The 2009 edition of the Paris–Roubaix cycling classic took place on April 12, 2009. The race was won by Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who won the 2005 World Road Race Championship. He is a member of the team, and is considered a single-day road race specialist with a strong finishing sprint...

, who won his third Paris–Roubaix (2005, 2008, 2009). Boonen finished the race alone, seconds ahead of Filippo Pozzato

Filippo Pozzato

Filippo "Pippo" Pozzato is an Italian road racing cyclist with UCI ProTour Team Katusha.-Career:...

. Thor Hushovd

Thor Hushovd

Thor Hushovd is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer riding . He has signed for from 2012 onwards. He is known for sprinting and time trialing and is the 2010 Norwegian and world road champion. He is the first Norwegian to lead the Tour de France, and first Scandinavian to win the road...

 arrived third, to round out the podium. The race was the eighth event in the inaugural UCI World Ranking

2009 UCI World Ranking

The 2009 UCI World Ranking is the first edition of the ranking system launched by the International Cycling Union , replacing the rankings previously part of the UCI ProTour. The series started with the Tour Down Under's opening stage on 20 January, and consists of 13 stage races and 11 one-day...

 series.

Key Moments

Nearly all of the riders featured in the top ten endured at least a minor crash.

A group of eleven riders formed the early breakaway, but was caught again with still about 60 kilometres to go. Six riders then eventually broke away from the rest of the peloton: Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who won the 2005 World Road Race Championship. He is a member of the team, and is considered a single-day road race specialist with a strong finishing sprint...

, Juan Antonio Flecha

Juan Antonio Flecha

Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni is an Argentine-born Spanish professional road bicycle racer for the UCI ProTour team .-Career:...

, Leif Hoste

Leif Hoste

Leif Hoste is a Belgian professional road racing cyclist since 1998. He rides on the UCI ProTour for . His career highlights include winning two stages and the overall title at the 2006 Three Days of De Panne, the 2001 and 2006 Belgian national time trial championships, and a second place finish...

, Thor Hushovd

Thor Hushovd

Thor Hushovd is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer riding . He has signed for from 2012 onwards. He is known for sprinting and time trialing and is the 2010 Norwegian and world road champion. He is the first Norwegian to lead the Tour de France, and first Scandinavian to win the road...

, Filippo Pozzato

Filippo Pozzato

Filippo "Pippo" Pozzato is an Italian road racing cyclist with UCI ProTour Team Katusha.-Career:...

 and Johan Van Summeren

Johan Van Summeren

Johan Vansummeren is a Belgian road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTeam .During the 2007 Tour de France, commentator Paul Sherwen repeatedly praised Vansummeren's work in support of his team leader, eventual second place finisher Cadel Evans, even going so far as to say "I would like to...

.

At Carrefour de l'arbre, about 15 kilometres from the finish, Flecha crashed and took Hoste with him in his fall. Van Summeren and Pozzato were held back which allowed Boonen and Hushovd to break away. However, just a few hundred metres further, Hushovd also crashed and Boonen continued on his own. Pozzato came to within 10 seconds but never managed to close the gap, allowing Boonen to win.

CyclingNews.com wrote,

The Quick Step star was in a lead group of six favourites which included a surprise appearance by Thor Hushovd (Cervelo TestTeam), along with Leif Hoste, Johan Van Summeren (Silence-Lotto), Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank), and Filippo Pozzato (Katusha). The six worked together until an unbelievable string of events unfolded with 20km to go which clearly demonstrated that Boonen was riding under a lucky star. Boonen's first Easter miracle came when he followed an attack by Hushovd. The pair were fortunate to hold a few metres advantage coming into sector four of the pavé, Le Carrefour de l'Arbre, as the gods of Paris–Roubaix were about to smite the chasing quartet. Flecha, chasing after the two leaders, came into the dusty turn at the entrance to the sector too hot, and took a devastating tumble. Hoste, blind to the fallen Spaniard a few metres behind, came into the turn straight into Flecha, and flew head over heels onto the ground. Van Summeren, with lightning reflexes, made a dramatic power-slide stop to assist his captain while Pozzato was forced to brake to avoid the fallen riders before setting off in pursuit of the leaders. Seconds later Boonen's next bit of luck came as he led the Norwegian through the sector. The god of thunder was no match for the demons of the pavé, and Hushovd crashed on the ground, leaving 'Tommeke' to solo to victory.

During the race an official motorcycle crashed into the supporting crowd injuring sixteen people, four seriously. Three of the injured were flown by helicopter to hospitals in northern France.

