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

UCI ProTour

Race Date Winner Second Third
Australia Tour Down Under Jan 20 - Jan 25  Allan Davis (AUS)  Stuart O'Grady (AUS)  José Joaquín Rojas (ESP)
Belgium Tour of Flanders / Tour des Flandres April 5  Stijn Devolder (BEL)  Heinrich Haussler (GER)  Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
Spain Vuelta al País Vasco Apr 6 - Apr 11  Alberto Contador (ESP)  Antonio Colom (ESP)  Samuel Sánchez (ESP)
Belgium Gent–Wevelgem Apr 8  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)  Aleksandr Kuschynski (BLR)  Matthew Goss (AUS)
Netherlands Amstel Gold Race Apr 19  Serguei Ivanov (RUS)  Karsten Kroon (NED)  Robert Gesink (NED)
Switzerland Tour de Romandie Apr 28 - May 3  Roman Kreuziger (CZE)  Vladimir Karpets (RUS)  Rein Taaramäe (EST)
Spain Volta a Catalunya May 18 - May 24  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)  Dan Martin (IRL)  Haimar Zubeldia (ESP)
France Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré Jun 7 - Jun 14  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)  Cadel Evans (AUS)  Alberto Contador (ESP)
Switzerland Tour de Suisse Jun 13 - Jun 21  Fabian Cancellara (SUI)  Tony Martin (GER)  Roman Kreuziger (CZE)
Spain Clásica de San Sebastián Aug 1  Carlos Barredo (ESP)  Roman Kreuziger (CZE)  Mickaël Delage (FRA)
Poland Tour de Pologne Aug 2 - Aug 8  Alessandro Ballan (ITA)  Daniel Moreno (ESP)  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)
Germany Vattenfall Cyclassics Aug 16  Tyler Farrar (USA)  Matti Breschel (DEN)  Gerald Ciolek (GER)
BelgiumNetherlandsLuxembourg Eneco Tour Aug 18 - Aug 25  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)  Sylvain Chavanel (FRA)  Sebastian Langeveld (NED)
France 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
France Paris–Nice Mar 9 - Mar 16  Luis León Sánchez (ESP)  Fränk Schleck (LUX)  Sylvain Chavanel (FRA)
Italy Tirreno–Adriatico Mar 11 - Mar 17  Michele Scarponi (ITA)  Stefano Garzelli (ITA)  Andreas Klöden (GER)
Italy Milan – San Remo Mar 21  Mark Cavendish (GBR)  Heinrich Haussler (GER)  Thor Hushovd (NOR)
France Paris–Roubaix Apr 12  Tom Boonen (BEL)  Filippo Pozzato (ITA)  Thor Hushovd (NOR)
Belgium La Flèche Wallonne Apr 22  Davide Rebellin (ITA)  Andy Schleck (LUX)  Damiano Cunego (ITA)
Belgium Liège–Bastogne–Liège Apr 26  Andy Schleck (LUX)  Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)  Davide Rebellin (ITA)
Italy 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
Malaysia Tour de Langkawi Feb 9 - Feb 15  José Serpa (COL)  Jai Crawford (AUS)  Jackson Rodríguez (VEN)
United States Tour of California Feb 14 - Feb 22  Levi Leipheimer (USA)  David Zabriskie (USA)  Michael Rogers (AUS)
France Critérium International Mar 28 - Mar 29  Jens Voigt (GER)  František Raboň (CZE)  Danny Pate (USA)
Belgium Three Days of De Panne Mar 31 - Apr 2  Frederik Willems (BEL)  Joost Posthuma (NED)  Tom Leezer (NED)
France Four Days of Dunkirk May 6 - May 11  Rui Costa (POR)  David Lelay (FRA)  Cyril Lemoine (FRA)
Belgium Tour of Belgium May 27 - May 31  Lars Boom (NED)  Bram Tankink (NED)  Dominique Cornu (BEL)
Germany Bayern-Rundfahrt May 27 - May 31  Linus Gerdemann (GER)  Maxime Monfort (BEL)  David Lelay (FRA)
Luxembourg Tour de Luxembourg Jun 3 - Jun 7  Fränk Schleck (LUX)  Andreas Klöden (GER)  Marco Marcato (ITA)
Austria Tour of Austria July 5 - July 12  Michael Albasini (SUI)  Ruslan Pidgornyy (UKR)  Stanislau Samoilav (BLR)
China Tour of Qinghai Lake July 17–26  Andrey Mizurov (KAZ)  Ghader Mizbani (IRI)  Mitja Mahoric (SLO)
Belgium Tour de Wallonie July 25 - July 29  Julien El Fares (FRA)  Pavel Brutt (RUS)  Alexander Kolobnev (RUS)
Denmark Tour of Denmark July 29 - Aug 2  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)  Maurizio Biondo (ITA)  Roger Hammond (GBR)
Spain Vuelta a Burgos Aug 5 - Aug 9  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)  Xavier Tondo (ESP)  Tom Danielson (USA)
Portugal Volta a Portugal Aug 5 - Aug 16  Nuno Ribeiro (POR)  David Blanco (ESP)  David Bernabeu (ESP)
United States 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
Belgium Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Feb 28  Thor Hushovd (NOR)  Kevyn Ista (BEL)  Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP)
Belgium E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Mar 29  Filippo Pozzato (ITA)  Tom Boonen (BEL)  Maxim Iglinsky (KAZ)
Spain GP Miguel Indurain Apr 4  David de la Fuente (ESP)  Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS)  Fabian Wegmann (GER)
Belgium Scheldeprijs Apr 15  Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)  Kenny van Hummel (NED)  Dominique Rollin (CAN)
Germany Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop May 1  Fabian Wegmann (GER)  Karsten Kroon (NED)  Christian Knees (GER)
Netherlands Dutch Food Valley Classic May 16  Kenny van Hummel (NED)  Graeme Brown (AUS)  Steven de Jongh (NED)
Switzerland Grand Prix of Aargau Canton Jun 7  Peter Velits (SVK)  Ben Hermans (BEL)  Heinrich Haussler (GER)
United States Philadelphia International Championship Jun 7  André Greipel (GER)  Greg Henderson (NZL)  Kirk O'Bee (USA)
Italy Tre Valli Varesine Aug 18  Mauro Santambrogio (ITA)  Francesco Masciarelli (ITA)  Alexander Bocharov (RUS)
Italy Giro del Veneto Aug 29  Filippo Pozzato (ITA)  Carlo Scognamiglio (ITA)  Luca Paolini (ITA)
Belgium Paris-Bruxelles Sep 12  Matthew Goss (AUS)  Allan Davis (AUS)  Kristof Goddaert (BEL)
France GP de Fourmies Sep 13  Romain Feillu (FRA)  Manuel Belletti (ITA)  Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR)
Italy Giro dell'Emilia Oct 10  Robert Gesink (NED)  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)  Thomas Lövkvist (SWE)
France Paris–Tours Oct 11  Philippe Gilbert (BEL)  Tom Boonen (BEL)  Borut Božič (SLO)
Italy 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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