# 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 Pro Continental 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 Pro Continental 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.