With Spain hosting the 2008 season's final grand tour, the rest of the peloton were kept busy with September seeing a flurry of stage races both in Europe and in the USA. Suite 101 looks at the results of three of the best of them.
Tour of Britain – September 7th - 14th
The re-invigorated Tour of Britain added an eighth day of racing in 2008 and was rewarded with a closely fought race and high quality field.
David Millar and Bradley Wiggins were among the high profile British riders on show whilst former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca was present seeking to hone his form for the upcoming World Championships.
The appearance of the peloton's wild boys – Rock Racing – also added an element of interest for the fans roadside. The team's rock'n roll image is well earned as their team roster features a number of high profile riders that have previously fallen foul of the sport's doping controls, including Tyler Hamilton, a former team-mate of Lance Armstong.
Di Luca featured prominently on a number of stages but the overall victory was taken by Frenchman Geoffroy Lequatre of Agritubel, who took a narrow win over British rider Steve Cummings.
Overall Victory: Lequatre, Geoffroy (Agritubel)
Points Classification: Goss, Matthew (CSC-Saxobank)
Mountains Classification: Di Luca, Danilon (LPR Brakes)
Sprints Classification: Boasson Hagen,Edveld (Team Columbia)
Tour of Missouri – September 8th – September 14th
Whilst the Tour of Britain was being run, British sprint sensation Mark Cavendish was enjoying himself on the other side of the Atlantic at the Tour of Missouri.
Cavendish was selected to ride the week long race in support of last year's winner George Hincapie but ended up dominating the sprint finishes taking victory in three of the race's seven stages and winning the sprinter's jersey.
American rider Christian Vande Velde of the Garmin-Chipotle team took the overall victory by 18 seconds over Australian Michael Rogers.
Overall Victory: Vande Velde, Christian (Garmin - Chipotle)
Mountains Classification: Rollin, Dominique (Toyota – United Pro)
Sprints Classification: Cavendish, Mark (Team Columbia)
Tour Of Poland – September 15th - 21st
Over recent years the Tour of Poland has endured somewhat mixed fortunes. Thought to be an up and coming event of growing importance the race was granted pro-tour status, however, with the changes imminent to the sport's calendar there are fears that the race could suffer a fall in status in future years.
This year the race was plagued by bad weather forcing the shortening of a number of stages. Overall victory was taken by the popular German Jens Voigt of CSC-Saxobank by a minute and 22 seconds over team-mate Lars Bak. Voigt also adding victory in the mountain classification in the process.
Overall Victory: Voigt, Jens (CSC-Saxobank)
Points Classification: Davis, Allan (Team Quick Step)
Mountains Classification: Voigt, Jens (CSC-Saxobank)
Sprints Classification: Sapa, Marcin (Polish National Team)
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