2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 8 spy plane shootdown
On May 8, Abkhazian authorities claimed to have shot down a further spy plane. According to Deputy Minister of Defence Kupalba, the Georgian spy plane was shot down over the Ochamchira district at 5:10pm local time by Abkhazian anti-aircraft systems.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 8 spy plane shootdown
On May 9, Kupalba claimed that the Georgian spy plane allegedly downed May 8 had carried an air-to-air missile.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 8 spy plane shootdown
“The ammunition it was carrying represented danger for both civilians and peacekeeping troops.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 8 spy plane shootdown, Georgian reactions
Georgia once again denied that any shootdown had taken place, with the head of the Ministry of the interior's information and analytical department  Shota Utiashvili saying “That is a lie” and president Saakashvili declaring that “nothing has been shot down”.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 8 spy plane shootdown, Georgian reactions
On May 12, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs released footage shot by its unmanned reconnaissance drone showing, what it said was, movement and deployment of the Russian troops and their military hardware in Abkhazia.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 8 spy plane shootdown, Georgian reactions
“Our drones are conducting reconnaissance of the Abkhaz territory to identify where the Russian and Abkhaz armed forces and military hardware are concentrated.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 8 spy plane shootdown, Georgian reactions
Utiashvili claimed that the footage had been recorded on May 8 and he pointed out the fact that Abkhazia claimed to have shot down a spy plane on that day:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 8 spy plane shootdown, Georgian reactions
“But as you see the drone has returned and brought very valuable information. We have not lost any drone since April 20, when our unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down by the Russian jet. The Abkhaz side simply does not possess capability that could pose a threat to our unmanned aerial vehicle.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 12 spy plane shootdowns
On May 12, Abkhazia claimed that it had shot down yet two more spy planes over Ochamchira district. It said that the first shootdown happened around 14:16 pm local time over the village of Shesheleti and the second about an hour later over the village of Achigwara, and that debris of one of the two shootdowns had been found. According to Deputy Defence Minister Kupalba these spy planes too were Hermes 450 produced by Elbit Systems.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 12 spy plane shootdowns, Russian reactions
On May 12, acting spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Boris Malakhov criticised United States diplomat Mathew Bryza for having defended the use of Georgian spy planes over Abkhazia.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 12 spy plane shootdowns, Russian reactions
“At the same time, besides the reconnaissance activities and fire correction, the unmanned aerial vehicle can carry an air-to-air missile. [ ...] The statements of the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State made in Tbilisi and Sukhumi are in the line of the U.S. Administration’s efforts to cover up and to shield from criticism those, whom they are actively dragging into NATO.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 12 spy plane shootdowns, Russian reactions
On May 20, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, speaking at a hearing at the Russian State Duma said


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, May 12 spy plane shootdowns, Russian reactions
“Practical actions of the Georgian leadership, which are accompanied by provocations, [...] do not back Georgia’s claim about its readiness to build a dialogue between the conflicting sides. Georgia [...] continues flights [over the conflict zone in Abkhazia]. In particular, within past month the Abkhazian side downed seven Georgian [unmanned reconnaissance] drones,”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Findings
On May 26, the conclusions were publicised of an investigation into the spy plane downings conducted by a fact-finding team of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). It found that the fighter plane that shot down a spy plane on April 20 had indeed been Russian. The fact-finding team judged that both Georgian air radar data and the video footage were authentic. Based on the fighter jet's twin-tail marking and the location of the air intakes, it concluded that the aircraft seen on the video was either a MiG-29 or a Su-27. Given this, and given the fact that after the shootdown, the radar record showed the aircraft heading north towards Maykop/Krasnodar into Russian airspace, and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the fact-finding team concluded that the aircraft belonged to the Russian air force.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Findings
The fact finding mission was unable to determine whether, as Georgia claimed, the aircraft had taken off from the Bombora military airfield near Gudauta. It said that this was possible, but that another scenario was that the jet aircraft had come in at low altitude from somewhere else and then ascended in the vicinity of Gudauta.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Findings
“a reconnaissance mission by a military aircraft, whether manned or unmanned, constituted “military action” and therefore contravened the Moscow Agreement.”“However legitimate this purpose may seem to the Georgian side, it stands to reason that this kind of military intelligence-gathering is bound to be interpreted by the Abkhaz side as a precursor to a military operation, particularly in a period of tense relations between the sides.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Findings
UNOMIG's fact-finding commission confirmed that debris from the March 18 and May 12 shootdowns also originated from Hermes 450 aircraft.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Georgian reactions
In reaction to the fact-finding team's report, Georgian President Saakashvili welcomed its conclusions:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Georgian reactions
“The UN issued a conclusion, which directly accuses the Russian Federation of an act of aggression against Georgia and confirms that Russian jet has bombed the Georgian territory. This is the first case when an international organization and especially UN, without general phrases, has directly pointed its finger at Russia.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Georgian reactions
On May 27, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Georgia


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Georgian reactions
“categorically demands from the Russian Federation to make an official apology for the act of aggression directed against Georgia, ensure appropriate compensation for the material loss.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Georgian reactions
The Ministry also renewed demands for an international inspection of the Gudauta military base (Bombora airfield), from which it claimed the fighter jet took off on April 20.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Georgian reactions
On May 29, Georgia's Ambassador to the United Nations Irakli Alasania labelled the April 20 shootdown “an aggressive military act” that had further undermined Russia's role of mediator and facilitator. He also stated that Georgia did not consider overflights of unmanned, unarmed reconnaissance aircraft over the conflict zone violation of the Moscow agreement, since it was Georgia's "sovereign right" to observe and monitor its territory and “illegal movement” of Abkhazian and Russian forces.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Russian reactions
On May 26, Russia again denied being responsible for the April 20 shootdown. According to Russian air force spokesman Alexander Drobishevsky:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Russian reactions
“It is even pointless to speak about violation of the Georgian state border and especially about downing of the Georgian unmanned aerial vehicle.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Russian reactions
“In any story one should look for a root cause. When we know a root cause, the consequence becomes very clear. In my opinion, in this particular case the root cause is that the drone should not have flown there. It is a very troublesome zone for now.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Russian reactions
In a statement on May 27, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the evidence on which the fact-finding mission's conclusions are based "questionable":


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Russian reactions
“We do not mean to question competence of specialists from the UNOMIG. It is about partiality of evidence on which the entire investigation [by UNOMIG] was built – video footage and data from certain radars.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Russian reactions
It further claimed that the Georgian air radar data did "not coincide with those available for us”. The Ministry also stressed the fact-finding team's judgment that Georgia's reconnaissance flights constituted military action and therefore contravened the Moscow agreement:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team, Russian reactions
“This very flight [of the drone on April 20] was a root cause of the incident [downing] itself.”“Unfortunately, the Georgian side instead of stopping provocations involving flights of UAV, increased the number of [UAV’s flights]. These flights took a systematic nature, which only increase tensions in the conflict zone… It is important that UNOMIG continues investigation of the root cause of the problem.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting
On May 30, the Security Council of the United Nations met to discuss the April 20 downing of Georgia's spy plane and the findings of the UNOMIG fact-finding team. The meeting had been requested by Georgia on May 29.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Absence of the Abkhazian side
Russia had originally wanted the Abkhazian side to be present at the Security Council meeting, but Georgia was strongly opposed to this. Georgian Ambassador to the United Nations Alasania said that this would be “fundamentally infringing existing arrangements under the UN-led Geneva peace process”:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Absence of the Abkhazian side
“I can hardly imagine this institution allowing the representatives of the separatist insurgents, who are implicated and who are perpetrators of the ethnic cleansing to be present at this international forum. Frankly I also think that it is not in the best interests of the Russia to set this kind of precedent, because then the questions arise why can’t other representatives of the separatist movements be allowed at the UN forums.”“So I think it is really time for the Russian Federation’s delegation in the UN to drop using this leverage at the Security Council and sabotaging the Security Council meeting because of this reason.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Absence of the Abkhazian side
Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said that Russia had given up its demand in the end because it did not want to block all discussion of the incident.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Absence of the Abkhazian side
“We expressed our disappointment that there is no possibility to discuss the Abkhazian side. Without their participation it cannot be objective, full, comprehensive and serious.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Absence of the Abkhazian side
On May 30, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov said that it would be “senseless” to discuss the April 20 spy plane downing at the Security Council without participation of the Abkhazian side:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Absence of the Abkhazian side
“The fact that they have been refused to participate in this discussion indicates that there is something dirty in this initiative.”“[The] essence of the crisis is that the Georgian side is roughly violating its commitments. It [the April 20 incident] was not the single case; seven drones have been shot down and even more were overflying the conflict zone, which in accordance to the UN Security Council decision should not be the zone for military actions.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Absence of the Abkhazian side
Lavrov reiterated Russia's position that Georgian spy plane overflights were the root of the problem:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Absence of the Abkhazian side
“This should be dealt with first; the disease itself should be cured and not its symptoms.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, American reactions
United States Deputy Representative to the United Nations Alejandro Wolff said that it was not clear from the 1994 Moscow agreement whether the spy plane overflights constituted a violation:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, American reactions
“We believe the ceasefire agreement of 1994, the Moscow agreement, at best is unclear on this issue. It's an interpretation as to whether a UAV reconnaissance craft that cannot be armed constitutes military action.”“We have a separate issue, which is a conclusion now reached by the UNOMIG independent investigators that the Russian aircraft flying from Russia, flew into the Georgian territory and shot down [Georgia’s] UAVs and that is very dangerous development, highly provocative and clearly is a violation of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Georgian reactions
During the Security Council Meeting, Georgian Ambassador Alasania said that following the UNOMIG Fact-Finding Team's judgment that its spy plane flights over Abkhazia violated the 1994 Moscow agreement on ceasefire and separation of forces it had ceased them, but that they would be resumed in the event of threat.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Georgian reactions
“I openly said [at the meeting of the UN Security Council session] that since the [UNOMIG] report was issued, the Georgian side stopped overflights to honor the words of the current report. It doesn't mean that we will not use these military capabilities if the threat will occur in the region… But at this point since the report came out we’ve stopped these overflights.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Georgian reactions
According to Alasania, the Russian explanation of the April 20 spy plane shootdown which it provided during the Security Council meeting was “not comprehensible”, nor “viable”. He further said that the Russian side had not strongly denied its involvement in the April 20 spy plane shootdown, but instead tried to shift emphasis onto the spy plane overflights.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Georgian reactions
“The largest part of the members reiterated their strong condemnation of the act of aggression against the Georgian sovereignty by the Russian military aircraft.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Churkin responded to Alasania's remarks by saying:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
“Ambassador Alasania chose again to put into the mouth of Security Council members the words that they have not actually used, like ‘aggression’ and stuff like that; but you know our Georgian friends are very temperamental so they tend to do that time to time.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
He also said that he regretted Alasania's remarks that Georgia reserved for itself the right to resume spy plane overflights.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
“We emphasized [at the UN Security Council meeting] that one thing is clear is that flight of drone is violation and provocation that triggered the incident.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
According to Churkin, during the Security Council meeting he had pointed out “technical inconsistencies” in the Fact-Finding Team's findings, noting that nothing in the report indicated that the fighter jet had crossed into Abkhazia from the Russian Federation.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
“There also was no conversation between the pilot and ground control. Experts tell me that it is virtually impossible to shoot down a drone from a fighter jet without communication between the pilot and ground control. So something is missing in the entire puzzle.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
Churkin also reiterated Russia's position that the footage used as evidence was fabricated. He added that Russia was prepared to conduct a “thorough investigation” also involving foreign experts.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
Churkin repeated Russia's stance that discussions of this type at the UN are not objective without participation of the Abkhazian side, although he claimed that awareness amongst Security Council members of the need to include the Abkhazian side had increased, and he expressed hope that next time indeed the Abkhazian side would be invited.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
In a statement on May 31 Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that during the Security Council meeting, Georgia had failed to put the blame for the April 20 spy plane downing on Russia. It added:


