2008 Astana season

The 2008 season for the Astana cycling team began in January with the Tour Down Under and ended in October with the Giro di Lombardia.

Astana changed drastically between the 2007 and 2008 seasons, with its former manager Marc Biver replaced by Johan Bruyneel from the dissolved Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.

Following Bruyneel to Astana were several riders from that team, including Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer, who had finished first and third, respectively, in the 2007 Tour de France for Discovery.

Numerous riders also left the team, including Matthias Kessler, Andrey Kashechkin, and Alexander Vinokourov, who had all tested positive for doping.

In March, Tomas Vaitkus earned the team's lone one-day victory of the spring season, winning a sprint finish to the Ronde van het Groene Hart.

[12] In August, Leipheimer and Contador took the top two spots in the Clásica a los Puertos de Guadarrama, a race they rode as preparation for the Vuelta a España.

[20] While the Tour of California was ongoing, Astana sent another squad to the Volta ao Algarve, with Tomas Vaitkus claiming a win in Stage 2.

[28] Contador won the opening time trial[29] and the mountainous fourth stage[30] en route to winning the race overall.

[41] At the Tour de Luxembourg in June, Rast entered as defending champion and was considered among the favorites,[42] but the team did not win any stage or finish on the podium.

[50] Six days before the race began, RCS Sport (the organizers of the Giro) went back on the decision to exclude Astana and extended them a late invitation.

[57] The next day, Contador finished twelve minutes ahead of Bosisio and took the race leader's pink jersey.

The long and mountainous Stage 19 saw Riccò and Danilo Di Luca both put time into Contador with late attacks, but not enough to take the jersey from him.

[60] Di Luca found himself effected the next day, losing over five minutes and falling from contention, but Contador and Riccò finished together and were separated by just 4 seconds entering the Stage 21 time trial.

[62] Astana entered the Vuelta with Contador as a big favorite to win the overall title and complete the career sweep of the Grand Tours.

[63] Astana's Vuelta actually began with a disappointment, an 8th-place finish in the Stage 1 team time trial, which either they or CSC–Saxo Bank had been thought likeliest to win.

The morning breakaway was afforded over eleven minutes, but it was dropped to nothing on the ascent of what has been called the most difficult climb in all of professional cycling.

[71] Astana and Caisse d'Epargne both had many support riders in the leading group going up the climb, and they alternately tried to set paces to protect either Contador or Alejandro Valverde while isolating the competition.

On June 18, 2009, the CAS ruled that Astana was in the wrong regarding Gusev's dismissal and ordered the team to pay his lost wages, legal fees, and compensatory damages.

[84] Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine published on September 9 that he intended to return to competitive cycling in 2009, after four years of retirement.

Aside from trying to win an eighth Tour de France, his goal would be to raise public awareness and money for cancer research.