2009 Vuelta a España explained

The 2009 Vuelta a España was the 64th Vuelta a España. 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.^[1] 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 who claimed his first grand tour victory.^{[2] [3]}

Teams

See main article: List of teams and cyclists in the 2009 Vuelta a España.

29 teams sought places in the race, of which 21 were initially invited to compete.^[4], one of two UCI ProTour teams omitted from the list of invited teams, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport 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.

Stage characteristics and winners^[5]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	29 Aug	Assen (Netherlands)	4.8km (03miles)		Individual time trial
2	30 Aug	Assen (Netherlands) to Emmen (Netherlands)	203.7km (126.6miles)		Flat stage
3	31 Aug	Zutphen (Netherlands) to Venlo (Netherlands)	189.7km (117.9miles)		Flat stage
4	1 Sept	Venlo (Netherlands) to Liège (Belgium)	225.5km (140.1miles)		Flat stage
	2 Sept	Rest/travel day
5	3 Sept	Tarragona to Vinaròs	174km (108miles)		Flat stage
6	4 Sept	Xàtiva	176.8km (109.9miles)		Flat stage
7	5 Sept	Valencia	30km (20miles)		Individual time trial
8	6 Sept	Alzira to Alto de Aitana	204.7km (127.2miles)		Mountain stage
9	7 Sept	Alcoy to Xorret de Catí	188.8km (117.3miles)		Mountain stage
10	8 Sept	Alicante to Murcia	171.2km (106.4miles)		Flat stage
11	9 Sept	Murcia to Caravaca de la Cruz	200km (100miles)		Transition stage
	10 Sept	Rest day
12	11 Sept	Almería to Alto de Velefique	179.3km (111.4miles)		Mountain stage
13	12 Sept	Berja to Sierra Nevada	172.4km (107.1miles)		Mountain stage
14	13 Sept	Granada to La Pandera	157km (98miles)		Mountain stage
15	14 Sept	Jaén to Córdoba	167.7km (104.2miles)		Transition stage
16	15 Sept	Córdoba to Puertollano	170.3km (105.8miles)		Flat stage
17	16 Sept	Ciudad Real to Talavera de la Reina	193.6km (120.3miles)		Flat stage
18	17 Sept	Talavera de la Reina to Ávila	165km (103miles)		Transition stage
19	18 Sept	Ávila to La Granja de San Ildefonso	179.8km (111.7miles)		Mountain stage	[6]
20	19 Sept	Toledo	27.8km (17.3miles)		Individual time trial
21	20 Sept	Rivas-Vaciamadrid to Madrid	110.2km (68.5miles)		Flat stage
	TOTAL		3292.3km (2,045.7miles)

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 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.

Stage	Winner	General classification Maillot Oro	Points classification Maillot Puntos	Mountains classification Maillot Montaña	Combination Classification Maillot Combinada	Team classification Clasificación por equipos
1	Fabian Cancellara	Fabian Cancellara	Fabian Cancellara	Not Awarded	Fabian Cancellara
2	Gerald Ciolek		Tom Boonen	Tom Leezer
3	Greg Henderson
4	André Greipel		André Greipel	Lars Boom	Dominik Roels
5	André Greipel	André Greipel		Aitor Hernández	Serafín Martínez
6	Borut Božič			José Antonio López
7	Fabian Cancellara	Fabian Cancellara			Dominik Roels
8	Damiano Cunego	Cadel Evans		David Moncoutié	Cadel Evans
9	Gustavo César Veloso	Alejandro Valverde
10	Simon Gerrans			David de la Fuente
11	Tyler Farrar			David Moncoutié
12	Ryder Hesjedal				Alejandro Valverde
13	David Moncoutié
14	Damiano Cunego		Alejandro Valverde
15	Lars Boom
16	André Greipel		André Greipel
17	Anthony Roux
18	Philip Deignan
19	Juan José Cobo[7] Alejandro Valverde
20	David Millar
21	André Greipel
Final		Alejandro Valverde	André Greipel	David Moncoutié	Alejandro Valverde

Jersey wearers when one rider is leading two or more competitionsIf 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 wore the green jersey, and Tyler Farrar wore the white jersey
• In Stage 3, Gerald Ciolek wore the white jersey
• In Stage 4, Greg Henderson wore the white jersey
• In Stages 6 & 7, Tom Boonen 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 wore the green jersey
• In Stage 20, Ezequiel Mosquera wore the white jersey
• In Stage 21, Samuel Sánchez wore the white jersey

Final standings

After stage 21

General Classification

	Rider	Team	Time
1			87h 22' 37"
2			+ 55"
3			+ 1' 32"
4			+ 2' 12"
5			+ 4' 27"
6			+ 6' 40"
7			+ 9' 08"
8			+ 9' 11"
9			+ 11' 08"
DSQ			+ 11' 27"

Points Classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1			150
2			111
3			101
4			99
5			89
6			68
7			68
8			68
9			64
10			64

King of the Mountains Classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1			186
2			99
3			73
4			67
5			61
6			60
7			59
8			58
9			54
10			52

Combination Classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1			7
2			17
3			17
4			19
5			22
6			29
7			40
8			52
DSQ			53
10			58

Teams Classification

	Team	Time
1		261h 57' 19"
2		+ 23' 43"
3		+ 31' 39"
4		+ 39' 37"
5		+ 52' 13"
6		+ 57' 35"
7		+ 1h 04' 40"
8		+ 1h 07' 04"
9		+ 1h 19' 27"
10		+ 1h 34' 05"

World Rankings points

The Vuelta was the penultimate event in the 2009 UCI World Ranking. 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

Rider	Team	Nationality	Stage points	Points for final position	Total
			18	170	188
			14	130	144
			10	100	110
			12	80	92
			1	90	91
			11	70	81
			73		73
			16	44	60
				60	60
			16	38	54
				52	52
			33		33
			1	32	33
			32		32
			31		31
			28		28
				26	26
			24		24
			24		24
			24		24
			23		23
				22	22
			18		18
			18		18
			18		18
				18	18
			17		17
			16		16
			16		16
			16		16
			16		16
			16		16
	Contentpolis-Ampo		2	14	16
			1	10	11
			10		10
			9		9
			8		8
			8		8
			8		8
			8		8
			8		8
				8	8
			8		8
				6	6
			4		4
			4		4
			4		4
				4	4
			4		4
			4		4
			2		2
				2	2
			2		2
			2		2
	Contentpolis-Ampo		2		2
			2		2
			2		2
			2		2
			1		1
			1		1
			1		1
			1		1
			1		1

External links

• • cyclingnews.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2009 Vuelta a España Route, Stages, Teams, TV Schedule, Results, Video and Photos (Tour of Spain) . https://web.archive.org/web/20090822160022/http://www.steephill.tv/2009/vuelta-a-espana/ . 2009-08-22 . live . 2009-05-09 .
2. Web site: Alejandro Valverde wins Tour of Spain . 2009-09-20. The Telegraph. 2009-09-21.
3. Web site: Valverde cruises to first Vuelta victory. 2009-09-20. CNN.com. 2009-09-21.
4. Web site: Vuelta's 2009 teams announced . Autobus.cyclingnews.com . 2009-06-12 . 2012-08-24.
5. http://www.lavuelta.com/09/ingles/recorrido/listado.html?e=p
6. Ballinger . Alex . Alejandro Valverde could be handed Vuelta a España stage victory after Juan José Cobo found guilty of doping . . 24 July 2019 . 19 June 2019.
7. Long . Jonny . Juan José Cobo has been stripped of his 2011 Vuelta a España title after being found guilty of doping . . 18 June 2019 . 18 June 2019.