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.

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.

The Giro d'Italia (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒiːro diˈtaːlja]; English: Tour of Italy), also simply known as The Giro, is a long-distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours (the others being the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España), and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. It is the second most prominent stage race in the world (after the Tour), and along with the Tour and the Road World Cycling Championship it makes up the Triple Crown of Cycling.

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The origin of the Giro d'Italia is similar to that of the Tour de France. It began because of a competition between two newspapers, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere della Sera. La Gazzetta dello Sport wished to boost its circulation by holding a professional road race, like the Tour de France. Corriere della Sera wanted to increase its circulation by holding an organized car rally. On 7 August 1908 the newspaper's founder Eugenio Camillo Costamagna, director Armando Cougnet, and its editor Tullio Morgagni announced the inaugural Giro d'Italia to be held in 1909. Corriere della Sera offered a winners bonus of 3,000 lire.

Davide Cassani (born January 1, 1961) is a former road cyclist from Italy. He now works as a cycling commentator on Italian television.

He was born in Faenza. In 1982 he made his professional debut with Termolan-Galli. In 1986 he moved to Carrera, where he supported figures such as Claudio Chiappucci, Roberto Visentini and Stephen Roche; Cassani later raced for Gewiss-Bianchi, Ariostea, GB-MG and Saeco. He retired in 1996 after being hit by a car in training.

After retiring from cycling, he became a commentator at Italian public broadcaster RAI.

In 2007, he was involved in the withdrawal of Michael Rasmussen from the Tour de France. Cassani claimed to have seen Rasmussen in the Dolomites mountains in Italy, while Rasmussen and Rasmussen's in-laws claimed that he was in Mexico at that time. His comment, coupled with other issues concerning Rasmussen, led to his expulsion from the Rabobank team. The claim was first made a week or so before the controversy exploded - as a routine comment during the Rai Tre afternoon coverage of the Tour. It took the form of a compliment to the athletic dedication of Rasmussen who has apparently been returning from eight hours of mountain training, so Cassani appears to have had no axe to grind against Rasmussen.

Vincenzo Nibali (born November 14, 1984 in Messina) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer who rides UCI ProTeam Liquigas-Cannondale. Born near the Strait of Messina, Nibali's nickname is the "shark of the strait" or simply "the shark." His first major win came at the 2006 GP Ouest-France, where he beat an impressive field on a tough course. However, experts such as Michele Bartoli have said Nibali is most suited to competing in multi-stage races. Nibali's biggest win to date is the overall in the 2010 Vuelta a España.

Vincenzo Nibali was born in 1984 on November 14, the son of Salvatore and Giovanna. In order to become a cyclist, he left his hometown Messina and moved to Tuscany at the age of sixteen. For ten months of the year, he lived in the house of his ex-directeur sportif, Carlo Franceschi, in Mastromarco, near Lamporecchio, where he still lives.

Nibali finished third at the Junior World Time Trial Championship in 2002 and also third at the U-23 World Time Trial Championship in 2004. He turned professional in 2005 with Fassa Bortolo. In 2007, Nibali rode the Giro d'Italia for the first time and finished 19th overall. 2008 saw Nibali finish 10th in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and record top-20 finishes in both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France.