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 -rider in the Tour Down Under.
The teams and, 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. 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 from the United States and from Russia. One notable new ProContinental team, started from scratch, is the, which managed to sign 2008 Tour de France-winner Carlos Sastre and Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd. Like another new ProContinental team, 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.
RaceDateWinnerSecondThird
World Championship Road RaceSep 26'
World Championship Time TrialSep 23'

Grand Tours

RaceDateWinnerSecondThird
Giro d'ItaliaMay 9 - May 31'
Tour de FranceJul 4 - Jul 26'
Vuelta a EspañaAug 29 - Sep 20

UCI ProTour

RaceDateWinnerSecondThird
Tour Down UnderJan 20 - Jan 25'
Tour of Flanders / Tour des FlandresApril 5'
Vuelta al País VascoApr 6 - Apr 11'
Gent–WevelgemApr 8'
Amstel Gold RaceApr 19'
Tour de RomandieApr 28 - May 3'
Volta a CatalunyaMay 18 - May 24'
Critérium du Dauphiné LibéréJun 7 - Jun 14'
Tour de SuisseJun 13 - Jun 21'
Clásica de San SebastiánAug 1'
Tour de PologneAug 2 - Aug 8'
Vattenfall CyclassicsAug 16'
Eneco TourAug 18 - Aug 25'
GP Ouest-FranceAug 23'

Other World Calendar events

''These races contribute, along with the Grand Tours and the UCI ProTour races, towards the 2009 UCI World Ranking
RaceDateWinnerSecondThird
Paris–NiceMar 9 - Mar 16'
Tirreno–AdriaticoMar 11 - Mar 17'
Milan – San RemoMar 21'
Paris–RoubaixApr 12'
La Flèche WallonneApr 22'
Liège–Bastogne–LiègeApr 26'
Giro di LombardiaOct 17

2.HC Category Races

The prefix 2 indicates that these events are stage races.
RaceDateWinnerSecondThird
Tour de LangkawiFeb 9 - Feb 15'
Tour of CaliforniaFeb 14 - Feb 22'
Critérium InternationalMar 28 - Mar 29'
Three Days of De PanneMar 31 - Apr 2'
Four Days of DunkirkMay 6 - May 11'
Tour of BelgiumMay 27 - May 31'
Bayern-RundfahrtMay 27 - May 31'
Tour de LuxembourgJun 3 - Jun 7'
Tour of AustriaJuly 5 - July 12'
Tour of Qinghai LakeJuly 17–26'
Tour de WallonieJuly 25 - July 29'
Tour of DenmarkJuly 29 - Aug 2'
Vuelta a BurgosAug 5 - Aug 9'
Volta a PortugalAug 5 - Aug 16'
Tour of MissouriSep 7 - Sep 13

1.HC Category Races

The prefix 1 indicates that these events are one-day races.
RaceDateWinnerSecondThird
Omloop Het NieuwsbladFeb 28'
E3 Prijs VlaanderenMar 29'
GP Miguel IndurainApr 4'
ScheldeprijsApr 15'
Eschborn-Frankfurt City LoopMay 1'
Dutch Food Valley ClassicMay 16'
Grand Prix of Aargau CantonJun 7'
Philadelphia International ChampionshipJun 7'
Tre Valli VaresineAug 18'
Giro del VenetoAug 29'
Paris-BruxellesSep 12'
GP de FourmiesSep 13'
Giro dell'EmiliaOct 10'
Paris–ToursOct 11'
Giro del PiemonteOct 15

National Championships

See 2009 national cycling championships.