2009 Tokyo prefectural election
Tokyo's legislative election is one of only three elections for prefectural parliaments countrywide that are not held in the "unified regional election" (tōitsu chihō senkyo, last round: 2007), the other two being Ibaraki's and Okinawa's prefectural assembly elections.


2009 Tokyo prefectural election, Results
Polls closed at 8:00 pm Japan Standard Time. Turnout was significantly up from 2005 and stood at 54.5 percent. The DPJ picked up 20 seats and saw 54 of their 58 candidates elected. The LDP lost its status as strongest party in the Metropolitan Assembly for the first time since 1965. Despite strong results for coalition partner Kōmeitō, the ruling camp could not defend an absolute majority (64 seats). The only electoral district where an LDP candidate received the most votes (top tōsen) was the single-member [Izu and Ogasawara] islands electoral district of former assembly president Chūichi Kawashima, a native of Ōshima town who had represented the islands since 1985.


2009 Tokyo prefectural election, Aftermath
The president of the LDP's Tokyo prefectural federation, one of governor Ishihara's then two sons in the national House of Representatives, Nobuteru, initially hinted to step down as LDP Tokyo chief, but eventually stayed on. Nationally, Tarō Asō came under pressure within his party to resign immediately as party president-prime minister, but could avoid a leadership challenge by calling the general election of the House of Representatives early – the election on August 30 resulted in a landslide loss for the ruling coalition.


2009 Tokyo prefectural election, Aftermath
Democrat Ryō Tanaka from Suginami was elected assembly president, Kantarō Suzuki (Kōmeitō, Arakawa) became vice president. The assembly majority in the new assembly is often involved in disputes with governor Ishihara over the budget, the Tsukiji relocation and other issues. Yet, in the gubernatorial election of 2011 (part of the unified regional election), Ishihara was safely reelected for a fourth term.


2009 Toledo Rockets football team
The 2009 Toledo Rockets football team represented The University of Toledo during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season and as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Division. The team was coached by Tim Beckman and played their homes game in the Glass Bowl. The finished with a record of 5–7 (3–5 MAC).


2009 Tonga Major League
The 2009 season of the Tonga Major League was the 31st season of top flight association football competition in Tonga. Marist FC won the championship for the first time, ending an 11-year championship winning streak from Lotohaʻapai United.


2009 Tonga undersea volcanic eruption
The 2009 Tonga undersea volcanic eruption began on March 16, 2009, near the island of Hunga Tonga, approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from the Tongan capital of Tongatapu. The volcano is in a highly active volcanic region that represents a portion of the Pacific Ring of Fire. It is estimated that there are up to 36 undersea volcanoes clustered together in the area.


2009 Tonga undersea volcanic eruption, Eruption history
The initial March 16–17 eruption sent ash and smoke up to 20 kilometres (12 mi) into the atmosphere and an initial inspection reported that the volcano has breached the ocean surface. Authorities suggested at that time that the eruption did not yet pose any threat to the capital's population, and an inspection team was sent out to evaluate the volcano.


2009 Tonga undersea volcanic eruption, Eruption history
Between March 18–20, a number of Surtseyan eruptions sent ash plumes as high as 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to 5.2 kilometres (3.2 mi) into the atmosphere, with prevailing winds pushing the ash cloud about 480 kilometres (300 mi) east-northeast of the eruption site and widespread and significant haze reported at Vavaʻu 255 kilometres (158 mi) away. Steam plumes on March 20 were measured at 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) above sea level. But on March 21, an eruption sent steam and ash just 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi) into the sky.


2009 Tonga undersea volcanic eruption, Eruption history
On March 21, Tonga's chief geologist Kelepi Mafi reported lava and ash from two vents, one on the uninhabited island Hunga Haʻapai and another about 100 m (330 ft) offshore, had filled the gap between the two vents, creating new land surface that measured hundreds of square metres. The eruption devastated Hunga Haʻapai, covering it in black ash and stripping it of vegetation and fauna.


2009 Tonga undersea volcanic eruption, Disruptions
Two Air New Zealand airline flights into Tonga were delayed due to safety concerns caused by the volcanic ash, but flight schedules returned to normal shortly thereafter.


