Vuelta Ciclista Mexico Telmex was an annual

road cycling race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

that took place over the course of eight days, involving eight stages. The Mexico national tour had a rich history dating back to the 1940s, and the latest incarnation was revived in late 2008 and early 2009 as the condensed evolution of the Vueltas de las Americas, a 21-day stage race, defunct from 2003. This national tour was ranked 2.2, according to

UCI race classifications The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing, classifies races according to a rating scale. The rating is represented by a code made of two or three parts and indicates both the type or style ...

, and was a part of the

UCI America Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

. Title sponsorship was provided via CONADE (Comisión Nacional de Cultura Física y Deporte), as well as the Telmex Foundation, a philanthropic entity created by

Telmex Teléfonos de México, S.A.B. de C.V., known as Telmex is a Mexican telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunications products and services in Mexico. In 2014, Telmex was the dominant fixed-line phone carri ...

C.E.O.,

Carlos Slim Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business oligarch, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from his e ...

. Additional sponsorship was provided previously by

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, Mercury,

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

, NovoSportware, and Metalurgica Creativa.

History

2008 Vuelta a Mexico

With prizes of 2,000,000 Peso, worth roughly 188,000 (USD), the 2008 Vuelta a Mexico was held between September 13–20, and was centered primarily in the region north of Mexico City, commencing in

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is pre ...

and concluded in the outskirts of

Distrito Federal A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or th ...

. Stage four was neutralized due to bad weather reducing the length of the Vuelta to 1,059 kilometers down from the scheduled 1,139. The final General Classification was won by New Zealand racer, Glen Chadwick riding for team sponsor , which supports persons inflicted with

Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic cells (beta cells). In healthy persons, beta cells produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone require ...

. Chadwick would return in 2009 to defend his title, albeit with rival sponsor .

2009 Vuelta a Mexico

In what was for all intents and purposes the "de facto" inaugural event, the revamped 2009 Vuelta Mexico Telmex was given a new date on the

calendar. This made it possible for American teams to join the race; the race was scheduled one week after the conclusion of February's

Tour of California The Tour of California (officially sponsored as the Amgen Tour of California) was an annual professional road cycling stage race on the UCI World Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour that ran from 2006 to 2019. It was the only event on the ...

, and ended well before March's

Redlands Bicycle Classic The Redlands Bicycle Classic is the longest continuous running invitational, professional cycle sport, cycling stage race in American bike racing, located in Redlands, California, United States. The race began in 1985 after the 1984 Summer Olympic ...

and April's

Tour de Georgia The Tour de Georgia was a U.S. professional road cycling stage race across the state of Georgia. The race began in 2003 and was contested six times until 2008. It was one of the three events in North America ranked as Hors Classe ( 2.HC) stage ra ...

. The Vuelta Mexico Telmex aimed to become the most significant stage race in Latin America, as a standard for Latin American teams, North American teams, and UCI Pro Continental teams seeking results and Grand Tour invite. Angel de la Independencia Mexico City

The 2009 Vuelta saw diverse North American presence, with first time participants including Rudy Pevenage directed, ;

Steve Bauer Steven Todd Bauer, MSM (born June 12, 1959) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from Canada. He won the first Olympic medal in road cycling for Canada and until 2022 he was the only Canadian to win an individual stage of the Tour de Fr ...

directed, ; U.S. based featuring

Floyd Landis Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. At the 2006 Tour de France, he would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after testing positive for p ...

, all alongside the 2008 winning team . In addition, U-23 Developmental Team, featuring

Taylor Phinney Taylor Carpenter-Phinney (born June 27, 1990) is an American retired professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2019 for the , and teams. Phinney specialized in time trials on the road as well as the individual ...

started the race. The team was directed by

Axel Merckx Axel Eddy Lucien Jonkheer Merckx (born 8 August 1972) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and the son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx. He is team director of UCI Continental team . In his professional career, h ...

and partially owned by

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...

, who was on hand to fire the start signal for the 2009 race. During his trip to Vuelta Mexico, Armstrong stated that ''"a country the size of Mexico, with such diverse landscape needs to have a tour."'' With the primary devotion of fighting childhood cancer on behalf of his

Lance Armstrong Foundation The Livestrong Foundation is a United States nonprofit organization that provides support for people affected by cancer. The foundation, based in Austin, Texas, was established in 1997 by cancer survivor and former professional road racing ...