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Security Council meeting, Russian reactions
“We have expressed our readiness to carry out a serious investigation with the involvement of foreign experts, instead of unilateral and hasty one [that was conducted by UNOMIG]. Only in this case we will believe that the truth about the April 20 incident is found.”


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Abkhazian military hardware used in the spy plane shootdowns
Both Abkhazia and Russia claim that the April 20 spy plane was downed by an Abkhazian L-39 aircraft.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Abkhazian military hardware used in the spy plane shootdowns
On May 6, Abkhazian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Shamba declared that a Buk ground-to-air air defence system had been used in the downing of the Georgian spy planes. This was the first time that Abkhazian authorities officially acknowledged that Abkhazia military possessed this advanced anti-aircraft system.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Abkhazian military hardware used in the spy plane shootdowns
According to Shamba, the Buk system was a leftover from the 1992-1993 war with Georgia.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Abkhazian military hardware used in the spy plane shootdowns
Georgian authorities had claimed earlier that Buk systems had been transferred from Russia to Abkhazia in 2007 as part of a larger package of military support.


2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns, Abkhazian military hardware used in the spy plane shootdowns
In response to Shamba's statement Georgian officials declared that the fact that Abkhazia possessed Buk systems constituted a violation of existing agreements. In a statement the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on UNOMIG “to urgently launch probing into the presence of anti-aircraft defense systems and their use in Abkhazia and to immediately acquaint the international community with the results of this probe.”


2008 German Athletics Championships
The 2008 German Athletics Championships were held at the easyCredit-Stadion in Nuremberg on 5–6 July 2008.


2008 German Figure Skating Championships
The 2008 German Figure Skating Championships (German: Deutsche Meisterschaften im Eiskunstlaufen) took place on January 3–6, 2008 at the Freiberger Arena in Dresden. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating on the senior, junior, and novice levels.


2008 German Figure Skating Championships
The first senior compulsory dance was the Yankee Polka and the second was the Argentine Tango. The first junior compulsory dance was the Cha-Cha Congelado and the second was the Blues.


2008 German Formula Three Championship
The 2008 ATS F3 Cup was the sixth edition of the German F3 Cup. It commenced on 24 May 2008 and ended on 12 October after eighteen rounds. The title was won by Frédéric Vervisch.


2008 German Formula Three Championship, Calendar
With the exception of round at TT Circuit Assen, all rounds took place on German soil.


2008 German Grand Prix
The 2008 German Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland 2008) was a Formula One motor race held on 20 July 2008 at the Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Germany. It was the 10th race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship and was contested over 67 laps. It was won by Lewis Hamilton for the McLaren team after starting from pole position. Nelson Piquet Jr. finished second for Renault, with Felipe Massa third for Ferrari.


2008 German Grand Prix
Hamilton maintained his startline advantage and led until he made his first pit stop on lap 18. As other cars made their pit stops, Hamilton regained the lead on lap 22. On lap 36, Timo Glock crashed, and the race was neutralized by the deployment of the safety car. Hamilton, on a two-stop strategy, did not stop to get more fuel during this period, while all the cars around him did. Thus, when he did eventually stop on lap 50, he rejoined the race in fifth position. In the closing stages of the race, Hamilton first overtook his teammate Heikki Kovalainen, then Massa, and finally Piquet, whilst also gaining a position due to Nick Heidfeld's late pit stop. This allowed him to take the lead again on lap 60, which he maintained to win the race.


2008 German Grand Prix
The victory was Hamilton's second consecutive win, having won the preceding British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The win also put him ahead of his two main rivals in the Drivers' Championship, Kimi Räikkönen (who finished sixth) and Massa, who were on equal points with him before the race. After the race he was four points ahead of Massa, and seven ahead of Räikkönen. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren drew closer to the two teams ahead of them, BMW Sauber and Ferrari. Ferrari still led by 15 points from McLaren, and 12 from BMW, whose drivers – Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica – finished fourth and seventh respectively.


2008 German Grand Prix, Background
The Grand Prix was contested by 20 drivers, in ten teams of two. The teams, also known as "constructors", were Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault, BMW Sauber, Honda, Force India, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Williams and Toro Rosso. Prior to the race, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Räikkönen, and Felipe Massa led the Drivers' Championship jointly, all with 48 points. Behind them was Robert Kubica in fourth with 46 points for BMW Sauber, and his teammate Nick Heidfeld in fifth with 36 points.


2008 German Grand Prix, Background
In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were leading with 96 points, 14 points ahead of BMW Sauber, who at this stage were ahead of McLaren, despite Hamilton tying for the lead of the Drivers' World Championship. This was due to Heikki Kovalainen's low point score of 24. Toyota were fourth, with 25 points, ahead of Red Bull by one point, who in turn were one further point ahead of Renault.


2008 German Grand Prix, Background
Hamilton had won the preceding British Grand Prix by 68 seconds from Heidfeld and Honda's Rubens Barrichello. Of his championship rivals, Räikkönen had finished fourth, Kubica had retired, and Massa had had a nightmare of a race, spinning five times and finishing 13th. In the run-up to the German Grand Prix, Hamilton had tested the McLaren MP4-23's new front wing – introduced at the British Grand Prix – extensively in the team's simulator, and then during a pre-race test session at the Hockenheim circuit.


2008 German Grand Prix, Background
Having honed the car's setup to his liking after initially finding the handling difficult, he used it in the race. Kovalainen was not as comfortable with the car's handling and ran a greater front wing angle to produce more downforce, at the expense of having to run larger radiators due to the reduced airflow produced over the car. This led to a slight reduction in his car's overall performance. In other technical developments, Ferrari introduced revised bargeboards, exhaust exits and an altered windscreen for its F2008 car. BMW Sauber added turning vanes to the top of its F1.08's nose, while Toyota removed some bodywork from its TF108's exhaust exits. Honda also introduced new bargeboards for its RA108 chassis. All of these changes were carried out with the aim of improving each car's aerodynamic performance.


2008 German Grand Prix, Practice
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race – two on Friday, and a third on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted 90 minutes. The third session was held on Saturday morning and lasted an hour. During the first practice session the track was wet following early-morning rain, and shortly after the session started, further precipitation made the track even wetter, although it did begin to dry out as the session progressed. Hamilton was fastest in this session ahead of his teammate Kovalainen.


2008 German Grand Prix, Practice
The Ferraris of Massa and Räikkönen came third and fifth respectively, with Renault's Fernando Alonso sandwiched between them in fourth place. Kubica spun off the track and Sébastien Bourdais had a mechanical problem with his flywheel sensor towards the end of the session. Both ended up at the bottom of the timesheets as a result of these problems.


