The 2009 Vuelta a España was the 64th
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...
. The event took place from 29 August to 20 September 2009. For only the second time in the race's history, it began away from Spanish soil, with the race not in fact reaching Spain until Stage 5.
The 2009 Vuelta has been described as having an easy start and a hard finish. This is because of the short individual time trial and three perfectly flat stages in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium (along with another in Spain in the race's first week), and eight of the final fourteen stages being mountain stages, with four mountaintop finishes.
The race was won by Spain's
Alejandro Valverde
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish cyclist, who competed as a professional in road bicycle racing from 2002 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2022, and now competes in gravel cycling for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad.
During ...
who claimed his first grand tour victory.
Teams
29 teams sought places in the race, of which 21 were initially invited to compete.
, one of two
UCI ProTour
The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle racing, road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, i ...
teams omitted from the list of invited teams, appealed to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...
and were subsequently granted the right to enter. are thus the only ProTour team absent from the race.
Stages
''For details see
2009 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11 and
2009 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21.''
Classification leadership
In the 2009 Vuelta a España, four different jerseys are awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding the finishing times of the stages per cyclist after deduction of time bonuses for high placings in stage finishes and at intermediate sprints, the leader receives a golden jersey. This classification is considered the most important of the Vuelta a España, and the winner of the general classification is considered the winner of the Vuelta.
Additionally, there is also a
points classification, which awards a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists receive points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. The winner gets 25 points, second place 20, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point per place less down the line, to a single point for fifteenth. In addition, some points can be won in intermediate sprints.
There is also a
mountains classification, which awards a red jersey. In the mountains classifications, points were won by reaching the top of a mountain before other cyclists. Each climb is categorized, with most of the climbs being either first, second, third, or fourth category. There are also three "special category" climbs (equivalent to
hors catégorie
''Hors catégorie'' (HC) is a French term used in stage bicycle races to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization". The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass.
The HC climb is th ...
in the Tour de France); these are the stage finishes on the Alto de Aitana, the Alto de Sierra Nevada, and the Sierra de La Pandera. These climbs award even more points than a first-category climb.
Finally, there is the combination classification. This is calculated by adding the rankings in the general, points and mountains classifications; the cyclist with the lowest combined ranking is the leader in the combination classification, and receives a white jersey.
There is also a classification for teams. In this classification, the times of the best three cyclists per stage are added, and the team with the lowest time is the leader.
;Jersey wearers when one rider is leading two or more competitions
If a cyclist leads two or more competitions at the end of a stage, he receives all those jerseys. In the next stage, he can only wear one jersey, and he wears the jersey representing leadership in the most important competition (golden first, then green, then granate, then white). The other jerseys that the cyclists owns are worn in the next stage by the second-place (or, if needed, third or fourth-place) rider in that classification.
* In Stage 2,
Tom Boonen
Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in ...
wore the green jersey, and
Tyler Farrar wore the white jersey
* In Stage 3,
Gerald Ciolek
Gerald Michael Ciolek (born 19 September 1986) is a German former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2016. He currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team .
Career
Ciolek started racing ...
wore the white jersey
* In Stage 4,
Greg Henderson wore the white jersey
* In Stages 6 & 7,
Tom Boonen
Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in ...
wore the green jersey
* In Stage 9,
Damiano Cunego wore the white jersey
* In Stage 13,
Cadel Evans wore the white jersey
* In Stages 14–19,
Robert Gesink wore the white jersey
* In Stage 15 & 16,
André Greipel
André Greipel (born 16 July 1982) is a German cyclist, who rode professionally in road bicycle racing between 2005 and 2021. Since his retirement from road racing, Greipel has worked as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental teams and , and in ...
wore the green jersey
* In Stage 20,
Ezequiel Mosquera wore the white jersey
* In Stage 21,
Samuel Sánchez
Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González (born 5 February 1978) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for the and squads. He was the gold medal winner in the Cycling at the 2008 ...
wore the white jersey
Final standings
After stage 21
General Classification
Points Classification
King of the Mountains Classification
Combination Classification
Teams Classification
World Rankings points
The Vuelta was the penultimate event in 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. ...
. The rankings leader,
Alberto Contador, did not compete in the event, but five of the top ten did, including the race winner, Valverde, who earned enough points to ensure that the title was not yet decided. Valverde, however, remained banned from riding in Italy, and so did not take part in the final ranking event, the
2009 Giro di Lombardia.
Vuelta
References
External links
*
cyclingnews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vuelta a Espana, 2009
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
1
2009 in Belgian sport
2009 in Dutch sport
2009 UCI World Ranking