Eneco Tour 2008

The eight day Eneco Tour starts on Wednesday with a prologue in Sittard and ends a week later in Mechelen, Belgium, with a time trial. The race begins in the Netherlands and Belgium taking in some iconic sections of historic road such as the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg.

The Eneco Tour made its debut in 2005 and was widely disparaged by all because of ad hoc organisation and memorable moments which included the race going off course, not just once but twice. Since then it has developed in great leaps and is now a tough and respected stage race featuring the top teams and many great riders.

Tom Boonen leads a strong Quick Step squad featuring Tour of Flanders winner Stijn Devolder and final Tour de France stage victor Gert Steegmans. Roger Hammond of Great Britain starts for Team Columbia and Alessandro Ballan lines up for Lampre.

Sprint king of the Giro d'Italia, Daniele Bennati of Italy and Liquigas, missed the Tour de France because of injury and now starts the Eneco Tour.

Bennati said - "Finally I feel better and I’ve started again to train regularly. Watching the Tour de France on television was really hard because it was one of the season’s goal, but now I think to the next engagements from now till the last race to pick more satisfactions as possible. Starting from Eneco and Vuelta, obviously."

Riders
Caisse d'Epargne
1. José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios
2. Francisco Perez Sanchez
3. Arnaud Coyot
4. Mathieu Drujon
5. Joan Horrach Rippoll
6. Marlon A. Perez Arango
7. Nicolas Portal
8. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil

Rabobank
21. Joost Posthuma
22. Bram De Groot
23. Mathew Hayman
24. Sebastian Langeveld
25. Tom Leezer
26. Gerben Lowik
27. Michiel Elijzen
28. Bram Tankink

Astana
41. Serguei Ivanov
43. Koen De Kort
44. Thomas Frei
45. Benoît Joachim
46. Aaron Kemps
47. Steve Morabito
48. Berik Kupeshov

Skil-Shimano
61. Sebastian Siedler
62. Roy Curvers
63. David Deroo
64. Floris Goesinnen
65. Piet Rooijakkers
66. Kenny Van Hummel
67. Tom Veelers
68. Robert Wagner

Team Milram
81. Markus Eichler
82. Luca Barla
83. Artur Gajek
84. Dennis Haueisen
85. Fabio Sabatini
86. Enrico Poitschke
87. Elia Rigotto
88. Marco Velo

Cycle Collstrop
101. David Kopp
102. Borut Bozic
103. Sergey Rudaskov
104. Michal Golas
105. Sergey Lagutin
106. Marco Marcato
107. Matheus Pronk
108. Mirko Selvaggi

Ag2r la Mondiale
121. Yuriy Krivtsov
122. Christophe Edaleine
123. Jean-Patrick Nazon
124. Laurent Mangel
125. Cedric Pineau
126. Jean-Charles Senac
127. Stéphane Poulhies
128. Stijn Vandenbergh

Cofidis, le Credit Par Telephone
141. Samuel Dumoulin
142. Alexandre Blain
143. Florent Brard
144. Frank Hoj
145. Damien Monier
146. Rein Taaramae
147. Romain Villa

Team CSC
161. Matti Breschel
162. Lars Ytting Bak
163. Jurgen Van Goolen
164. Matthew Harley Goss
165. Juan José Haedo
166. Kasper Klostergaard Larsen
167. Anders Lund
168. Andre Steensen

Bouygues Telecom
181. Aurélien Clerc
182. Olivier Bonnaire
183. Mathieu Claude
184. Nicolas Crosbie
186. Yohann Gene
187. Franck Renier
188. Sébastien Turgot

Silence-Lotto
11. Leif Hoste
12. Glenn D'Hollander
13. Francis De Greef
14. Wim De Vocht
15. Bert Roesems
16. Jurgen Roelandts
17. Geert Steurs
18. Maarten Tjallingii

Quick Step
31. Tom Boonen
32. Wilfried Cretskens
33. Steven De Jongh
34. Stijn Devolder
35. Kevin Hulsmans
36. Sébastien Rosseler
37. Gert Steegmans
38. Maarten Wynants

Team Columbia
51. Michael Rogers
52. Edvald Boasson Hagen
53. John Devine
54. André Greipel
55. Roger Hammond
56. Andreas Klier
57. Servais Knaven
58. Marcel Sieberg

Gerolsteiner
71. Robert Forster
72. Thomas Fothen
74. Sven Krauss
75. Stephan Schreck
76. Heinrich Haussler
77. Carlo Westphal

Liquigas
91. Daniele Bennati
92. Maciej Bodnar
93. Francesco Chicchi
94. Claudio Corioni
95. Alberto Curtolo
96. Mauro Da Dalto
97. Enrico Franzoi
98. Frederik Willems

Credit Agricole
111. Simon Gerrans
112. Jimmy Engoulvent
113. Angelo Furlan
114. Jeremy Hunt
115. Christophe Kern
116. Cyril Lemoine
117. Julien Simon
118. Yannick Talabardon

Française Des Jeux
131. Philippe Gilbert
132. Mickael Delage
133. Timothy Gudsell
134. Yauheni Hutarovich
135. Gianni Meersman
136. Jerome Coppel
137. Yoann Offredo
138. Jelle Vanendert

American Beef/Scott
151. Rubens Bertogliati
152. Raul Alarcon Garcia
153. Raivis Belohvosciks
154. Eros Capecchi
155. Ermanno Capelli
156. Jesus Del Nero Montes
157. Denis Flahaut
158. Luciano Pagliarini

Lampre
171. Fabio Baldato
172. Sylvester Szmyd
174. Matteo Bono
177. Andrea Grendene
178. Daniele Righi

Euskaltel-Euskadi
191. Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez
192. Josu Agirre
193. Benat Albizuri Aransolo
194. Javier Aramendia Lorente
195. Dionisio Galparsoro
196. Andoni Lafuente
198. Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui

2007
In 2007 José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d'Epargne) won from David Millar Saunier Duval (Prodir).

1 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios Caisse d'Epargne 26.05'44
2 David Millar Saunier Duval/Prodir @ 11 secs
3 Gustav Erik Larsson Unibet.com @ 1'05

Stages
Aug 20 Prologue: Sittard/Geleen (NL) (4,4 km)
Aug 21 Stage 1 Beek (NL) - Roermond (NL) (173,8 km)
Aug 22 Stage 2 Roermond (NL) - Nieuwegein (NL) (173,3 km)
Aug 23 Stage 3 Nieuwegein (NL) - Terneuzen (NL) (185,9 km)
Aug 24 Stage 4 Terneuzen (NL) - Ardooie (B) (213 km)
Aug 25 Stage 5 Ardooie (B) - Oostende (B) (167 km)
Aug 26 Stage 6 Maldegem (B) - Brussel (B) (186 km)
Aug 27 Stage 7 Mechelen (B) (TT 18,8 km)
Total: 1.122,2 km

Website - www.sport.be/enecotour/