2009 Tonga undersea volcanic eruption, Disruptions
Tongan officials also expressed concern that the eruption could significantly harm the country's fishing industry.


2009 Tonga undersea volcanic eruption, 2009 Tonga earthquake
Four days after the start of the eruption a strong earthquake measuring 7.6 Mw(ISC)  also struck the region. Ken Hudnut, a geophysicist for the United States Geological Survey, stated that "The association with the volcanic activity seems to be an interesting added dimension to this. It's not clear at this point that there is a direct association, but it seems suggestive at this point.". Keleti Mafi, the Tongan government's chief seismologist, also suggested that the earthquake was likely to have a direct impact on the volcanic eruption, stating that the "strength of the earthquake could crack the volcano's (undersea) vent and allow more magma to be ejected".


2009 Top League Challenge Series
The 2009 Top League Challenge Series was the 2009 edition of the Top League Challenge Series, a second-tier rugby union competition in Japan, in which teams from regionalised leagues competed for promotion to the Top League for the 2009–10 season. The competition was contested from 11 to 25 January 2009.


2009 Top League Challenge Series
Honda Heat and Ricoh Black Rams won promotion to the 2009–10 Top League, while Mazda Blue Zoomers and Toyota Industries Shuttles progressed to the promotion play-offs.


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Competition rules and information
The top two teams from the regional Top East League, Top West League and Top Kyūshū League qualified to the Top League Challenge Series. The regional league winners participated in Challenge 1, while the runners-up participated in Challenge 2.


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Competition rules and information
The top two teams in Challenge 1 won automatic promotion to the 2009–10 Top League, while the third-placed team in Challenge 1 and the Challenge 2 winner qualified to the promotion play-offs.


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Qualification
The teams qualified to the Challenge 1 and Challenge 2 series through the 2008 regional leagues.


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Qualification, Top West League
The final standings for the 2008 Top West League were:


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Qualification, Top East League
The final standings for the 2008 Top East League were:


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Qualification, Top Kyūshū League
The final standings for the 2008 Top Kyūshū League were:


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Challenge 1, Standings
The final standings for the 2009 Top League Challenge 1 were:


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Challenge 1, Matches
The following matches were played in the 2009 Top League Challenge 1:


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Challenge 2, Standings
The final standings for the 2009 Top League Challenge 2 were:


2009 Top League Challenge Series, Challenge 2, Matches
The following matches were played in the 2009 Top League Challenge 2:


2009 Toppserien
The 2009 Toppserien was the twenty-third season of top-tier women's football in Norway since its establishment in 1987. A total of twelve teams contested the league, consisting of ten who competed in the previous season and two promoted from the 1. divisjon. Running from 13 April to 31 October 2009, it was won by Røa for the third consecutive year. As winners, Røa qualified for the Round of 32 of the 2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League as the sole representative from Norway. Because Norway had dropped to ninth place in the UEFA coefficient rankings for 2010–11, the runners-up in the Toppserien could no longer enter the Qualifying Round of the Champions League, as had been the case in the previous season.


2009 Toppserien
Røa were confirmed as league champions on the last day of the season after drawing 0–0 with runners-up Stabæk, thus becoming the second team in the league's history to secure three consecutive titles (Trondheims-Ørn managed four in a row in 1994–1997). With their fourth league title overall, Røa also drew level with Sprint/Jeløy in terms of number of titles won, behind Trondheims-Ørn and Asker. Stabæk finished three points behind Røa in what was their first season after relocating to Bærum and becoming an affiliate of Stabæk Fotball. They had previously competed as Asker. Kolbotn finished third, six points behind Røa and three behind Stabæk.


2009 Toppserien
Neither of the two promoted teams were able to maintain their spot in the top flight. Fortuna Ålesund were the first team to be relegated to the 1.  divisjon after losing 1–2 at home to Arna-Bjørnar on 26 September. They were joined by Sandviken on 10 October when they lost 0–4 at home, also to Arna-Bjørnar.


