Tour de France 2009

Image By scarlatti2004 Flickr

The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th Tour de France. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco. The race visited six countries: Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy, and finished on 26 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The total length was 3,445 kilometres (2,141 mi), including 93 kilometres (58 mi) in time-trials. There were seven mountain stages, three of which had mountaintop finishes, and one medium-mountain stage. The race had a team time trial for the first time since 2005, the shortest distance in individual time trials since 1967, and the first penultimate-day mountain stage in the Tour's history.

2007 winner Alberto Contador won the race by a margin of 4'11", having won both a mountain and time trial stage. His Astana team also supplied the third placed rider, Lance Armstrong, and took the team classification. Andy Schleck, second overall, won the young riders' competition as he had the previous year, and Franco Pellizotti took the King of the Mountains title. Mark Cavendish won six stages, including the final stage on the Champs-Élysées, but was beaten to the green jersey by Thor Hushovd.

Were you there?