The last half: A review of the ProTour teams' seasons

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Mark Cavendish did the same as his team(Image credit: AFP)

News feature, November 5, 2008

What went right: The second half of the season was pretty much like the first half: nearly perfect. Young sprinter Mark Cavendish continued to dominate, winning four stages in the Tour de France on his way to taking the most victories of any professional on the season, for a total of 17. Marcus Burghardt claimed another Tour stage win for the team, and Kim Kirchen wore the yellow jersey for four days. The team ended up the season with 76 victories, far more than any other team, with those coming from 17 different riders.

In addition to Cavendish, who had 10 wins in the second half of the year, fellow sprinter André Greipel scored eight victories. He spread them out from January to October. Young Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen had five wins in the later part of the season, as did Bert Grabsch. One of Grabsch's most prestigious wins was the World Championships time trial. The comeback rider in the second half was Linus Gerdemann, who successfully recovered from his serious injuries from a Tirreno-Adriatico crash to take five wins, including the overall title in the Deutschland Tour.

What went wrong: Michael Rogers resumed riding after his bout with Epstein Barr virus, but although he brought in top ten finishes in both Olympic events and finished second overall (behind Grabsch) in the Sachsen Rundfahrt, he still has a way to go to reclaim his role of team captain. Kanstantsin Siutsou also was a non-factor in the second half of the season, although he finished a surprisingly high 17th in the Tour de France.

Holding out for: The team still needs help in the mountains, especially since Gerdemann has left the team. A healthy Burghardt should have a word to say in the Spring Classics, where the team was a little weak this year. Gerdemann's move to Milram also brings the overall contender question down to Kirchen and Rogers, both of whom will have to fight for that honour. In fact, this could be the team's weakest point. The team hasn't made many new signings – or at least hasn't announced many – so it looks as if they are following the theory of "If it isn't broken, don't fix it."

What went right: Cadel Evans finished second in the Tour de France and a podium result in the Tour de France should always be considered tremendous. Robbie McEwen delivered the wins in the one-day classics. The Australian won Paris-Brussels for the fifth time - in foul weather and not in a bunch sprint this time - and he also claimed the win in the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg. Youngsters Jürgen Roelandts and Greg Van Avermaet showed that they are likely to become the Belgian team's next stars in the classics. Roelandts became Belgian champion while Van Avermaet won a stage and the overall points classification in the Vuelta a España. Jurgen Van Den Broeck was impressive uphill in the Giro d'Italia. The best thing the team did in 2008? Probably the signing of Philippe Gilbert.

What went wrong: Cadel Evans finished second in the Tour de France. In a year without Alberto Contador, Ivan Basso, Michael Rasmussen, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden it could've been the last chance for Evans to get the win in France. Yaroslav Popovych disappointed as lieutenant and the Australian crashed in the first week of the Tour. That combination surely didn't help Evans in battling for the win. Besides, there were the images from Evans' bodyguard and the reactions from Evans himself towards people who came too close to the Australian. Evans fancied Olympic medals in Beijing but he fell short in both the road race and the time trial (fifth).

Classics specialist Leif Hoste was allowed to focus on one week in April, but the Belgian disappointed. After a good Tour de France – where Hoste was a domestique for Evans – he disappointed again in the time trial at the world championships. With the signing of Bernhard Kohl the Belgian team managed to attract negative media attention as it turned out that the Austrian climber who finished third in the Tour de France had been eating from the forbidden fruit, this time in the form of a CERA apple.

Holding out for: By signing Gilbert, 2009 could become a great year for Silence-Lotto, or however they will be called in 2009. Gilbert's versatility could provide the advantage the team has been lacking in almost every race in the past. Gilbert and Hoste, supported by Van Avermaet and Roelandts, should be offering more opposition in the Spring Classics against Quick Step and the former CSC team in 2009. Newly signed Thomas Dekker remains a question mark, but if he performs like he did two years ago, he should be the lieutenant in the mountains that Evans has been lacking in previous years.

What went right: The second half of the season wasn't the best for the Dutch team. It had only four victories, with Oscar Freire taking two of them, the 14th stage of the Tour de France and the 11th stage of the Vuelta a España. German Grischa Niermann won the time trial at the Rothaus Regio-Tour for his first win in seven years. And a special highlight was Kai Reus' return to the peloton in the Tour of Missouri, well over a year after suffering serious head injuries in a training accident.

What went wrong: 16 season wins aren't very many and it placed the Dutch team in the lower third of the rankings – which must have been embarrassing in light of the fact that the Rabobank Continental team had 38 wins. The team also had one controversy this season when it released Thomas Dekker under unexplained circumstances, saying only that the team and rider were unable to reconcile their "differences of opinion."

What went right: Quick Step won the two races they most wanted, the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix. Boonen wasn't allowed to start in the Tour de France after the cocaine debacle but Gert Steegmans made up for a poor Tour from Quick Step by winning the last stage in a bunch sprint on the Champs Élysées. Boonen was able to overcome the cocaine media attention by showing good performances on the bike, totalling 15 victories in 2008, just two less than Mark Cavendish. Boonen was allowed to start in the Vuelta a España and he didn't disappoint with two stage victories in Spain. The Belgian team won five stages in total, with Bettini racking up two more wins and young Wouter Weylandt grabbing his first win in a Grand Tour in Valladolid.

What went wrong: Stijn Devolder couldn't live up to the expectations in the Tour de France. The GC-rider cracked in the mountains and retired in his first Tour. After good performances from the team leaders in the Vuelta a España a lot was expected from Bettini and Boonen at the world championships. Boonen talked about having great legs at the world championships but together with defending champion Bettini he was caught up in team tactics when the successful break with Ballan got away.

After failing to come to an agreement about his contract at Quick Step Bettini decided to retire right after the world championships. Surely Bettini wasn't expecting to end his career this way as the the Olympic Games in Beijing had been a disappointment as well. Things got even worse for Quick Step as fresh signing Stefan Schumacher – who could be signed with the money not being spend on Bettini – was caught using CERA at the Tour de France. Meanwhile, the talented Giovanni Visconti decided to move to the new ISD-Danieli Team at a moment when he started to deliver the results for Quick Step. Additionally, directeur sportif Dirk Demol chose to go back to Johan Bruyneel, leaving his pupil Devolder behind.

Holding out for: Next year will be the first one without Paolo Bettini so for the team will have to look for new solutions in races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Amstel Gold Race, whereas the races on the cobbles should remain secured with Tom Boonen and Stijn Devolder. Then again it seems like the latter will focus less on the Spring Classics in order to start fresh in the Tour de France. If Boonen doesn't have his best day then Wouter Weylandt is likely to become the new pure sprinter in the team, since Steegmans decided to try his luck in the new Katyusha team from Oleg Tinkoff. Australian sprinter Allan Davis joined the team halfway through the season and he could be an alternative in the sprint as well.

What went right: Not much. The team took two national championship jerseys (Fabian Wegmann, Germany) and Markus Zberg (Switzerland), and three stage wins from three different riders – Markus Fothen at the Rothaus Regio-Tour; Carlo Westphal at the Eneco Tour; and Robert Förster scored a stage in the Tour of Poland. Davide Rebellin had many top finishes in the second half of the season, including a silver medal in the Olympics road race, but the top step on the podium always managed to elude him in this second half of the season.