2009 Toppserien
On 27 October, the Football Association of Norway penalized Fløya for their use of two ineligible players in the league and Norwegian Cup. The players, both acquired before the start of the season, were fielded in thirteen and nine matches respectively before it was discovered that the club had not registered the transfers properly. Fløya were fined 10,000 kroner and deducted four points. Consequently, they dropped from eighth to tenth place in the standings.


2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open
The 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 26th edition of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, and was part of the Premier Series of the 2009 WTA Tour. It was held at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan, from September 27 through October 2, 2009. Maria Sharapova won the singles title.


2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open, Champions, Doubles
Alisa Kleybanova /  Francesca Schiavone defeated  Daniela Hantuchová /  Ai Sugiyama, 6–4, 6–2


2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open, WTA entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open – Doubles
Vania King and Nadia Petrova were the defending champions, both of them were present this year, but played with different partners. King partnered with Zheng Jie and Petrova partnered with Gisela Dulko both lost to Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama, in the first round and the semifinals respectively. Alisa Kleybanova and Francesca Schiavone won in the final 6–4, 6–2 against Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama.


2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open – Singles
Dinara Safina was the defending champion, but lost to Chang Kai-chen in the second round.


2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open – Singles
Maria Sharapova was the champion, defeating Jelena Janković after Janković retired with a wrist injury with the scoreline at 5–2.


2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open – Singles, Seeds
The top eight seeds received a bye into the second round.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile)
The 2009 Campeonato Nacional de Apertura Copa Banco Estado was the 85th season of top-tier football in Chile. The tournament champion was Universidad de Chile, so that earned their 13th league title after a five-year winless, after winning over Unión Española on points, in the finals, that allowed the automatically qualification of the university team to the 2010 Copa Libertadores Second Stage.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile)
After the relegations of Deportes Melipilla, Provincial Osorno and Deportes Concepción (because administration problems), the number of teams that contested the tournament was reduced from 20 to 18, following the promotion of Curicó Unido, which made their first top-flight appearance in 35 years.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile)
It began on 31 January during a 2–2 draw between Curicó Unido and Colo-Colo at the Estadio Fiscal de Talca, and ended on 28 June.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Format changes
The format for 2009 remains largely the same as 2008, except for the advancement to the Playoff Stages. Groups will no longer be used to determine who advance to the next stage. Instead, the top-eight teams in Classification Stage will advance.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Format changes, International qualification changes
Qualification to the Copa Libertadores remains the same, as well as qualification to the Chile 1 spot in the Copa Sudamericana. The Chile 2 spot will be contested between the second-best team in the first stage and the 2008-09 Copa Chile winner. The winner of the single match will qualify to the 2009 Copa Sudamericana.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Team information
The number of teams were reduced starting with this season from 20 to 18. Deportes Antofagasta, Provincial Osorno, Deportes Melipilla, and Deportes Concepción were relegated last season to the Primera B. They were replaced by Municipal Iquique and Curicó Unido.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Regular season, Playoff stage
Universidad de Chile qualified to the 2010 Copa Libertadores Second Stage.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Copa Sudamericana playoff
The second-best team of the Classification Stage (Universidad de Chile) played a match at Estadio Municipal Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso in the city of Coquimbo against the 2008 Copa Chile champions, (Universidad de Concepción) for the Chile 2 spot in the 2009 Copa Sudamericana.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Copa Sudamericana playoff
Universidad de Chile classified to the Chile 2 berth for the 2009 Copa Sudamericana First Stage.


2009 Torneo Apertura (Primera B de Chile)
The 2009 Torneo Apertura was the 59th completed season of the Primera B de Chile.


2009 Torneo Clausura (Chile)
The 2009 Torneo Clasura, officially the Campeonato Nacional de Clausura Copa BancoEstado 2009 (English: Clausura National Championship Banco Estado Cup 2009), was the 86th top tier tournament. It began on July 12 and is scheduled to end on December 16. Colo-Colo were the champions, winning its 29th title.


2009 Torneo Clausura (Chile), Relegation
Relegation for this season will be determined by an aggregate table of the Classification Stages of both the Apertura and Clausura tournaments. The teams that finish 17th and 18th will be automatically relegated to the Primera B for the next season. The teams that finish 15th and 16th will play a relegation/promotion playoff against two teams from the 2009 Primera B season.


