The 2009 Tour de Pologne was the 66th running of the

Tour de Pologne The Tour de Pologne (; ), officially abbreviated TdP, is an annual, professional men's Race stage, multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race primarily held in Poland. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km ...

, in the 81st year since the first edition. The event was part of both the

2009 UCI ProTour The 2009 UCI ProTour was the fifth series of the UCI ProTour. Two new teams, the American and the Russian , joined the ProTour, effectively taking over the licenses of and . Two existing teams changed title sponsors: from Denmark became , and ...

and the inaugural

World Calendar The World Calendar is a proposed reform of the Gregorian calendar created by Elisabeth Achelis of Brooklyn, New York in 1930. Features The World Calendar is a 12-month, perennial calendar with equal quarters. Each quarter begins on a Sunday ...

, and ran from 2–8 August, starting in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and finishing in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. After four stages that were dominated by sprint finishes, World champion

Alessandro Ballan Alessandro Ballan (born 6 November 1979) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI World Tour team . He is best known for winning the 2008 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Rac ...

's participation in successful breaks in stages five and six, and bonus time for being first and second respectively in those stages, brought him overall victory.

Stages

There is a circuit of at least two laps on every stage.

Stage 1

2 August 2009 –

, 108 km

Stage 2

3 August 2009 –

Serock Serock is a town at the north bank of the Zegrze Lake, Zegrze lake in the Legionowo County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, around north of Warsaw. It has 4,109 inhabitants (2013). History The stronghold was founded in the 10th century, shortly ...

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

, 219.1 km This stage was very flat, with only a fourth-category climb near the end. There was a three-lap, 6.5 km circuit at the finish.

Stage 3

4 August 2009 –

Bielsk Podlaski Bielsk Podlaski (, , ) is a town in eastern Poland, within Bielsk County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 24,883. Geography Bielsk Podlaski is located in the geographical region of Europe known as ...

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, 225.1 km This course is mostly flat, though it becomes bumpy at the end. The 4.6 km finishing circuit includes multiple passes over a third-category climb.

Stage 4

5 August 2009 –

Nałęczów Nałęczów is a spa town (population 4,800) situated on the Nałęczów Plateau in Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland. Nałęczów belongs to Lesser Poland. History In the 18th century, the discovery there of healing waters ini ...

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...

, 239.7 km In a chaotic bunch sprint,

Edvald Boasson Hagen Edvald Boasson Hagen (born 17 May 1987) is a Norwegian former road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2006 to 2024. He was ranked as no. 3 in the world by Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI as of 31 August 2009, when he was 22 y ...

led out teammate

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 ...

. While Greipel and sprinter Allan Davis grappled for his wheel, Boasson Hagen led on to take the win. Greipel was later relegated, and lost both the yellow and blue jersey to

Jürgen Roelandts Jürgen Roelandts (born 2 July 1985) is a Belgium, Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2020, for the , and squads. He now works as a directeur sportif for his final professional team, . Care ...

. This course has a sloping profile, with two categorized climbs in the second half of the stage as well as an uncategorized hill coming after about 40 km. There is a three-lap finishing circuit again on this stage; it is 5.9 km long and flat.

Stage 5

6 August 2009 –

Strzyżów Strzyżów is a town in Strzyżów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland, along the Wisłok river valley. Strzyżów is one of the towns within the Strzyżowsko-Dynowskie Foothill, located south-east of Kraków and 30 km from Rzeszó ...

Krynica-Zdrój Krynica-Zdrój (until 31 December 2001 Krynica, Rusyn language, Rusyn: Криниця ) is a town in Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It is inhabited by over eleven thousand people. It is the biggest spa town in Pola ...

, 171.5 km This is a high mountain stage, with a first-category climb coming after 105 km. There are two categorized climbs visited repeatedly in the four-lap 14.8 km finishing circuit, with mountains classification points taken for the first pass over them.

Stage 6

7 August 2009 –

Krościenko nad Dunajcem Krościenko nad Dunajcem is a village in southern Poland situated in the Nowy Targ County in Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999 (previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship, from 1975 to 1998). Located near Poland's border with Slovakia, it is appro ...

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...

, 162.2 km This is the Tour de Pologne's most mountainous stage, with another mountain circuit. This circuit is four laps by 25 km, with two first-category climbs in it. There are two other first-category climbs on the course, so the course has ten first-category climbs.

Stage 7

8 August 2009 –

Rabka-Zdrój Rabka-Zdrój (, Goral: ''Robka'', colloquially: ''Rabka'') is a spa town in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland. It is located between Kraków and Zakopane in a valley on the northern slopes of the Gorce Mountains, where the rivers Poniczanka and ...

, 136.5 km The beginning to this stage is jagged, with a second-category climb after 56 km as well as several uncategorized rises in elevation. The finish comes on a three-lap 4 km circuit which is perfectly flat.

Category leadership table

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Tour De Pologne

Tour De Pologne The Tour de Pologne (; ), officially abbreviated TdP, is an annual, professional men's Race stage, multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race primarily held in Poland. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km ...

Tour de Pologne Tour De Pologne, 2009 August 2009 sports events in Europe