2008 German Grand Prix, Practice
Friday's second session was held in dry conditions. Hamilton again set the fastest time. Massa and Räikkönen improved to second and third positions, pushing Kovalainen down to fourth. Mark Webber set the fifth-fastest time, after earlier having electrical and clutch problems with the car. Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Kubica, Heidfeld and David Coulthard made up the rest of the top ten. In the final practice session on Saturday – which was held in dry conditions – Kovalainen was fastest, ahead of Massa and teammate Hamilton. Alonso continued his strong practice form, finishing fourth, with Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel making it to fifth position. Kubica once again was at the bottom of the table, this time due to a transmission problem.


2008 German Grand Prix, Qualifying
"What a lap! My first run during [the third session of qualifying] wasn’t bad, but my final lap was very smooth and I expected to set an even better time. The wind made today's conditions quite tricky and sometimes it was difficult to stay on the racing line, particularly in the stadium section – where the wind seemed to change a couple of times. The team did a really good job to adjust to these conditions and to prepare the car perfectly. We’ve been fast and consistent all weekend, we have good pace, and I'm confident for tomorrow."


2008 German Grand Prix, Qualifying
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes, and cars that finished the session 16th or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of qualifying lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 15. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position. Cars which failed to make the final session could refuel before the race, so ran lighter in those sessions. Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to refuel before the race, and as such carried more fuel than in the previous sessions.


2008 German Grand Prix, Qualifying
Hamilton took pole position for the ninth time in his career with a lap time of 1:15.666, having beaten Massa by two-tenths of a second in his final lap of the third session. Kovalainen, coming back after an error during his first run, qualified third, with Jarno Trulli taking fourth position. Alonso and Räikkönen were close together in fifth and sixth positions, with just 0.006 seconds separating them. Kubica took a comfortable seventh, half a second quicker in the third session than eighth-placed Webber. Vettel and Coulthard completed the top ten.


2008 German Grand Prix, Qualifying
Timo Glock took 11th place on the grid for Toyota, seven places behind his teammate Trulli. He was immediately in front of compatriots Heidfeld and Rosberg. Jenson Button and Bourdais took 14th and 15th positions respectively. Both Heidfeld and Button later said that they suffered from tyre problems during the session.


2008 German Grand Prix, Qualifying
Completing the field, Kazuki Nakajima was 16th, Nelson Piquet Jr. 17th, Rubens Barrichello 18th, whilst the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella brought up the rear of the grid in 19th and 20th positions. Piquet later complained that he was blocked during his first-session run by Vettel: "During my lap, Vettel was in front of me, which unsettled me a little, although the FIA felt that he did not impede me." Kovalainen was, however, penalized by the stewards and fined €5,000 for using a refuelling system during qualifying which had not been approved by the FIA.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
At the start, Hamilton, Massa and Kovalainen all maintained their grid positions. Hamilton quickly began to pull away from the other cars, at the rate of about half a second per lap. Behind the leading trio, Kubica passed Räikkönen off the grid, and went on to pass both Alonso and Trulli at the hairpin (turn 4), when Alonso's own attempted pass on Trulli delayed both drivers. The fight for fourth position continued in the early stages of the race.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
Kubica ran wide at the final corner on lap four, impeding Trulli and therefore allowing Alonso to attempt an overtaking manoeuvre on the Toyota down the main straight. However, Trulli held on to his position, and Alonso was instead passed by Räikkönen, moving him down to sixth position. At the back of the field, Nakajima spun his Williams but recovered back onto the track and continued in the race.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
At the first round of pit stops, Hamilton had a lead of nearly 20 seconds over Massa, and fuelled longer than all the other drivers in the points-scoring positions when he pitted on lap 18. Coming out of the pits, Hamilton made an error and was passed by Trulli. The two drivers then nearly collided at the hairpin, with Hamilton holding back for the rest of the lap waiting for Trulli to pit.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
Trulli's teammate Glock stayed out on the track longer than all of the other drivers except Barrichello and Piquet, meaning that when he pitted, he was actually in third position and rejoined the race in eighth. Hamilton regained the lead by lap 22 after Massa, Kovalainen, Trulli and Räikkönen made their pit stops, and had in the region of an 11 second lead over Massa at the half-way stage of the race. Behind the leaders, fourth-placed Kubica was beginning to catch Kovalainen in third, while Trulli, Räikkönen, Alonso and Vettel battled over the final four point-scoring places.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
On the 36th lap, Glock's right-rear suspension failed coming out of the final corner. He spun through 180 degrees before hitting the pit wall with a strong rearward impact, with debris flying across the track. The car, pointing the wrong way, rolled to a stop on the grass. A dazed Glock extracted himself before being treated at the medical centre. The safety car was deployed after the accident. When the pit lane opened on lap 38, most drivers headed in, including all of the leaders except Hamilton.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
McLaren believed that Hamilton had enough fuel to stay out, the plan being for him to then rapidly pull away from his heavily-fuelled rivals, after the safety car went in. Hamilton needed to build up enough of a lead to rejoin still in first position, following his final pit stop. This would prove to be very risky, as Massa rejoined in fourth position, fuelled to the finish.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
Piquet, on a one-stop strategy after his poor qualifying performance, had fortuitously pitted immediately prior to the safety car's deployment and was also fuelled to the end of the race. Promoted to third place from 14th beforehand following the pit stops, he was set to take the lead once Hamilton and Heidfeld (who also had not pitted under the safety car conditions) pitted for their final stops. Further back, Vettel squeezed past Alonso at the pit exit, pushing him over the white line separating the pit lane exit from the track. Alonso complained over his radio but no action was taken against either driver. Meanwhile, Räikkönen dropped several places to 11th, having had to queue behind Massa at the second pit stops.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
When the safety car came in on lap 42, Hamilton led, while Heidfeld and Piquet were running second and third. Behind them were Massa, Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg and Räikkönen. Webber's Red Bull had been dripping oil for a couple of laps after picking up debris from Glock's crash, and on lap 40 he pulled out of the race. Räikkönen quickly passed Rosberg, and then overtook the squabbling Vettel and Alonso on the way down to the hairpin, while Hamilton desperately tried to pull away at the front.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
Räikkönen passed Trulli two laps later, while Kovalainen overtook Kubica for fifth place. Coulthard and Barrichello collided on the 48th lap with both cars pitting for repairs. Barrichello retired three laps later due to damage sustained as a result of the incident. Hamilton pitted on lap 50, coming out behind Heidfeld, Piquet, Massa and Kovalainen. Kovalainen let his teammate past at the hairpin one lap later, meaning that Hamilton was now fourth. On lap 52, Heidfeld set a new fastest lap time of 1:15.987. He was the only driver to go under one minute 16 seconds during the Grand Prix. At the end of the following lap, Heidfeld entered the pits with a sizeable gap over Piquet, returning to the field comfortably ahead of Kovalainen, but behind Hamilton.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
Hamilton's speed allowed him to quickly catch Massa in second position, with Piquet in the lead by a further three seconds. On lap 57, Hamilton passed Massa at the hairpin. Massa appeared to have the inside line covered, but he was not fully committed to the line into the braking zone, giving Hamilton the chance to take second position. Three laps later, he used a similar overtaking move to overtake Piquet, although the Renault driver put up a greater fight than Massa had. Hamilton led easily to the finish, although Piquet kept within six seconds of him. Heidfeld  threatened a slowing Massa in the last laps, while Räikkönen was able to pass Kubica for sixth place on lap 60.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race
Hamilton took the chequered flag first, while Piquet enthusiastically celebrated his drive from 17th to second, just 5.5 seconds behind. Massa held on to take third ahead of Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Räikkönen, and Kubica. Vettel secured eighth – the last points-scoring position – for Toro Rosso, ahead of Trulli in ninth, and Rosberg in 10th. Alonso finished 11th, ahead of Bourdais. Coulthard was 13th, Fisichella 14th, Nakajima 15th, Sutil 16th and Button was last of the classified finishers in 17th. A record of sixteen drivers finished on the lead lap, beating the previous highest number of fourteen at the 1999 Belgian Grand Prix.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
Following the podium ceremony, in which two Brazilian drivers participated for the first time since the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, the top three finishers appeared in the obligatory press conference. Hamilton said that the decision to not make a pit stop during the safety car period was the team's decision: "We had two very comfortable, two very decent stints and the team opted for me to stay out.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
I guess they thought I could pull out a gap but it was a 23 second gap I needed and I only had seven laps or something, so I don't know how that worked out." Hamilton added that he felt that things looked good for the rest of the season, stating that "if we [McLaren] can continue with this momentum we have got we are looking very good".


