling championships.