2009 Torneo Clausura (Chile), Relegation, Relegation/promotion playoff
By finishing 15th in the relegation table, Palestino was pitted against the San Marcos de Arica, the 2nd best team in the 2009 Primera B General Table. Curicó Unido, by finishing 16th in the relegation table, played against San Luis, the loser of the 2009 Primera B championship playoff. The team who obtains the most point after two legs will stay or be promoted to the Primera División. Should there be a tie on points, it will be settled as follows: 1) overall goal difference; 2) most away goal; 3) extra time of two 15-minute halves; 4) penalty shootout according to the Laws of the Game. The Primera División (Team #1) played the second leg at home.


2009 Torneo Clausura (Primera B de Chile)
The 2009 Torneo Clausura was part of the 59th completed season of the Primera B de Chile.


2009 Torneo Descentralizado
The 2009 Torneo Descentralizado de Fútbol Profesional (known as the Copa Cable Mágico for sponsorship reasons) was the 93rd season of Association Peruvian football. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. The season began on February 14 and concluded on December 13 with the victory of Universitario de Deportes over Alianza Lima in the second leg of the final Play-off, giving Universitario its twenty-fifth Peruvian title.


2009 Torneo Descentralizado, Competitions modus
The season was divided into 3 stages. In the first stage the 16 teams played a round-robin home-and-away round for a total of 30 matches each. In the second stage the 16 teams were divided into 2 groups. The 8 teams that ranked an odd number played in the group Liguilla A and the 8 teams that ranked an even number played in Liguilla B. Each team carried on their records from the first stage. Each group played another round-robin home-and-away round for 14 matches played by each team.


2009 Torneo Descentralizado, Competitions modus
The teams ranked first in each group at the end of the 14 matches advanced to the third stage. The two teams with the worst fewest points at the end of the second stage were relegated. In the third stage the championship was contested in a two-legged Play-off. The Play-off finalists qualified for the Copa Libertadores. The remaining international competition berths were determined by the season aggregate table.


2009 Torneo Descentralizado, Changes from 2008, Promotion and relegation
Atlético Minero and Sport Boys finished the 2008 season in 13th and 14th place, respectively, in the aggregate table and thus were relegated to the Segunda División. They were replaced by the champion and runner-up teams of the 2008 Segunda División, Total Clean and Inti Gas and champion and runner-up teams of the 2008 Copa Perú, Sport Huancayo and CNI


2009 Torneo Descentralizado, Teams
A total of 16 teams competed in this season. The only teams to have ownership over their home ground is Alianza Lima and Universitario. The other 14 clubs rent their home grounds from the Instituto Peruano del Deporte or their local municipality.


2009 Torneo Descentralizado, Second stage
The Second Stage began September 13. The winner of each Liguilla qualified for the 2010 Copa Libertadores group stage and advanced to the third stage of the Torneo Descentralizado.


2009 Torneo Descentralizado, Third stage
The Third Stage was the finals (also known as the Play-off) of the 2009 season between the winners of each group of the Second Stage. They were played on December 8 and 13. The group winner with the most points on the aggregate table chose the home ground order.


2009 Torneo Descentralizado, Aggregate table
The aggregate table determined the third Peruvian berth for the 2010 Copa Libertadores, the three berths for the 2010 Copa Sudamericana, and the relegation to the Segunda División. The aggregate table consists of the points earned in the First and Second stages.


2009 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte
The 2009 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 10th edition of the tournament and was part of the 2009 ITF Women's Circuit. It took place in Biella, Italy between 7 and 13 September 2009.


2009 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2009 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte, Doubles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2009 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte – Singles
Mara Santangelo was the defending champion, however she chose not to compete this year.


2009 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte – Singles
Petra Martić won her maiden $100,000 title, defeating Sharon Fichman in the final, 7–5, 6–4.


2009 Torneo di Viareggio
The 2009 winners of the Torneo di Viareggio (in English, the Viareggio Tournament, officially the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale), the annual youth football tournament held in Viareggio, Tuscany, are listed below.