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
Ron Dennis, McLaren's team principal, also commented on the pit stop decision:


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
The deployment of the Safety Car presented us with a difficult decision: should we or should we not bring Lewis in for a pitstop? We decided that, since he still had quite a lot of fuel on board, we would leave him out until lap 50. We'd expected the track to be cleared of debris a little faster than it was, which would have allowed the Safety Car to come in a bit earlier. As a result, Lewis was unable to rejoin the race in the lead.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
Piquet was delighted with his drive to second after qualifying 17th, saying:


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
I am obviously very happy! After qualifying yesterday I was thinking that my weekend was over, but we opted for an aggressive strategy in the race and the team made some great decisions when the safety car came out. Then I had to concentrate to keep my pace up and look after my tyres as much as possible towards the end of the race. I knew that Lewis was much faster than me, so I did not want to take any pointless risks. This second place today is a great reward for the whole team.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
Although Piquet's result was fortuitous, Renault Engineering Director, Pat Symonds, subsequently praised him for stepping up to the job of staying with the leaders in the final stint of the race. Meanwhile, Massa commented that his car was not in good order during the race: "It was just slow with difficult stability and also on braking I think I had a little problem as well and lost a lot of performance. I didn’t have the car to fight. I tried but it was not possible." Teammate Räikkönen also struggled with low grip and hot brakes for the duration of the race, while Kovalainen and Kubica had problems with their tyres.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
Fisichella was penalised 25 seconds for unlapping lead cars during the safety car period, which dropped him from 14th to 16th position. The stewards issued the following statement about the decision: "While the safety car was deployed, the driver of car 21 [Fisichella] chose to enter the pits before 'Lapped cars may now overtake' was shown on the timing monitors. Having done so the driver of car 21 on leaving the pitlane should then not have unlapped himself."


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
The treatment of Glock after his crash caused Toyota some concern. Toyota did not think that normal FIA procedure had been followed. After crashes, drivers are normally taken out of the car in their seat, whereas Glock was unstrapped and then hauled out by the marshals. Glock stayed in hospital overnight for observation, but was released the next day with no injuries. Toyota subsequently confirmed that the failed suspension component had already completed a full race distance at the previous Grand Prix, and resolved to adjust its checking procedures.


2008 German Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
The new gap between Hamilton and Massa in the Drivers' Championship after the race stood at four points in Hamilton's favour. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren somewhat caught up on Ferrari, although the gap between the two teams was still sizeable at 19 points. McLaren were ten points behind BMW coming into the race and the deficit was reduced to three due to the race result.


2008 German Skeleton Championship
The 42nd German Skeleton Championship in 2008 was organized on 4 and 5 January in Altenberg.


2008 German Supercup
The 2008 German Supercup, known as the T-Home Supercup for sponsorship reasons, was an unofficial edition of the German Supercup, a football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal competitions.


2008 German Supercup
The match was played at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, and contested by 2007–08 Bundesliga and 2007–08 DFB-Pokal winners Bayern Munich, and DFB-Pokal runners-up Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund won the match 2–1 to claim the unofficial title.


2008 German beekill incident
In July 2008, German authorities reported that more than 11,000 beehives were affected and millions of bees were killed in an agricultural chemical poisoning incident from late April to early May that year. Affected beekeepers reported that 50 to 100 percent of their hives had been lost after pneumatic equipment used to plant corn seed blew clouds of pesticide dust into the air, which was then pushed by the wind onto neighboring canola fields in which managed bees were performing pollinator services.


2008 German beekill incident, Description
Laboratory testing at the Julius Kühn Institute demonstrated that 99% of the bees sampled tested positive for high levels of the neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin, which is highly toxic to honey bees on an acute contact basis (i.e. direct contact with too much of the chemical can quickly kill bees).


2008 German beekill incident, Description
In providing background on the incident, the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) noted that clothianidin had been authorized as a seed treatment on corn since  2004, and that “bee damage of this kind in conjunction with this product has not been observed in Germany” prior to the 2008 incident.


2008 German beekill incident, Contributing Factors
In addition to the pneumatic equipment and dry, windy conditions that created the pesticide dust cloud and drove it into the neighboring fields, the BVL also identified several other factors that contributed to the incident. Though the normal corn seed treatment formulation of clothianidin was authorized for use against fruit flies and wireworms at 25 grams of the chemical per 50,000 seeds, the seed batches associated with this incident received a special authorization at a much higher concentration, 62 grams per 50,000 seeds, to protect against an infestation of western corn rootworm.


2008 German beekill incident, Contributing Factors
Furthermore, a glue-like polymer coating, known as "sticker", that is commonly used in the U.S. to ensure that seed treatment pesticides adhere to corn seeds was omitted in error by the seed treater that supplied the seed to German farmers. Weather conditions earlier in the year also contributed to the incident. While corn planting would normally not take place in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany at the same time that canola is in bloom, unseasonably early and heavy rain pushed back the corn planting.


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, France
In Weakening, collapse and mortality of bee colonies. the French Food Safety Agency stated:


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, France
the causes of these incidents have been clearly identified and can be avoided by measures that are simple to apply, such as control of the quantity of dust emitted in batches by means of a test in comparison with a threshold...or the use of seed drills fitted with devices to limit dust emissions.


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, France
By their very nature, these types of incidents affecting bees and involving seed treatments are only liable to occur occasionally, since they require the emission of quantities that are toxic to bees. However, they reveal a dispersion of variable quantities of products used in film-coatings into the environment, and hence exposure that may have broader consequences, including on the health of the users of these products.


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, France
This observation led the ICPBR to designate this sowing practice as “poor farming practice” and to therefore encourage the rapid implementation of measures designed to solve this dust problem on a European level.


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, Germany
Before the investigation of the incident was complete, the BVL suspended the authorization of eight seed treatment products on corn and canola. Upon completion of its investigation, the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection “banned for a period of 6 months the planting of maize by means of negative pressure pneumatic machines for single grain delivery; this ban applies to maize seeds treated with clothianidin or with one of three further insecticides.”


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, Germany
Germany reauthorized the use of clothianidin as a seed treatment on canola in June 2008 after the Julius Kühn Institute submitted its findings that equipment and sticker problems associated with corn seed treatments in Germany are not applicable to canola. Furthermore, the German authorities explicitly required the use of additional sticker to ensure the pesticides adhere to the seeds.


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, Germany
In June 2008, BVL concluded that “the treatment of rapeseed with clothianidin containing plant protection products does not put bee colonies at risk” but offered additional recommendations to better control dust and discouraging planting on windy days or using pneumatic seeding equipment that discharges air upward. In 2009, BVL decided to continue to suspend authorization for the use of clothianidin on corn, citing unanswered questions that remained about potential exposure of bees and other pollinators to neonicotinoid pesticides.


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, United States
Recognizing that the German incident resulted from a perfect storm of unusual factors, the United States Environmental Protection Agency took no regulatory action beyond confirming with “major seed suppliers and distributors, agricultural industry groups, and clothianidin’s registrant” that sticker use on corn seed is common practice in the U.S. The agency also explained the rationale for using seed treatments for pesticides over conventional application methods: "In many situations, the use of pesticide-treated seeds results in less human and environmental exposure than would the use of the pesticide later, in a spray or dust formulation, after the crop is growing."


2008 German beekill incident, Regulatory Authorities’ Reaction to the Incident, United States
USEPA further noted that "though clothianidin was the particular chemical involved in the 2008 incident in Germany, a similar result would be expected if a large amount of any chemical that is toxic to bees was blown into the air on a dry, windy day next to blooming canola fields for which thousands of hives were providing pollination services."


2008 German motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2008 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2008 MotoGP season. It took place on the weekend of 11–13 July 2008 at the Sachsenring, located in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany.


2008 German motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round ten has concluded.


2008 Gerry Weber Open
The 2008 Gerry Weber Open was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 16th edition of the Gerry Weber Open, and was part of the International Series of the 2008 ATP Tour. It took place at the Gerry Weber Stadion in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, from 7 June through 15 June 2008.


2008 Gerry Weber Open
The singles draw featured World No. 1, French Open runner-up and 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Halle champion Roger Federer, ATP No. 7, Delray Beach and Houston finalist James Blake, and defending champion Tomáš Berdych. Also present were Australian Open quarterfinalist and Chennai titlist Mikhail Youzhny, 2007 Halle runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, Radek Štěpánek, Jarkko Nieminen and Ivan Ljubičić.


2008 Gerry Weber Open, Finals, Doubles
Mikhail Youzhny /  Mischa Zverev defeated  Lukáš Dlouhý /  Leander Paes, 3–6, 6–4, [10–3]


2008 Gerry Weber Open – Doubles
Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle were the defending champions, but lost in the first round to Tomáš Berdych and Radek Štěpánek.


2008 Gerry Weber Open – Doubles
Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev won in the final 3–6, 6–4, [10–3], against Lukáš Dlouhý and Leander Paes.


2008 Gerry Weber Open – Singles
Tomáš Berdych was the defending champion, but lost in the second round to Robin Söderling.


2008 Gerry Weber Open – Singles
Roger Federer won in the final 6–3, 6–4, against Philipp Kohlschreiber.


2008 Getxo bombing
The 2008 Getxo bombing occurred on 19 May 2008, when a van bomb went off outside a boat club in the town of Getxo, Biscay in the Basque Country, Spain. The attack caused serious damage to the club, as well as nearby buildings and structures. No one was killed or injured after a warning call from the Basque separatist organisation ETA. On 31 May, the organisation claimed responsibility for the bombing.


2008 Getxo bombing
Five days before the attack, another ETA car bomb in a Civil Guard barracks in Legutiano, Álava killed a Civil Guard member and injured four. Both attacks were blamed on the Biscay cell of ETA led by Arkaitz Goikoetxea Basabe, which was most active after the end of the 2006 ceasefire, and was responsible for several attacks in the region during 2007 and 2008. Most of the cell members, as well as the participants in the attack, were arrested in July 2008.


2008 Getxo bombing
The attack came hours before a meeting by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Basque lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe to discuss the Basque Conflict. On the same day of the attack, a memorial service for victims of terrorism was held in San Sebastián.


