2009 in men's road cycling

In 2009 a number of prominent riders returned to professional cycling. Ivan Basso, Floyd Landis and Michele Scarponi had finished a suspension. Bjorn Leukemans was without a team for over a year due to doping-related allegations, which were proven to be ungrounded. Most notably, seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong returned after a three-and-half year break, starting his season as a Astana-rider in the Tour Down Under.

The teams Gerolsteiner and Saunier Duval–Scott, both who were connected to some major doping cases in 2008, saw their title sponsors drop out. The Spanish squad found a new sponsor in Fuji Bikes and was granted another ProTour license as Fuji–Servetto. However, race organizer ASO did not invite the team for their races, and they did not participate in the Tour de France. New teams in the ProTour are Garmin–Slipstream from the United States and Team Katusha (built from the former Tinkoff Credit Systems) from Russia. One notable new ProContinental team, started from scratch, is the Cervélo TestTeam, which managed to sign 2008 Tour de France-winner Carlos Sastre and Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd. Like another new ProContinental team, Vacansoleil from the Netherlands, Katusha and Cervélo immediately proved successful in the early months of the season.

This year's World Championships will be held in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

The UCI ProTour ranking, which was heavily devalued in 2008 due to the withdrawal from the ProTour by the three Grand Tour organizers, was replaced by the UCI World Ranking, based on a new World Calendar - effectively combining the existing 14 ProTour races with the Monuments and Grand Tours that are currently organized as "Historic" races.

World championships

The World Road championships were held in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

Race Date Winner Second Third
World Championship Road Race Sep 26  Cadel Evans (AUS)  Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS)  Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)
World Championship Time Trial Sep 23  Fabian Cancellara (SUI)  Gustav Larsson (SWE)  Tony Martin (GER)

Grand Tours

Race Date Winner Second Third
Giro d'Italia May 9 - May 31  Denis Menchov (RUS)  Danilo Di Luca (ITA)  Franco Pellizotti (ITA)
Tour de France Jul 4 - Jul 26  Alberto Contador (ESP)  Andy Schleck (LUX)  Lance Armstrong (USA)
Vuelta a España Aug 29 - Sep 20  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)  Samuel Sánchez (ESP)  Cadel Evans (AUS)

UCI ProTour

Race Date Winner Second Third
Tour Down Under Jan 20 - Jan 25  Allan Davis (AUS)  Stuart O'Grady (AUS)  José Joaquín Rojas (ESP)
Tour of Flanders / Tour des Flandres April 5  Stijn Devolder (BEL)  Heinrich Haussler (GER)  Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
Vuelta al País Vasco Apr 6 - Apr 11  Alberto Contador (ESP)  Antonio Colom (ESP)  Samuel Sánchez (ESP)
Gent–Wevelgem Apr 8  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)  Aleksandr Kuschynski (BLR)  Matthew Goss (AUS)
Amstel Gold Race Apr 19  Serguei Ivanov (RUS)  Karsten Kroon (NED)  Robert Gesink (NED)
Tour de Romandie Apr 28 - May 3  Roman Kreuziger (CZE)  Vladimir Karpets (RUS)  Rein Taaramäe (EST)
Volta a Catalunya May 18 - May 24  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)  Dan Martin (IRL)  Haimar Zubeldia (ESP)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré Jun 7 - Jun 14  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)  Cadel Evans (AUS)  Alberto Contador (ESP)
Tour de Suisse Jun 13 - Jun 21  Fabian Cancellara (SUI)  Tony Martin (GER)  Roman Kreuziger (CZE)
Clásica de San Sebastián Aug 1  Carlos Barredo (ESP)  Roman Kreuziger (CZE)  Mickaël Delage (FRA)
Tour de Pologne Aug 2 - Aug 8  Alessandro Ballan (ITA)  Daniel Moreno (ESP)  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)
Vattenfall Cyclassics Aug 16  Tyler Farrar (USA)  Matti Breschel (DEN)  Gerald Ciolek (GER)
Eneco Tour Aug 18 - Aug 25  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)  Sylvain Chavanel (FRA)  Sebastian Langeveld (NED)
GP Ouest-France Aug 23  Simon Gerrans (AUS)  Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA)  Paul Martens (GER)

Other World Calendar events

These races contribute, along with the Grand Tours and the UCI ProTour races, towards the 2009 UCI World Ranking

Race Date Winner Second Third
Paris–Nice Mar 9 - Mar 16  Luis León Sánchez (ESP)  Fränk Schleck (LUX)  Sylvain Chavanel (FRA)
Tirreno–Adriatico Mar 11 - Mar 17  Michele Scarponi (ITA)  Stefano Garzelli (ITA)  Andreas Klöden (GER)
Milan – San Remo Mar 21  Mark Cavendish (GBR)  Heinrich Haussler (GER)  Thor Hushovd (NOR)
Paris–Roubaix Apr 12  Tom Boonen (BEL)  Filippo Pozzato (ITA)  Thor Hushovd (NOR)
La Flèche Wallonne Apr 22  Davide Rebellin (ITA)  Andy Schleck (LUX)  Damiano Cunego (ITA)
Liège–Bastogne–Liège Apr 26  Andy Schleck (LUX)  Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)  Davide Rebellin (ITA)
Giro di Lombardia Oct 17  Philippe Gilbert (BEL)  Samuel Sánchez (ESP)  Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS)

2.HC Category Races

The prefix 2 indicates that these events are stage races.

