Cadel Evans (Australia) wins the 2009 World Championship Road Race.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
2009 was another great year for road racing and you voted Cadel Evans' superb win in the World Championship road race as the biggest moment of the year. In second place was the thrilling finale between Mark Cavendish and Heinrich Haussler as they threw their bikes towards the line in Milan-Sanremo.
Closing out the top three was Lance Armstrong's gripping tactical battle with Alberto Contador on the road to La Grande-Motte at the Tour de France.
However, it was Evans' opportunistic attack at the foot of the final climb in Medrisio that captured your approval with 40 per cent of the vote. Evans came into the event on the back of a mediocre year. He had briefly shone in the spring with a sprinkling of strong performances up-to-and-including the Dauphine.
But the Australian bombed dramatically at the Tour de France and despite finishing third at the Vuelta, many saw it as another lost opportunity after a poor wheel change during a mountain stage cost him vital seconds and a chance of overall success.
Lining up in Medrisio he was an outsider who, if reports are to be believed, didn't have the full support of his teammates. Yet when the chips were down it was Evans who showed to the World what they'd been missing at the Tour. He attacked from a select bunch to silence the critics who claimed he didn't attack enough in races.
It was a perfectly timed move to. Within a group controlled by an Armada of Spanish riders the Australian countered the acceleration of Joaquin Rodriguez before dropping the Spaniard and soloing away as Fabian Cancellara was forced to chase frantically from behind.
The final few kilometres were gripping viewing and, as Evans reached the final hill-top, he had a small but defendable leader over the chasing pack. It was a classic comeback performance from a rider so many people had discounted as a genuine contender.
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Cyclingnews 2009 Reader Poll results – Biggest moment of the year
Cadel Evans wins the World Championship road race: 5608 Mark Cavendish and Heinrich Haussler sprint against each other at Milano-Sanremo: 2898 Lance Armstrong drops Contador on the windy stage to La Grande-Motte in the Tour de France: 2349 Denis Menchov falls during the final time trial stage of the Giro d'Italia: 1872 CONI bans Alejandro Valverde from competing on Italian soil: 290 Tom Boonen is busted for cocaine for a second (later revealed as third) time: 288 Nino Schurter outpaces Julien Absalon at the MTB World Championships: 253 Kenny Van Hummel battles for the Lanterne Rouge: 205 Theo Bos is involved in a controversial sprint at the Presidential Tour of Turkey: 184 Pedro Horrillo crashes in the Giro d'Italia: 123
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