2008 Getxo bombing, Background
Getxo, a wealthy seaside suburb near the city of Bilbao, has been the location of several ETA attacks during the Basque conflict, with most of the attacks being carried out in the Las Arenas neighbourhood, home to many businessmen and entrepreneurs. Three civil guards were killed in an ambush in Las Arenas in October 1978. In 2000, a car bomb injured seven on 25 June, and four people were wounded in another car bomb attack on 24 July. On 22 January 2001, Ertzaintza members deactivated a car bomb and judge Jose Maria Lidón Corbi was shot dead on 7 November.


2008 Getxo bombing, Background
On 20 April 2002, a car bomb exploded in front of the house of a businessman, who had been kidnapped in 1996. A bomb exploded inside a hotel on 23 June 2003, while another car bomb went off on 18 January 2005, injuring one. On 11 November 2007, two Booby trap bombs failed to explode in front of a courthouse. The same boat club had already been attacked by bombs on 12 March 1969, and on 30 December 1971. On 26 November 1973, six ETA members set fire to the club.


2008 Getxo bombing, Background
2008 was ETA's deadliest year since the end of the 2006 ceasefire. In mid 2006, the organisation declared a ceasefire, and conversations between Batasuna, ETA and the Basque and Spanish governments started. Peace talks ended in December, when ETA broke the truce with a massive car bomb at Madrid-Barajas Airport. ETA officially ended the ceasefire in 2007, and resumed its attacks around Spain. At the same time, dozens of members were arrested by Spanish and French police. Despite that, the organisation did not lose the capacity for carrying out attacks.


2008 Getxo bombing, Attack
The vehicle, a Citroën Berlingo, the same model used in the Legutiano attack, was stolen in Getxo on the same morning of the attack by a cell formed by Arkaitz Goikoetxea Basabe and fellow ETA member Aitor Artetxe Rodríguez. The car was the property of a company owned by a former member of ETA, Xabier Izko de la Iglesia, who had been sentenced in the 1970 Burgos trial. The car was then loaded with 60 kg of ammonal, a type of explosive usually used by ETA. The car also contained shrapnel shell to increase the destructive power. The explosive device had been obtained in the town of Ezcaray, La Rioja and was similar to an abandoned bomb found in Getxo on 31 January 2008.


2008 Getxo bombing, Attack
At 23:55, Goikoetxea phoned the DYA headquarters, a Basque roadside assistance association, in Bilbao on behalf of ETA, to alert them that a car bomb would go off in Getxo: "Listen carefully, I'm calling on behalf of ETA. In one hour, a van bomb is going to explode in the seafront walk, next to the boat club of Getxo. Do you understand? Freedom for the Basque Country. Long live ETA". According to reports, the warning call was made from a telephone box located 500 meters from the boat club. A few minutes later, a worker from the club spotted two hooded people, abandoning a vehicle in the middle of the road. Once Ertzaintza officers spotted the vehicle, the area was cordoned off and people evacuated from nearby houses. A family reported to have not been warned of the detonation.


2008 Getxo bombing, Attack
At 00:50, ten minutes before the time the caller had given, the device went off. The detonation tore a hole in the ground and caused considerable damage to the club. Several floors of the building were ripped open and it suffered serious structural damage. Nearby houses and buildings were also affected by the explosion, which was heard in most of the towns around the Estuary of Bilbao. According to the Spanish High Court, 114 people were affected in some way by the attack.


2008 Getxo bombing, Attack
After the attack, Ertzaintza kept the area cordoned off, while looking for other possible bombs. Meanwhile, Goikoetxea headed to Leioa and met Artetxe in a nearby mountain, where they would stay the whole night. By the morning, no other devices had been found and people were able to return to their homes.


2008 Getxo bombing, Aftermath
Many authorities and politicians condemned the attack. Basque Nationalist Party president Íñigo Urkullu stated that "once again ETA tried to unreasonably become the judge of the Spanish politics" and Partido Popular president Mariano Rajoy gave his support to the government of Spain in its fight against ETA. Most of the political parties also condemned the attack, with Aralar stating that "ETA is an obstacle towards the peace that Euskal Herria (Basque Country) demands".


2008 Getxo bombing, Aftermath, Arrest
On 22 July 2008, the Civil Guard dismantled the Biscay cell, with the arrest of nine members of ETA, including Goikoetxea. Most of the arrests were made in Bilbao, Getxo and Elorrio, while two other people were held in Fuengirola, Málaga and in Nigran, Pontevedra. The operation, which was led by judge Baltasar Garzón, also ended with the arrest of Gaizka Jareño Ugarriza, Adur Aristegi Aragon, Iñigo Gutierrez, Aitor Kotano Sinde, Libe Agirre Mazaga, Maialen Zuazo y Ana Isabel Prieto Fundarena. Senior members of the cell, such as Jurdan Martitegi or Asier Borrero were not arrested. The cell was going to carry out another car bomb attack in Getxo on 31 July and had plans to attack the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, as well as judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska.


2008 Getxo bombing, Aftermath, Arrest
Aitor Artetxe was another cell member on the run until he was arrested in the French town of Gerde, Hautes-Pyrénées on 8 December 2008. On the same operation, head of the military commandos Aitzol Iriondo was also arrested, as well as another senior member of ETA, Eneko Zarrabeitia Salterain.


2008 Getxo bombing, Aftermath, Arrest
On 19 August 2009, judge Santiago Pedraz prosecuted Goikoetxea and Artetxe for the attack.


2008 Geylang United FC season
The 2008 S.League season is Geylang United's 13th season in the top flight of Singapore football and 33rd year in existence as a football club.


2008 Geylang United FC season, Player seasonal records
Competitive matches only. Numbers in brackets indicate appearances made. Updated to games played May 25, 2008.


2008 Ghanaian general election
General elections were held in Ghana on 7 December 2008. Since no candidate received more than 50% of the votes, a run-off election was held on 28 December 2008 between the two candidates who received the most votes, Nana Akufo-Addo of the governing New Patriotic Party and John Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress. Mills was certified as the victor by a margin of less than one percent, winning the presidency on his third attempt. It is to date the closest election in Ghanaian history.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Background
On 21 December 2006, former Vice-President John Atta Mills, who unsuccessfully ran as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004, was overwhelmingly elected by NDC as its candidate for the 2008 presidential election.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Background
Former Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo was elected as the 2008 presidential candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a party congress on 23 December 2007. Although he fell short of the required 50%, the second-place candidate, former Trade Minister John Alan Kyeremanten, conceded defeat and backed Akufo-Addo.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Background
The stakes of the election were raised by the discovery of oil in Ghana and an expectation for incoming oil revenues to begin in 2010. Additionally, allegations of electoral fraud that resulted in violence following elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe and military coups d'état  in Mauritania and Guinea caused international election monitors to hope the Ghanaian elections would refurbish the image of constitutional democracy in Africa.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Presidential candidates
The following eight candidates formally registered with the Electoral Commission of Ghana.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Opinion polls
A poll conducted in April 2008 showed Mills slightly ahead of Akufo-Addo. The National Commission for Civic Education conducted the poll which sampled 5,327 people. The poll also predicted a high voter turnout of 96.9%. Respondents came from coastal, middle and northern areas of the country.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Opinion polls
Another poll conducted in October 2008 by the Angus Reid Global Monitor saw Akufo-Addo leading. The poll was conducted by interviewing 3,000 adults in all the regions of the country.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Results
Turnout on election day was very high. Since few votes were expected for other candidates than those of the two largest parties, a first-round victory for Akufo-Addo or Mills was seen as possible, but Nduom stated he wished to "surprise" the other parties by gaining enough votes to force a run-off between the two others. With 40% of the vote counted, Akufo-Addo was leading with 49.5% to Mills's 47.6%. While Mills pulled ahead afterwards, Akufo-Addo again led by a slim margin with over 70% of the votes counted.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Results
The second round was rerun on 28 December 2008 but due to logistics problems, the Tain District alone had its run-off election on 2 January 2009 due to problems with distributing ballots. Following the voting on 28 December, Mills led by a slim margin, causing the Election Commission to state it would not announce Mills as the winner until after the election rerun in Tain. Prior to the announcement hundreds of NDC supporters converged on the election headquarters demanding that Mills be declared the victor, but were kept at bay by riot police and armed soldiers.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Results
Fear of election day violence caused the NPP to file a lawsuit seeking to delay voting in Tain as it claimed that "the atmosphere in the rural district was not conducive to a free and fair election". The court denied the NPP's injunction request and said it would only hear the case on 5 January 2009. In response, the NPP called its supporters to boycott the vote, for which it was criticised by civil groups.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Aftermath
The effective management of the 2008 election by the Electoral Commission of Ghana, raised interest for African and international election reformers. In November 2009, a conference was held to analyze the 2008 election, and try to establish new standards and practices for African election commissions. Held in Accra, the conference was titled Colloquium on African Elections:Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration.


2008 Ghanaian general election, Aftermath
The conference was organized by a number of international election reform organizations including the National Democratic Institute, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa and UNDP. Conference participants agreed to a communique that makes recommendations directed at African governments, civil society organizations, election management bodies, political parties, election monitoring and observer groups, security services, and the media to improve the credibility of elections in Africa.


2008 Ginetta G50 Cup
The 2008 Ginetta G50 Cup was the inaugural Ginetta G50 Cup season. The season began at Oulton Park on 24 March and finished after 20 races over 10 rounds at Donington Park on 12 October, supporting rounds of the British Formula 3 Championship and British GT Championship.