Race Date Winner Second Third
Tour de Langkawi Feb 9 - Feb 15  José Serpa (COL)  Jai Crawford (AUS)  Jackson Rodríguez (VEN)
Tour of California Feb 14 - Feb 22  Levi Leipheimer (USA)  David Zabriskie (USA)  Michael Rogers (AUS)
Critérium International Mar 28 - Mar 29  Jens Voigt (GER)  František Raboň (CZE)  Danny Pate (USA)
Three Days of De Panne Mar 31 - Apr 2  Frederik Willems (BEL)  Joost Posthuma (NED)  Tom Leezer (NED)
Four Days of Dunkirk May 6 - May 11  Rui Costa (POR)  David Lelay (FRA)  Cyril Lemoine (FRA)
Tour of Belgium May 27 - May 31  Lars Boom (NED)  Bram Tankink (NED)  Dominique Cornu (BEL)
Bayern-Rundfahrt May 27 - May 31  Linus Gerdemann (GER)  Maxime Monfort (BEL)  David Lelay (FRA)
Tour de Luxembourg Jun 3 - Jun 7  Fränk Schleck (LUX)  Andreas Klöden (GER)  Marco Marcato (ITA)
Tour of Austria July 5 - July 12  Michael Albasini (SUI)  Ruslan Pidgornyy (UKR)  Stanislau Samoilav (BLR)
Tour of Qinghai Lake July 17–26  Andrey Mizurov (KAZ)  Ghader Mizbani (IRI)  Mitja Mahoric (SLO)
Tour de Wallonie July 25 - July 29  Julien El Fares (FRA)  Pavel Brutt (RUS)  Alexander Kolobnev (RUS)
Tour of Denmark July 29 - Aug 2  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)  Maurizio Biondo (ITA)  Roger Hammond (GBR)
Vuelta a Burgos Aug 5 - Aug 9  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)  Xavier Tondo (ESP)  Tom Danielson (USA)
Volta a Portugal Aug 5 - Aug 16  Nuno Ribeiro (POR)  David Blanco (ESP)  David Bernabeu (ESP)
Tour of Missouri Sep 7 - Sep 13  David Zabriskie (USA)  Gustav Larsson (SWE)  Marco Pinotti (ITA)

1.HC Category Races

The prefix 1 indicates that these events are one-day races.

Race Date Winner Second Third
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Feb 28  Thor Hushovd (NOR)  Kevyn Ista (BEL)  Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP)
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Mar 29  Filippo Pozzato (ITA)  Tom Boonen (BEL)  Maxim Iglinsky (KAZ)
GP Miguel Indurain Apr 4  David de la Fuente (ESP)  Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS)  Fabian Wegmann (GER)
Scheldeprijs Apr 15  Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)  Kenny van Hummel (NED)  Dominique Rollin (CAN)
Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop May 1  Fabian Wegmann (GER)  Karsten Kroon (NED)  Christian Knees (GER)
Dutch Food Valley Classic May 16  Kenny van Hummel (NED)  Graeme Brown (AUS)  Steven de Jongh (NED)
Grand Prix of Aargau Canton Jun 7  Peter Velits (SVK)  Ben Hermans (BEL)  Heinrich Haussler (GER)
Philadelphia International Championship Jun 7  André Greipel (GER)  Greg Henderson (NZL)  Kirk O'Bee (USA)
Tre Valli Varesine Aug 18  Mauro Santambrogio (ITA)  Francesco Masciarelli (ITA)  Alexander Bocharov (RUS)
Giro del Veneto Aug 29  Filippo Pozzato (ITA)  Carlo Scognamiglio (ITA)  Luca Paolini (ITA)
Paris-Bruxelles Sep 12  Matthew Goss (AUS)  Allan Davis (AUS)  Kristof Goddaert (BEL)
GP de Fourmies Sep 13  Romain Feillu (FRA)  Manuel Belletti (ITA)  Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR)
Giro dell'Emilia Oct 10  Robert Gesink (NED)  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)  Thomas Lövkvist (SWE)
Paris–Tours Oct 11  Philippe Gilbert (BEL)  Tom Boonen (BEL)  Borut Božič (SLO)
Giro del Piemonte Oct 15  Philippe Gilbert (BEL)  Daniel Moreno (ESP)  Francesco Gavazzi (ITA)

National Championships

See 2009 national cycling championships.

See also

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