, Armstrong participated in various events with sponsors and the public, including a health care forum with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. With prizes of 2.5 million Peso, worth roughly 163,000 (USD), the 2009 edition was held March 1–8, and was centered primarily among regional states located in the south-central part of Mexico. The race began in

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

and passed through

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, is one of the 32 federal entities that comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tlaxcala, 60 municipalities and t ...

Morelos Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Mun ...

, Edomex,

Guanajuato Guanajuato, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato, is one of the 32 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guanajuato, 46 municipalities and its cap ...

, and Hildago before culminating in the center of Mexico City. The final stage, won by Canada's Andrew Pinfold, ended with a finish similar to that of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

as the 100+ kilometer circuit race completed twelve laps of the

Angel of Independence The Angel of Independence, most commonly known by the shortened name ''El Ángel'' and officially known as ''Monumento a la Independencia'' ("Monument to Independence"), is a victory column on a roundabout on the major thoroughfare of Paseo de l ...

along a large portion of the

Paseo de la Reforma Paseo de la Reforma (literally "Promenade of La Reforma, the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Maximilian of Mexico, Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig d ...

(Reform Promenade). The extra wide boulevard, with its historically elegant design, sharply resembled

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

. It stretched from Chapultepec Park, passing alongside Latin America's tallest building, the

Torre Mayor The Torre Mayor is an office skyscraper in Mexico City, Mexico that is the eighth tallest building in Mexico with a height of 225 meters (738 feet). From its completion in 2003 until 2010, it was the tallest building in Latin America; it was su ...

, continuing through the Zona Rosa and then on to the

Zócalo Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztecs, Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza us ...

(Plaza de la Constitución). Among the largest central squares in the world, El Zócalo is bordered by the

Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven (), also commonly called the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, is the cathedral church of the Catholic Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico, Archdiocese o ...

National Palace Buildings called National Palace include: *National Palace (Dominican Republic), in Santo Domingo * National Palace (El Salvador), in San Salvador * National Palace (Ethiopia), in Addis Ababa; also known as the Jubilee Palace * National Palace (Guat ...

, and is adjacent to the ancient

Templo Mayor The (English: Main Temple) was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, Tenōchtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Mesoamerican chronology, Postclassic period of Me ...

site. Ironically, Paseo de la Reforma, was modeled during the French occupation of the 1860s upon orders from Maximilian I with the dual purpose of linking

Chapultepec Castle Chapultepec Castle () is located on top of Chapultepec Hill in Mexico City's Chapultepec park. The name ''Chapultepec'' is the Nahuatl word which means "on the hill of the grasshopper". It is located at the entrance to Chapultepec park, at a he ...

to the

, while also creating a French legacy in the city centre. Despite the presence of pre-race favorites

Gilberto Simoni Gilberto Simoni (born 25 August 1971) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, most recently for . Simoni won the Giro d'Italia cycling race twice: once in 2001 and again in 2003. In 2002 he tested positive for cocaine and was with ...

Tyler Hamilton Tyler Hamilton (born March 1, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racer. He is the only American rider to win one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2003. Hamilton became a professional cycl ...

, Glen Chadwick, and Arquimedes Lam, the Final Overall General Classification was won by Venezuelan racer

Jackson Rodríguez Jackson Jesús Rodríguez Ortíz (born February 25, 1985, in Rubio) is a Venezuelan professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for amateur team JHS Grupo–Super Ahorro. Major results ;2005 : 4th Overall Vuelta a Venezuela : 8th Ove ...

, of Venezuelan team sponsor . The Best Young Rider Classification, awarded to the highest place rider under the age of 23, was won by American

Peter Stetina Peter Stetina (born August 8, 1987) is an American off-road cyclist, who competes in Gravel cycling, gravel and endurance mountain bike racing as a privateer. Prior to this, he competed as a Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist between 2010 ...

of the U.S. National Team. The combativity classification went to Karl Menzies (), David Vitoria () won the mountains classification, and Carlos López (Canels Turbo) won the Mexican rider classification.

2010 Vuelta a Mexico

The 2010 Vuelta Mexico Telmex was won by

Óscar Sevilla Óscar Miguel Sevilla Rivera (born 29 September 1976), nicknamed ''El Niño'', is a Spanish-Colombian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI Continental team . He is a Bicycling terminology#climber, climber with a pedigree ...

, riding for the team.