2008 Ginetta G50 Cup
Nigel Moore dominated the first year of the series, winning 14 races and finishing the season over 200 points ahead of runner up Frank Wrathall.


2008 Ginetta Junior Championship
The 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship season in association with Motorsport News was the fourth Ginetta Junior Championship season, the championship designed for racing drivers between the ages of fourteen and seventeen years of age. The season began at Brands Hatch on 29 March 2008 and finished at the same venue on 21 September 2008 , after twenty-four rounds. The championship was won by Muzz Racing's 15-year-old driver Dino Zamparelli, who did enough to hold off the challenge from 16-year-old Thomas Carnaby.


2008 Ginetta Junior Championship, Calendar
* - Josh Hill had originally qualified on pole but was sent to the back due to changing chassis after qualifying. No pole point was awarded.


2008 Gippsland by-election
The 2008 Gippsland by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Gippsland on 28 June 2008. It was triggered by the resignation of National Party MP Peter McGauran.


2008 Gippsland by-election
The writ for the by-election was issued on 19 May 2008. Nominations closed at 12 noon on 5 June 2008. The declaration of nominations, including the ballot order, was revealed the following day, 6 June 2008. The electorate was contested on the same boundaries drawn for Gippsland at the 2007 federal election.


2008 Gippsland by-election
The by-election saw the National Party retain the seat with an increased margin, electing candidate Darren Chester.


2008 Gippsland by-election, Background
At the 2007 federal election, the opposition Labor Party defeated the incumbent Liberal-National coalition government. This marked the first change of government in over 11 years. This meant a transition from the government frontbench to the opposition backbench for several Liberal Party and National Party politicians. It was speculated that a number of former ministers would not serve out their terms but resign their seats early. This speculation later became reality as Peter McGauran, Alexander Downer, Mark Vaile, and Peter Costello all resigned prior to the next federal election.


2008 Gippsland by-election, Background
On 4 April 2008, McGauran became the first former Howard government minister returned at the 2007 election to announce his resignation. McGauran first won the seat of Gippsland at the 1983 federal election. He retained the seat at every subsequent election. At the 2007 election, McGauran won the seat for the National Party by a two-party preferred margin of 55.91% to Labor's 44.09%.


2008 Gippsland by-election, Background
McGauran had reportedly lined up a job in the racing industry with Thoroughbred Breeders Australia.


2008 Gippsland by-election, Candidates
Five candidates contested the by-election. They are listed below in ballot order.


2008 Gippsland by-election, A joint Coalition candidate?
Following McGauran's resignation announcement, Craig Ingram, independent Victorian MLA for the seat of Gippsland East, told reporters that he was considering contesting the by-election as an independent. Subsequently, Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan made an offer to Ingram to run with the joint endorsement of the Liberal and National parties. Heffernan saw this as the first step in a potential merger between the two parties. However, the idea was rejected by both party organisations, and it is doubtful whether Heffernan had the authority to make such an offer. Soon after that, Ingram announced that he would not be running in any capacity.


2008 Gippsland by-election, Results
Darren Chester retained the seat for the National Party with an increased margin.


2008 Girabola
The 2008 Girabola was the 30th season of the top-tier football league in Angola. The season ran from 2 March to 2 November 2008. Interclube were the defending champions.


2008 Girabola
The league comprises 14 teams, the bottom three of which will be relegated to the 2009 Gira Angola.


2008 Girabola
Petro Atlético de Luanda were crowned champions, while Benfica do Lubango, Petro do Huambo and Sagrada Esperança were relegated. Santana Carlos of Petro Luanda finished as top scorer with 20 goals.


2008 Girabola, FAF penalties
On its official weekly report 0032/SG/08, F.C. Bravos do Maquis forfeited 3 points regarding their 15 round home match against Primeiro de Maio.


2008 Girabola, Changes from the 2007 season
Relegated: Académica do Soyo, Atlético do Namibe, Juventude do Moxico Promoted: Bravos do Maquis, Kabuscorp, Recreativo do Libolo


2008 Girls' Youth NORCECA Volleyball Championship
The 2008 Girls' Youth NORCECA Volleyball Championship was played from 5 to 10 July 2008 in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Seven teams competed in this tournament. United States won the tournament for the fifth time defeating Mexico. Dominican Republic joined the United States and Mexico to compete at the 2009 Girls' U18 World Championship.


2008 Girls' Youth NORCECA Volleyball Championship, Competing nations
United States Dominican Republic Trinidad and Tobago U.S. Virgin Islands


2008 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship
The 2008 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship was the 16th edition of the tournament, organised by South America's governing volleyball body, the Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol (CSV). Held in Lima and Pucallpa in Peru. The top two teams qualified for the 2009 Youth World Championship.


2008 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship, Competing nations
The following national teams participated in the tournament, teams were seeded according to how they finished in the previous edition of the tournament with host Peru being seeded first:


2008 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship, Competing nations
Peru (Host & 2nd) Argentina (3rd) Uruguay (6th) Paraguay (8th)


2008 Giro d'Italia
The 2008 Giro d'Italia was the 91st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Palermo on 10 May and ended in Milan on 1 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by Spaniard Alberto Contador of the Astana cycling team. Second and third respectively were Italians Riccardo Riccò and Marzio Bruseghin.


2008 Giro d'Italia
Contador first took the race lead after the second mountain stage, to Marmolada, by finishing nearly fifteen minutes ahead of previous race leader Gabriele Bosisio. The race's overall classification had been headed for several days beforehand by Giovanni Visconti, who participated in a breakaway in the sixth stage which won him sufficient time to hold the race leader's pink jersey for more than a week. In the race's final week, Contador faced stern challenges from Riccò and defending Giro champion Danilo Di Luca. Though Contador did not win any stage, his performances were consistently strong enough to remain ahead through to the conclusion of the race.


2008 Giro d'Italia
Team CSF Group–Navigare appeared to perform quite well in the race, coming away with four stage wins and victory in the mountains classification and the Trofeo Fast Team. In August 2008, mountains classification winner Emanuele Sella was announced to have tested positive for methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta (better known as Mircera, an erythropoietin derivative) at an out-of-competition control held by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). He subsequently admitted his doping, and named teammate Matteo Priamo as his supplier. Both riders were subsequently suspended.


2008 Giro d'Italia
Though as of April 2010 no definitive positive results have come to light from samples taken during the Giro, retesting of those samples has reportedly revealed six to seven presumptive positives for Mircera. Riccò, who tested positive for the drug at the 2008 Tour de France, is among those suspected of having given positive tests in the Giro, as is Sella.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Teams
Twenty-two teams participated in the 2008 Giro. These included 16 UCI ProTour teams, and six UCI Professional Continental teams. Of the 18 ProTour teams, the two left out were Bouygues Télécom and Crédit Agricole. Two other ProTour teams, Astana and Team High Road, were left off the first list of teams announced by RCS Sport, the organizers of the Giro. This list also included a further Professional Continental team, NGC Medical–OTC Industria Porte, which was later excluded. Astana and Team High Road were both later added, with Astana's invitation coming just six days before the event began.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Teams
The 22 teams who took part in the race were:


