Vuelta Ciclista Mexico Telmex was an annual

road cycling race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

that took place over the course of eight days, involving eight stages. The Mexico national tour had a rich history dating back to the 1940s, and the latest incarnation was revived in late 2008 and early 2009 as the condensed evolution of the Vueltas de las Americas, a 21-day stage race, defunct from 2003. This national tour was ranked 2.2, according to

UCI race classifications The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing, classifies races according to a rating scale. The rating is represented by a code made of two or three parts and indicates both the type or style ...

, and was a part of the

UCI America Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

. Title sponsorship was provided via CONADE (Comisión Nacional de Cultura Física y Deporte), as well as the Telmex Foundation, a philanthropic entity created by

Telmex Telmex is a Mexican telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunications products and services in Mexico. Telmex is still the dominant fixed-line phone carrier in Mexico. In addition to traditional fixed-line ...

C.E.O., Carlos Slim. Additional sponsorship was provided previously by BMW,

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

, NovoSportware, and .

History

2008 Vuelta a Mexico

With prizes of 2,000,000 Peso, worth roughly 188,000 (USD), the 2008 Vuelta a Mexico was held between September 13–20, and was centered primarily in the region north of Mexico City, commencing in

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...

and concluded in the outskirts of Distrito Federal. Stage four was neutralized due to bad weather reducing the length of the Vuelta to 1,059 kilometers down from the scheduled 1,139. The final General Classification was won by New Zealand racer,

Glen Chadwick Glen Alan Chadwick (born 17 October 1976) is a cyclist with both New Zealand and Australian citizenship. Career In 1998 Chadwick helped fellow kiwi Nathan Dahlberg setup the Marco Polo Cycling Team team. Glen Chadwick began his career in 2001 ...

riding for team sponsor , which supports persons inflicted with

Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for ...

. Chadwick would return in 2009 to defend his title, albeit with rival sponsor .

2009 Vuelta a Mexico

In what was for all intents and purposes the "de facto" inaugural event, the revamped 2009 Vuelta Mexico Telmex was given a new date on the

calendar. This made it possible for American teams to join the race; the race was scheduled one week after the conclusion of February's Tour of California, and ended well before March's

Redlands Bicycle Classic The Redlands Bicycle Classic is a cycling stage race located in Redlands, California, United States that has been held since 1985. It consists of three road races, an individual time trial and a criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race ...

and April's

Tour de Georgia The Tour de Georgia was a U.S. professional road cycling stage race across the state of Georgia. The race began in 2003 and was contested six times until 2008. It was one of the three events in North America ranked as Hors Classe (2.HC) stage rac ...

. The Vuelta Mexico Telmex aimed to become the most significant stage race in Latin America, as a standard for Latin American teams, North American teams, and UCI Pro Continental teams seeking results and Grand Tour invite. Angel de la Independencia Mexico City

The 2009 Vuelta saw diverse North American presence, with first time participants including

Rudy Pevenage Rudy Pévenage (15 June 1954) is a former Belgian cyclist, and later in his career team coach of cycling teams such as , , , and . Pévenage was a professional cyclist from 1976 until 1988. His largest success was in the 1980 Tour de France: h ...

directed, ; Steve Bauer directed, ; U.S. based featuring

Floyd Landis Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He finished first at the 2006 Tour de France, and would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after test ...

, all alongside the 2008 winning team . In addition, U-23 Developmental Team, featuring

Taylor Phinney Taylor Carpenter-Phinney (born June 27, 1990) is an American retired professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2019 for the , and teams. Phinney specialized in time trials on the road as well as the individual p ...

started the race. The team was directed by

Axel Merckx Axel Eddy Lucien Jonkheer Merckx (born 8 August 1972) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and the son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx. He is team director of UCI Continental team . In his professional career (1 ...

and partially owned by Lance Armstrong, who was on hand to fire the start signal for the 2009 race. During his trip to Vuelta Mexico, Armstrong stated that ''"a country the size of Mexico, with such diverse landscape needs to have a tour."'' With the primary devotion of fighting childhood cancer on behalf of his

Lance Armstrong Foundation The Livestrong Foundation is a United States nonprofit organization that provides support for people affected by cancer. The foundation, based in Austin, Texas, was established in 1997 by cancer survivor and former professional road racing cycli ...