2009 Torneo di Viareggio, Format
The 40 teams are seeded in 10 pools, split up into 5-pool groups. Each team from a pool meets the others in a single tie. The winning club from each pool and three best runners-up from both group A and group B progress to the final knockout stage. All matches in the final rounds are single tie. The Round of 16 envisions penalties and no extra time, while the rest of the final round matches include 30 minutes extra time and penalties to be played if the draw between teams still holds.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season
The 2009 Toronto Argonauts season was the 52nd season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 137th overall. The Argonauts attempted to win their 16th Grey Cup championship, but they failed to make the playoffs for the second straight year, finishing the season with a 3–15 record for the first time since 1993.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season
Training camp opened on June 7 and Toronto's first pre-season game was on June 17, 2009, at the Rogers Centre, hosting the Montreal Alouettes. The regular season kicked off on July 1 at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Ivor Wynne Stadium, where the Argos defeated the Ti-Cats 30–17.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Off-season
On January 16, 2009, the Argonauts announced that Bart Andrus had been hired as the new head coach. He became the 40th head coach in the team's 136-year history and marked his first experience in Canadian football.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Off-season, CFL Draft
The 2009 CFL Draft took place on May 2, 2009. The Argonauts had the second overall pick and selected Laval tackle Étienne Légaré, immediately signing him to a three-year contract.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Off-season, Notable transactions
The Toronto Argonauts were active on the opening day of free agency on February 16 signing tackle Rob Murphy, the most sought after offensive lineman available in the free-agent pool, centre Dominic Picard, and re-signing linebacker Willie Pile, who posted a team-high 75 tackles in 2008.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Roster
Italics indicates Import player updated 2010-01-3145 Active, 7 Inactive, 6 PR


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 1: at Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Argonauts began the season on Canada Day at the Ti-Cats' home stadium and it didn't take long for the traditional rivalry to heat up.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 1: at Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Argonauts Jamal Robertson and Adriano Belli both received players of the week honours for their play in the game. Running back Jamal Robertson's career-high single-game 200 combined yards (134 rushing yards, 53 receiving yards, 13 kickoff return yards) and 1 touchdown earned him the CFL Offensive Player of the Week award while Belli was awarded the Canadian Player of the Week for giving Hamilton quarterback Quinton Porter trouble with two sacks and three tackles in the game.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 2: vs Saskatchewan Roughriders
Toronto lost their home opener July 11 versus Saskatchewan by a score of 46–36. The Argonauts committed 12 penalties for 124 yards, 109 yards of which were in the first half. The Argonauts opened the game strongly by scoring a touchdown on their opening drive and scoring a field goal after blocking a Luca Congi field goal try to take an early 10–0 lead. Toronto penalties assisted a Saskatchewan drive for a touchdown to make it 10–7. Then, Toronto kicker Justin Medlock made another field goal to end the first quarter with a 13–7 lead.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 2: vs Saskatchewan Roughriders
In the second quarter, Toronto allowed Saskatchewan to score thirty unanswered points. Toronto came back in the second half scoring three touchdowns and a field goal and holding Saskatchewan to three field goals but ended up losing by 10. After the game, an angry coach Andrus said that players needed to control the penalties.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 2: vs Saskatchewan Roughriders
Adriano Belli in particular, who took 4 penalties for 44 yards in the first half including a head butt that continued the Roughriders first drive for a touchdown, took some criticism: "If he wants to be a WWE wrestler, then he can go do that, but he is not going to do on my football team", said Andrus.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 3: at Calgary Stampeders
Toronto lost their second game in a row and again a series of errors in a short period of time helped the opponents to score but this time it was the offence and turnovers that gave the Stampeders a big win. The Argonauts gave up the ball five times in all but the game broke open with two turnovers within 75 seconds in the second half.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 3: at Calgary Stampeders
On the final play of the third quarter, Stampeders linebacker Dwaine Carpenter stripped the ball from quarterback Kerry Joseph and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown and on the next Argos drive, Calgary defensive back Dwight Anderson intercepted a Joseph pass and ran it back 52 yards for another touchdown to make the score 34 to 9. Yet another interception later in the fourth quarter by cornerback Brandon Browner gave the Stampeders three defensive touchdowns and a commanding 44 to 9 victory.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 5: vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers
This game marked an anniversary of losing at the Rogers Centre, as it officially marked one year without a home victory for the Argonauts. Kerry Joseph had one touchdown throw (to Chad Lucas) but was intercepted four times while the Argos coughed up two additional fumbles (one by Joseph on a sack).