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race previews and favorites
The 2008 Giro featured an assortment of contenders for the overall victory. Defending champion Danilo Di Luca had faced potential bans which would have kept him out of the race, after investigations into his involvement with the Oil for Drugs scandal and an irregular doping test given after stage 17 of the 2007 Giro d'Italia, either of which could have resulted in a two-year suspension. Though he was suspended for three months because of Oil for Drugs, he was cleared by the Italian National Olympic Committee of any wrongdoing in the 2007 Giro, and was thus permitted to start.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race previews and favorites
The late invitation of Astana to the race provided three potential contenders: 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, third-place finisher from that race Levi Leipheimer, and Andreas Klöden. One analysis of pre-race favorites considered Klöden to be the strongest of them, while another considered Contador to be the race's biggest favorite after his wins at the recently run Vuelta al País Vasco and Vuelta a Castilla y León.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race previews and favorites
Both Di Luca and Contador had strong domestiques (support riders) by their sides, with Di Luca joined by two-time Giro d'Italia champion Paolo Savoldelli, Gabriele Bosisio, and Alessandro Spezialetti, and Contador by Leipheimer and Klöden. Other riders named as overall contenders included Denis Menchov, Gilberto Simoni, Vincenzo Nibali, Riccardo Riccò, Mauricio Soler, Marzio Bruseghin, Emanuele Sella, Evgeni Petrov, Franco Pellizotti, and Juan Manuel Gárate. Unibet.com's odds-on favorite was Klöden. 2004 Giro d'Italia winner Damiano Cunego chose to skip the race to better prepare for the Tour de France, adding to speculation that this would be the first Giro since 1996 to feature a non-Italian winner.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race previews and favorites
Six stages were classified as flat and likely to be contested by sprinters. Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, who had notably won nine stages in the 2004 race, did not plan to enter this Giro because of bouts with influenza and bronchitis which hindered his training. He was later suspended from the sport, and his contract with Team Milram terminated, as a result of his controversial doping case from the 2007 Giro.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race previews and favorites
Sprinters identified as being favorites in the bunch finishes that the Giro would offer included Alexandre Usov, Dimitry Muravyev, Enrico Gasparotto, Maximiliano Richeze, Robert Förster, Mark Cavendish, André Greipel, Daniele Bennati, Paolo Bettini, Graeme Brown, Robbie McEwen, Julian Dean, Erik Zabel, and Alberto Loddo. Richeze was withdrawn by his team CSF Group–Navigare the day before the race began after a positive doping test, though he would later be cleared of any wrongdoing. His name remained on the start list, and he was not replaced, meaning CSF Group–Navigare entered the race with only eight riders instead of the customary nine.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The race began for the second year in succession with a team time trial on one of Italy's islands, in this case Sicily (in 2007 it had been Sardinia). The route contained only four stages that were officially deemed mountain stages, but several of the seven intermediate stages contained selective climbs. The Giro had four time trials, three of which were individual and one a team event. Six stages were classified as flat.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The sixth stage was originally scheduled to be 265 km (165 mi) in length, but it was shortened the day before it was to be run. This decision was made because many riders in the race had become upset over the lengths of transfers from the end of one stage to the beginning of the next and that this afforded them little rest to prepare for such long stages. The 34 km (21 mi) Circuito del Gargano was eliminated.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
Of the four official mountain stages, three ended with climbs: stage 14 to Alpe di Pampeago, stage 15 to Passo Fedaia, and stage 19 to Presolana. Stage 20 earned its mountain designation by way of the Passo di Gavia and the Passo del Mortirolo, respectively the highest point reached and the steepest climb of this year's Giro. Two other stages had summit arrivals, stage 7 to Pescocostanzo and the demanding stage 16 climbing time trial to Plan de Corones, the summit of which the Giro had never before visited. It was hoped that the number of time trials, including one on the race's last day, would keep the race hotly contested to the end.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
The Giro started with a team time trial in Sicily. There was pre-race speculation that this stage would result in an American rider wearing the pink jersey for the first time in twenty years, as Slipstream–Chipotle, Team CSC, and Astana were among the biggest favorites to win and all had strong American time trialists on their squads. The victory went to Slipstream–Chipotle, which put their team leader, American Christian Vande Velde, in the first pink jersey. With a hilly stage ahead on day two of the Giro, Vande Velde's race lead was far from secure.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
He lost it to Franco Pellizotti, who finished sufficiently ahead of Vande Velde on the stage to take a lead of a single second in the overall classification. Pellizotti retained the race lead for the next three days, as those stages were flat and were contested by sprinters, with the overall favorites finishing together with the peloton in each.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
The sixth stage was shortened from its original length of 265 km (165 mi) to 231.6 km (143.9 mi). This was still the race's second-longest stage, and it featured a breakaway which shook up the race standings. Eleven riders finished nearly twelve minutes in front of the peloton, and reigning Italian national road race champion Giovanni Visconti assumed the race lead, by a margin of less than one second over fellow breakaway member Matthias Russ.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Russ had begun the stage 13 seconds ahead of Visconti in the overall classification, but with Visconti gaining seven seconds on Russ at the finish line and six in bonification on the stage's intermediate sprint, the young Italian became the next to wear the pink jersey. Visconti and his team Quick-Step ably defended the jersey for nine days, keeping it through the hilly seventh and eighth stages, as well as in the individual time trial in stage 11 and in three flat stages.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Visconti eventually lost the lead on stage 14, the Giro's first stage categorized as high mountain, as he finished more than eighteen minutes behind stage winner Emanuele Sella. The race lead passed to Gabriele Bosisio after that stage, but he was unable to hold it the next day, finishing fifteen minutes behind Sella, again the stage winner. It was on this stage that Alberto Contador took the lead that he would never relinquish.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Contador faced repeated challenges from Riccardo Riccò and Danilo Di Luca in the race's final week. They were separated by less than a minute after stage 15, and though Di Luca would falter slightly in the Giro's second individual time trial, the time gap among the three of them was just 21 seconds heading in to the Giro's final mountain stage.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Di Luca faltered further in that last mountain stage, losing almost five minutes and any chance to repeat as Giro champion, but Contador and Riccò finished together and were separated by only four seconds going into the Giro's final stage, another individual time trial. Contador's superior time trial skills provided the difference in the Giro's finale. Though he finished 11th on the stage, he gained almost two minutes over Riccò, winning the Giro overall without taking any individual stage.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Emanuele Sella of CSF Group–Navigare won three stages in the race's final week and took a convincing victory in the mountains classification, leading it for the entire race. His subsequent positive tests and confessions to the use of performance-enhancing drugs outside the Giro cast serious doubt on the legitimacy of these results, however. Daniele Bennati was nearly as dominant in winning the points classification, taking three stage wins and six other top-ten finishes.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
He led the classification after every stage except the second and eighth, which were both won by Riccò, who thereby gained the mauve jersey for one day on two separate occasions. Though Riccò was never able to take the overall race lead, he was the winner of the youth classification, taking the white jersey from Visconti when he lost the overall lead and holding it through the conclusion of the race. That jersey had also previously passed over the shoulders of Chris Anker Sørensen and Morris Possoni.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Five teams repeated as stage winners. Four individual riders won multiple stages. In addition to Sella's three victories in the final week, the riders who won more than once were Riccardo Riccò in stages 2 and 8, Daniele Bennati in stages 3, 9, and 12, and Mark Cavendish in stages 4 and 13. Tinkoff Credit Systems also won multiple stages, with Pavel Brutt in stage 5 and Vasil Kiryienka in stage 19, after both figured into early morning breakaway groups.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Slipstream–Chipotle, Lampre, LPR Brakes–Ballan, Diquigiovanni–Androni, and Team CSC all won one stage apiece. Slipstream–Chipotle won the opening team time trial, Lampre rider Marzio Bruseghin won the Giro's first individual time trial, LPR Brakes–Ballan rider Gabriele Bosisio won stage 7 from a morning escape, Diquigiovanni–Androni's Alessandro Bertolini took stage 11 from a breakaway, and Team CSC veteran Jens Voigt was the winner of stage 18.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Success was achieved by only a handful of teams, meaning that other teams did not achieve much in the race. Though they nearly took the race lead with Matthias Russ in stage 6, Gerolsteiner had just two riders finish the race, and were never otherwise close to a notable result. Euskaltel–Euskadi had only four riders finish the race. Two other ProTour teams, Cofidis and Française des Jeux, similarly failed to be at all competitive in the Giro. None of them would return to the Giro in 2009; Gerolsteiner folded in 2008 after being unable to locate a new sponsor while Euskaltel–Euskadi, Cofidis, and Française des Jeux all made it known that they did not wish to participate and were thus declined invitations.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview, Doping
Several notable riders in the Giro were announced to have tested positive for banned performance-enhancing drugs after the race concluded. Prominent amongst them was CSF Group–Navigare rider Emanuele Sella, a triple stage winner, winner of the mountains classification, and a key rider to CSF Group–Navigare's victory in the teams classification. It was announced on 5 August that Sella had tested positive for Methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta, better known as Mircera, a third-generation form of the banned blood booster erythropoietin. At the time the Giro was run, the test for Mircera was still in development.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview, Doping
An out-of-competition control was taken on 23 July, just days after positives from the 2008 Tour de France had come to light, and samples were sent to labs in Paris for analysis. UCI President Pat McQuaid said that Sella had been targeted in the control and that "[i]t wasn't rocket science" to conclude that Sella's performances in the Giro could have been artificially enhanced.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview, Doping
Sella confessed his doping to the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) and named teammate Matteo Priamo, also a stage winner in this Giro, as his supplier. Though Priamo never tested positive for anything, and though the Italian National Anti- Doping tribunal originally exonerated him, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled, upon appeal by CONI, that he should be suspended for four years.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview, Doping
Riccardo Riccò, a double stage winner and the best young rider, tested positive for Mircera during the Tour de France, and was subsequently expelled with his team Saunier Duval–Scott. This control was taken just days before the one at which Sella gave his positive. Since it took place during the Tour de France, Riccò's results from that race have been removed, but the results for Sella, Priamo, and Riccò all still stand as no positive tests from controls taken during the Giro have come to light. Riccò claims to have only taken the drug before the Tour, but there has been speculation that his performances in the Giro were not legitimate. Sella has similarly confessed to taking the drug while not confessing to have used it during the Giro.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Race overview, Doping
After repeated positives over the summer, including tests from Leonardo Piepoli and Bernhard Kohl at the Tour de France, and Davide Rebellin and Stefan Schumacher from the 2008 Olympic Games, the UCI has sought to have samples taken during the Giro retested. In October 2009, it was announced that six to seven riders from this Giro had presumptive positives, while further untestable doping involving ozone was also suspected. In total, 82 samples were retested, and the presumptive positives have been compared to values stored at an anti-doping lab in Lausanne, Switzerland. The identities of those riders who tested positive have not yet been revealed. It is believed that Rebellin and Sella are among the riders to have presumptive positives.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
In the 2008 Giro d'Italia, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass start stages, the leader received a pink jersey. This classification is considered the most important of the Giro d'Italia, and the winner is considered the winner of the Giro.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a mauve jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. The stage win awarded 25 points, second place awarded 20 points, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point less per place down the line, to a single point for 15th. In addition, some points could be won in intermediate sprints.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
There was also a mountains classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the mountains classifications, points were won by reaching the top of a mountain before other cyclists. Each climb was categorized, either first, second, or third category, with more points available for the higher-categorized climbs. The highest point in the Giro (called the Cima Coppi), which in 2008 was the Passo di Gavia in Stage 20, afforded still more points than the other first-category climbs.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The fourth was the young rider classification which awarded a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1983 were eligible.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
There were also two classifications for teams. The first is the Trofeo Fast Team. In this classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage are added, and the team with the lowest time is leading team. The Trofeo Super Team is a team points classification, with the top 20 placed riders on each stage earning points (20 for first place, 19 for second place and so on, down to a single point for 20th) for their team.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Final standings, Minor classifications
Other less well-known classifications were awarded during the Giro, whose leaders did not receive a special jersey. These awards were based on points earned throughout the three weeks of the tour. Each mass start stage had one intermediate sprint, awarding points to the Expo Milano 2015 classification. These sprints gave bonus seconds towards the general classification, points towards the regular points classification, and also points towards the Expo Milano 2015 classification. This award was known in previous years as the Intergiro, and was previously time-based, awarding a blue jersey. CSF Group–Navigare rider Fortunato Baliani won this classification.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Final standings, Minor classifications
Additional minor classifications included the combativity classification, which was a compilation of points gained for position on crossing intermediate sprints, mountain passes and stage finishes. Mountains classification winner Emanuele Sella took this award. The Azzurri d'Italia classification was based on finishing order, but points were only awarded to the top three finishers in each stage. Like the overall points classification, it was Liquigas' Daniele Bennati who won this.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Final standings, Minor classifications
Also, the Trofeo Fuga Cervelo rewarded riders who took part in a breakaway at the head of the field, each rider in an escape of ten or fewer riders getting one point for each kilometre that the group stays clear. Along with the Expo Milano 2015, Fortunato Baliani also finished first in this classification. Additionally, teams were on occasion given penalty points for technical infringements. Lampre avoided any penalties, and so was the winner of the Fair Play classification.