, Armstrong participated in various events with sponsors and the public, including a health care forum with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. With prizes of 2.5 million Peso, worth roughly 163,000 (USD), the 2009 edition was held March 1–8, and was centered primarily among regional states located in the south-central part of Mexico. The race began in

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

and passed through

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...

Edomex The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

, and Hildago before culminating in the center of Mexico City. The final stage, won by Canada's Andrew Pinfold, ended with a finish similar to that of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

as the 100+ kilometer circuit race completed twelve laps of the

Angel of Independence The Angel of Independence, most commonly known by the shortened name ''El Ángel'' and officially known as ''Monumento a la Independencia'' ("Monument to Independence"), is a victory column on a roundabout on the major thoroughfare of Paseo de l ...

along a large portion of the Paseo de la Reforma (Reform Promenade). The extra wide boulevard, with its historically elegant design, sharply resembled

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

' Champs-Élysées. It stretched from Chapultepec Park, passing alongside Latin America's tallest building, the Torre Mayor, continuing through the Zona Rosa and then on to the Zócalo (Plaza de la Constitución). Among the largest central squares in the world, El Zócalo is bordered by the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral,

National Palace Buildings called National Palace include: *National Palace (Dominican Republic), in Santo Domingo *National Palace (El Salvador), in San Salvador *National Palace (Ethiopia), in Addis Ababa; also known as the Jubilee Palace *National Palace (Guatema ...

, and is adjacent to the ancient Templo Mayor site. Ironically, Paseo de la Reforma, was modeled during the French occupation of the 1860s upon orders from

Maximilian I Maximilian I may refer to: *Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, reigned 1486/93–1519 *Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, reigned 1597–1651 *Maximilian I, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1636-1689) *Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, reigned 1795� ...

with the dual purpose of linking

Chapultepec Castle Chapultepec Castle ( es, Castillo de Chapultepec) is located on top of Chapultepec Hill in Mexico City's Chapultepec park. The name ''Chapultepec'' is the Nahuatl word ''chapoltepēc'' which means "on the hill of the grasshopper". The castle has s ...

to the

, while also creating a French legacy in the city centre. Despite the presence of pre-race favorites Gilberto Simoni,

, Tyler Hamilton,

, and

Arquimedes Lam Arquimedes (also Arquímedes) is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Arquímedes Arrieta (born 1918), Uruguayan boxer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics * Arquimedes Caminero (born 1987), Dominican baseball pitcher * Arquím ...

, the Final Overall General Classification was won by Venezuelan racer

Jackson Rodríguez Jackson Jesús Rodríguez Ortíz (born February 25, 1985 in Rubio) is a Venezuelan professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for amateur team JHS Grupo–Super Ahorro. Major results ;2005 : 4th Overall Vuelta a Venezuela : 8th Over ...

, of Venezuelan team sponsor . The Best Young Rider Classification, awarded to the highest place rider under the age of 23, was won by American

Peter Stetina Peter Stetina (born August 8, 1987) is an American off-road cyclist, who competes in gravel and endurance mountain bike racing as a privateer. Prior to this, he competed as a road racing cyclist between 2010 and 2019 for the , and teams. Caree ...

of the U.S. National Team. The combativity classification went to

Karl Menzies Karl Menzies (born 17 June 1977) is a professional road bicycle racer riding for UCI Continental team . He finished second in the 2006 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar to Floyd Landis. Menzies turned professional in 2005, he spent one seaso ...

(), David Vitoria () won the mountains classification, and Carlos López (Canels Turbo) won the Mexican rider classification.