World Champion Cadel Evans (Australia)(Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla)
Winner of stage three, Tom Boonen (Quick Step).(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Tom Boonen (Quick Step) claims his third Paris-Roubaix title in April 2009(Image credit: www.ispaphoto.com)
Tom Boonen's third Paris-Roubaix title captured the imagination of Cyclingnews readers in 2009, the Belgian's success voted best one-day event of last season.
With 7,091 readers giving the thumbs-up to the Northern Classic, Paris-Roubaix polled in excess of 4,000 votes more than the men's road race at the UCI World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland.
Boonen won another Roubaix title on April 12, his second consecutive victory in the race and his third since winning it in 2005. It came before another controversy involving cocaine and the Quick Step rider, which embroiled him last May ahead of the Tour de France.
Regardless of his misdemeanours, Cyclingnews readers still voted for his Roubaix triumph, which placed him among greats such as Eddy Merckx, Johan Museeuw and Rik Van Looy, who each won the event three times.
Cadel Evans' triumph in the world championship road race in Mendrisio, near his European home close to the Italo-Swiss border (pictured below) was ranked second amongst Cyclingnews readers, garnering 2,933 votes. It beat Milano-Sanremo into third place, the 2009 edition of the Italian classic registering 1,718 votes.
Mark Cavendish signalled his intentions for the season with a thrilling final-metre lunge against Heinrich Haussler, the dramatic conclusion enhancing the passion for 'il Classicisimo' amongst British cycling fans, which was reflected in the reader voting.
Cyclingnews reader poll results - Best one day race
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Paris-Roubaix: 7091 Men's World Championship Road Race: 2933 Milano-Sanremo: 1718 Ronde van Vlaanderen: 1108 Liege-Bastogne-Liege: 957 Paris-Tours: 137 Gent-Wevelgem: 126
The winner of the Argon 18 Krypton, complete with SRAM Red groupset, Fast Forward F4R Clinchers, RavX bar, stem and seatpost, Speedplay Zero Cro-moly pedals and carbon bottle cages, will be announced later in the week.
