After winning the 2008 UCI ProTour, Spain's Alejandro Valverde won his first World Tour individual points title, amassing 686 points over the course of the season.
The Movistar Team rider finished 66 points clear of his closest rival and compatriot Alberto Contador of Tinkoff–Saxo, while Australian rider Simon Gerrans was third for the Orica–GreenEDGE team, but was over 200 points in arrears of Valverde.
The nations' rankings was comfortably headed by Spain, with a points advantage of 764 over Italy.
The UCI ProTeams competed in the World Tour, with UCI Professional Continental teams, or national squads, able to enter at the discretion of the organisers of each event.
The national rankings were also used to determine how many riders a country could have in the World Championships.