2008 Giro d'Italia Femminile
The 2008 Giro d'Italia Femminile, or Giro Donne, was the 19th running of the Giro d'Italia Femminile, one of the premier events of the women's road cycling calendar. It was held over nine stages from 5–13 July 2008.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
The 2008 Giro d'Italia began on 10 May, with Stage 11 occurring on 21 May. The first stage, like it had been in 2007, was a team time trial, a stage where each member of the team raced together against the clock. This stage was won by the American team Slipstream–Chipotle, who had viewed it as their primary goal in the Giro. It allowed their leader Christian Vande Velde to wear the first pink jersey as race leader.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Unlike in most cycling Grand Tours, the first road race stage 2008 Giro was not a flat stage decided by sprinters, but rather one over a hilly course that would be won by a breakaway or a strong climber. Though Stages 3 and 4 were both flat and conquered by sprinters, this meant that it was unlikely that a sprinter would get to wear the pink jersey at any point in the race.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
The first half of the 2008 Giro contained six stages classified as medium-mountain, though many of them contained difficult, selective climbs that broke up the racing peloton. The sixth stage was shortened from its planned length of 265 km (165 mi). This was due to riders speaking with race officials and asking that the 34 km (21 mi) finishing circuit be eliminated, as the long transfers between stage finish towns and start towns the next day had afforded them little rest to prepare for such a long stage. In that same stage, a 12-rider breakaway finished sufficiently ahead of the peloton that one of its members, Giovanni Visconti, became the new overall race leader, a lead that he would maintain for more than a week.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
10 May 2008 — Palermo, 23.6 km (14.7 mi) (team time trial)


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
The Giro began, like it had the previous year, with a team time trial (TTT) on one of Italy's islands, this year in Sicily. The course was flat. There was speculation that this stage would result in a second American cyclist to wear the pink jersey (the first having been Andrew Hampsten in 1988), as Astana, Team CSC, and Slipstream–Chipotle were all considered favorites to win the stage and all had strong American time trialists on their squads. Slipstream–Chipotle, one of the first Professional Continental teams announced for the race, held a special training camp in Spain a week before the race specifically to work on their TTT skills.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
The early time to beat was set by the second team to take the course, Tinkoff Credit Systems, clocking in at 27' 05". After three other teams came Slipstream–Chipotle, who finished with only the minimum of five riders together (the team's time is taken for the fifth rider to cross the finish line, with any riders who are dropped given their own times) after David Millar was dropped in the final kilometer. Christian Vande Velde was the first to cross the line for Slipstream–Chipotle, after 26' 32".


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
That Vande Velde had been the first over the line rather than time trial specialist David Zabriskie had not been specifically the plan. The next team on course was Astana, who were nine seconds slower than Slipstream–Chipotle at the first time check and finished in 27' 01". Team CSC and Barloworld were both ahead of Slipstream–Chipotle at the first intermediate time check, but faded toward the finish and clocked in second and fifth, respectively. Slipstream–Chipotle's time held up to the end of the stage, affording Vande Velde the first pink jersey.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
11 May 2008 — Cefalù to Agrigento, 207 km (129 mi)


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
This was a hilly course, in contrast to most Grand Tours, which begin with flat road stages. It contained two categorized climbs, and favored an attacking rider.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
The significant breakaway of the day comprised David Loosli and Jérémy Roy, after Dionisio Galparsoro had been brought back into the peloton after an earlier attack. Loosli and Roy attained a maximum advantage of over ten minutes. With 65 km (40 mi) remaining in the stage for the peloton, a significant crash occurred as they went over a railroad crossing. David Zabriskie was the most seriously hurt, needing to be taken away from the race in an ambulance.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
Loosli and Roy were caught with 50 km (31 mi) left to race, as the finishing circuit in Agrigento began. Slipstream–Chipotle had been at the head of the peloton, protecting race leader Christian Vande Velde, for as long as they could, and during the circuit LPR Brakes–Ballan took over the pace-making. The hilly and difficult circuit made it so many riders lost contact with the leading group, until only a small number of climbers and overall favorites were with the leaders.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
Joaquim Rodríguez was the first of this group to attack for the stage win, but he was caught in the final few hundred meters by a quintet of Italians, Riccardo Riccò, Danilo Di Luca, Davide Rebellin, Franco Pellizotti, and Paolo Savoldelli. Riccò was the first across the line for the stage win, while Pellizotti's ten second time gap over Vande Velde in 19th gave him the pink jersey.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
12 May 2008 — Catania to Milazzo, 221 km (137 mi)


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
This was the first flat stage of the 2008 Giro. The course began by riding around the perimeter of Mount Etna for a categorized climb, but the final 120 km (75 mi) on the seaside of Milazzo were all on elevations of less than 100 m (328 ft), and a sprint finish was the result.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
The first attempt at a breakaway in this stage did not occur until the 70 km (43 mi) mark, as the Mount Etna climb kept the peloton together. At that point, Riccardo Chiarini, Mickael Buffaz, Jérémy Roy, Kevin Seeldraeyers, Matej Jurčo, and Pavel Brutt broke free and attained a maximum advantage of four minutes. The peloton was careful not to let the time gap get out of hand, and for much of the stage it was only two minutes.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
A massive crash occurred at the 70 km (43 mi) to go mark, when a rider struck a manhole cover and lost control of his bike, colliding with other riders and sending riders and bikes flying. Rain began to fall shortly thereafter, with further crashes claiming victims including Mark Cavendish, Kanstantsin Sivtsov, and the previous day's stage winner Riccardo Riccò.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
The breakaway was caught with 30 km (19 mi) left to race, after which even more crashes occurred. Bradley McGee was taken from the race in an ambulance with a broken collarbone, and though his Team CSC teammate Stuart O'Grady finished the stage after crashing, it was later learned that he too had broken his collarbone.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
The succession of crashes did not stop a mass sprint finish, through what was ironically thought the most dangerous part of the course before the stage began. Liquigas' Daniele Bennati outmaneuvered Erik Zabel and Danilo Hondo at the finish to claim the stage win and the points jersey. Liquigas also retained the overall race lead with Franco Pellizotti, as well as first in the teams classification. It was Bennati's first career Giro stage win after having previously won stages in the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
13 May 2008 — Pizzo Calabro to Catanzaro-Lungomare, 183 km (114 mi)


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
In this stage, the Giro left Sicily for Italy's mainland. The course for this stage was similar in profile to the one previous, with a high climb coming in the first third of the course before sufficient flat racing to ensure a mass sprint finish.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
This stage was marked by a long one-man breakaway by Cofidis rider Rik Verbrugghe. He attained an advantage of eleven minutes over the peloton at one point, but he stood little chance of staying away on a course well-suited for a bunch finish. He was caught with 19 km (12 mi) left to race, as Team Milram, Team High Road, and Liquigas worked to get the field together, in preparation for a finish for their strong sprinters. Milram led Erik Zabel out early, but the veteran German was unable to hold on all the way to the finish line.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
Points classification leader Daniele Bennati was next to try, but he too went too soon and was passed for the win by High Road's Mark Cavendish, who picked up his first career Grand Tour stage win. A crash in the final kilometer, as the sprint was just beginning, brought down Nick Nuyens and two CSF Group–Navigare riders, with Nuyens breaking his collarbone and leaving the race in an ambulance.


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
14 May 2008 — Belvedere Marittimo to Contursi Terme, 203 km (126 mi)


2008 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
This was the first of four medium-mountain stages. One pre-race analysis suggested that the course's rolling profile suited a breakaway surviving to the finish line.