Results

	Cyclist	Team	Time
1			6h 15'54"
2			+ 47"
3			+ 1'17"
4			s.t.
5			+ 1'22"
6			+ 2'14"
7			+ 3'13"
8			+ 3'15"
9			+ 5'00"
10			+ 5'29"
Source: CyclingNews.com

The cobblestones

Section	Kilometers	Place	Length (km)
28	98	Troisvilles Troisvilles Troisvilles is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...  > Inchy Inchy Inchy is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	2.2
27	104.5	Viesly Viesly -References:*...  > Quiévy Quiévy -References:*...	1.8
26	107	Quiévy Quiévy -References:*...  > Saint-Python Saint-Python Saint-Python is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	3.7
25	112	Saint-Python Saint-Python Saint-Python is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	1.5
24	119.5	Vertain Vertain -References:*...  > Saint-Martin-sur-Écaillon Saint-Martin-sur-Écaillon Saint-Martin-sur-Écaillon is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	1.9
23	126.5	Capelle-sur-Écaillon> Le-Bruat	1.7
22	138.5	Verchain-Maugré Verchain-Maugré -References:*...  > Quérénaing Quérénaing -References:*...	1.6
21	141.5	Quérénaing Quérénaing -References:*...  > Maing Maing Maing is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	2.5
20	144.5	Maing Maing Maing is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...  > Monchaux-sur-Écaillon Monchaux-sur-Écaillon -References:*...	1.6
19	156	Haveluy Haveluy Haveluy is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...  > Wallers Wallers Wallers is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	2.5
18	164	Trouée d'Arenberg	2.5
17	170.5	Wallers Wallers Wallers is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...  > Hélesmes Hélesmes Hélesmes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	1.6
16	177	Hornaing Hornaing Hornaing is a communes in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...  > Wandignies-Hamage Wandignies-Hamage -References:*...	3.7
15	184.5	Warlaing Warlaing -References:*...  > Brillon Brillon -References:*...	2.4
14	188	Tilloy > Sars-et-Rosières Sars-et-Rosières -References:*...	2.4
13	194.5	Beuvry-la-forêt > Orchies Orchies -References:* -External links:*...	1.4
12	199.5	Orchies Orchies -References:* -External links:*...	1.7
11	205.5	Auchy-lez-Orchies Auchy-lez-Orchies Auchy-lez-Orchies is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...  > Bersée Bersée Bersée is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	1.2
10	211	Mons-en-Pévèle Mons-en-Pévèle -See also:*Communes of the Nord department* Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle * Official website: http://www.mairie-monsenpevele.fr-References:*...	3
9	217	Mérignes > Pont-à-Marcq Pont-à-Marcq -References:**...	0.7
8	220	Pont-Thibaut > Ennevelin Ennevelin -References:*...	1.4
7	225.5	Templeuve Templeuve -Windmill:Templeuve is the location of a windmill. The windmill tower is first mentioned in 1328 in rent documents of Anchin Abbey, as the "Moulin de Viertain". It was burned during the war in 1616, and completely rebuilt. It stopped productive work in 1908, and was damaged during the First World...  > L'Épinette	0.2
7	226	Templeuve Templeuve -Windmill:Templeuve is the location of a windmill. The windmill tower is first mentioned in 1328 in rent documents of Anchin Abbey, as the "Moulin de Viertain". It was burned during the war in 1616, and completely rebuilt. It stopped productive work in 1908, and was damaged during the First World...  > Moulin-de-Vertain	0.5
6	232.5	Cysoing Cysoing Cysoing is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It is southeast of Lille.-Heraldry:-References:*...  > Bourghelles Bourghelles Bourghelles is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...	1.3
6	235	Bourghelles Bourghelles Bourghelles is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-References:*...  > Wannehain Wannehain -References:*...	1.1
5	239.5	Camphin-en-Pévèle Camphin-en-Pévèle -References:*...	1.8
4	242.5	Carrefour de l'Arbre	2.1
3	244.5	Gruson Gruson -References:*...	1.1
2	251.5	Hem Hem, Nord Hem is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It is located near the city of Roubaix.Hem is one of the oldest communes in the North of France. Originally known as ‘Ham’, it became ‘Hem’ during the 14th century...	1.4
1	258	Roubaix Roubaix Roubaix is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is located between the cities of Lille and Tourcoing.The Gare de Roubaix railway station offers connections to Lille, Tourcoing, Antwerp, Ostend and Paris.-Culture:...	0.3

Pre-Race favorites

Favorites included 2008 winner Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who won the 2005 World Road Race Championship. He is a member of the team, and is considered a single-day road race specialist with a strong finishing sprint...

, teammate and Ronde van Vlaanderen

2009 Ronde van Vlaanderen

The 2009 Tour of Flanders cycle race is the 93rd edition of the monument classic and took place on 5 April. The course is 259.7 km long and goes from Brugge to Meerbeke. The weather during the race was sunny and warm at 12 °C...

 winner Stijn Devolder

Stijn Devolder

Stijn Devolder is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He rides for UCI ProTeam , having ridden for Discovery Channel between 2004 and 2007 and from 2008 to 2010. Devolder won his first professional race at the 2004 Four Days of Dunkirk, winning stage 4...

, Garmin-Slipstream's Martijn Maaskant

Martijn Maaskant

Martijn Maaskant is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist currently riding for . Garmin's directeur sportif, Jonathan Vaughters was able to lure Maaskant to his team away from Dutch UCI ProTour team Rabobank...

, and 2006 winner, Fabian Cancellara

Fabian Cancellara

Fabian Cancellara is a Swiss professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . A time trial specialist, he is a four-time World Time Trial Champion and is the current Olympic gold medalist...

.