In 2009 a number of prominent riders returned to professional cycling.

Ivan Basso Ivan Basso (born 26 November 1977) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1999 and 2015 for seven different teams. Basso, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, was considered among the best mountain riders in ...

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 ...

and

Michele Scarponi , birth_date = , birth_place = Jesi, Marche, Italy , death_date = , death_place = Filottrano, Marche, Italy , height = , weight = , discipline = Road , role = Climbing specialistDomestique , amateuryears1= 1988� ...

had finished a suspension.

Bjorn Leukemans Bjorn (English, Dutch), Björn (Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, and German), Bjørn (Danish, Faroese and Norwegian), Beorn (Old English) or, rarely, Bjôrn, Biorn, or Latinized Biornus, Brum (Portuguese), is a Scandinavian male given name, or less oft ...

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 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 ...

winner

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 Tour de ...

returned after a three-and-half year break, starting his season as a -rider in the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (branded as the Santos Tour Down Under under a partnership arrangement) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and features all 19 UCI WorldTe ...

. The teams and , both who were connected to some major doping cases in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, saw their title sponsors drop out. The Spanish squad found a new sponsor in

Fuji Bikes Fuji Bikes is a brand of bicycles and cycling equipment currently owned by Advanced Sports International. The company is a descendant of , a bicycle manufacturer originally established in Japan in 1899. The company took its name and logo from M ...

and was granted another

ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, ea ...

license as . However, race organizer ASO did not invite the team for their races, and they did not participate in the

. New teams in the ProTour are from the United States and (built from the former ) from Russia. One notable new ProContinental team, started from scratch, is the , which managed to sign

2008 Tour de France The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regu ...

-winner

Carlos Sastre Carlos Sastre Candil (; born 22 April 1975) is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer and winner of the 2008 Tour de France. He consistently achieved outstanding results in the Vuelta a España and in the Tour de France. Sastre establi ...

and Norwegian sprinter

Thor Hushovd Thor Hushovd (born 18 January 1978) is a Norwegian former professional road bicycle racer. He is known for sprinting and time trialing; Hushovd is a three-time Norwegian national road race champion (2004, 2010, 2013), and was the winner of th ...

. 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 A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

will be held in

Mendrisio Mendrisio (; lmo, label= Ticinese, Mendris ) is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura of the university of Italian-speaking Switzerland (U ...

, Switzerland. The

UCI ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, e ...

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 The UCI men's road racing world rankings are a point system which is used to rank men's road cycling riders. Points are accrued over a rolling 52 weeks in three categories (Individual, Nations and Teams). Also Year-End rankings exist, based on ...

, based on a new ''World Calendar'' - effectively combining the existing 14 ProTour races with the

Monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

and

Grand Tours In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...

that are currently organized as "Historic" races.

World championships

The World Road championships were held in

Mendrisio, Switzerland Mendrisio (; lmo, label= Ticinese, Mendris ) is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura of the university of Italian-speaking Switzerland (USI) ...

Grand Tours

UCI ProTour

Other World Calendar events

''These races contribute, along with the Grand Tours and the UCI ProTour races, towards the

2009 UCI World Ranking The 2009 UCI World Ranking was the first edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), replacing the rankings previously part of the UCI ProTour, with which it would be merged in 2011 to form the UCI World Tour. ...

2.HC Category Races

The prefix ''2'' indicates that these events are stage races.

1.HC Category Races

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

National Championships

See

2009 national cycling championships The 2009 national road cycling championships began in January in Australia and New Zealand. Most of the European national championships took place in June. Jerseys The winner of each national championship wears the national jersey in all their rac ...