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 6: at Montreal Alouettes
The Argos suffered a 25–0 blanking at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes. It was the first time the Argos had been shut out in seventeen years, and the first time a CFL team was shut out in seventeen years.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 7: vs BC Lions
After a humiliating shutout loss the past week, Cody Pickett was given the job of starting quarterback. The game started off with Zeke Moreno intercepting a pass from BC Lions quarterback Buck Pierce. Toronto was leading 9–0, but after Buck Pierce was taken out of the game as a result of concussion-like symptoms, BC's second-string quarterback Jarious Jackson came in and led the Lions to their first touchdown of the game. The Argos responded by delivering a touchdown pass to Reggie McNeal.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 7: vs BC Lions
Although the Argos had a lot of trouble finding the endzone throughout the game, kicker Justin Medlock helped them keep the lead by kicking field goals. Medlock would score seven field goals, tying Lance Chomyc's Argonauts team record and just short of the league record of eight shared by Dave Ridgway, Mark McLoughlin, and Paul Osbaldiston.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 7: vs BC Lions
Heading into the third quarter, BC head coach Wally Buono decided to switch to his third stringer Travis Lulay since Jackson wasn't getting them anywhere. However, Lulay got injured leaving Jarious Jackson as the Lions only quarterback left standing. When Jackson came back in, he instantly threw a touchdown pass to Paris Jackson to cut Toronto's lead 22–14. In response, Justin Medlock kicked another field goal to increase the Argos lead 25–14.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 7: vs BC Lions
BC scored two more touchdowns but failed on both of the two point converts they attempted. With Toronto leading 28–26 with just nine seconds remaining on the game clock, BC's rookie kicker Sean Whyte kicked the game-winning field goal to give BC the lead at 29–28. On the final play of the game, Ryan Phillips intercepted Reggie McNeal's attempted lateral and returned it for a touchdown.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season, Week 7: vs BC Lions
It was the Argo's ninth straight loss both at Rogers Centre and against the Lions.


2009 Toronto Argonauts season, Postseason
After finishing last in the East division, the Argonauts failed to qualify for the 2009 CFL playoffs.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season
The 2009 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's 33rd in Major League Baseball, and the 20th full season of play at the Rogers Centre. The team was managed by Cito Gaston, who was hired by the team midway through the 2008 season. General Manager J. P. Ricciardi was fired on the penultimate day of the season, as the team again failed to make the playoffs. He was replaced by Assistant General Manager Alex Anthopoulos.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season
The team started the season well, and was in first place in the American League East with a 27–14 record. The team was swept by the Red Sox at Fenway Park from May 19 to 21, the first of nine straight losses that ultimately led to a disappointing season with a record of 75–87, 28 games behind the division lead, and 20 games behind the wild card spot. It was the first time that Toronto had finished with a losing record since 2005, when they finished 80–82.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Front office reorganization
Ted Rogers, the founder of Rogers Communications and the Blue Jays' owner, died at the age of 75 on December 2, 2008, at his home in Toronto. Rogers purchased the Blue Jays in 2000, hoping to lead the franchise to its first playoff berth since the club last won the World Series in 1993. The team continues to be owned and operated by Rogers Blue Jays Baseball Partnership, a division of Rogers Communications.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Front office reorganization
Prior to Rogers' death, the team named Paul Beeston as interim president of baseball operations and chief operating officer replacing retiring president Paul Godfrey. The first employee in Toronto Blue Jays history, Beeston served in the same capacity with the organization from 1989 to 1997. Soon after being introduced on October 14, 2008, Beeston began a significant reorganization of the baseball operations of the club. In the wake of the global financial crisis and the loss of advertising revenue, the team let go of several employees from its media division on December 2.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Front office reorganization
On January 21, 2009, assistant general manager Bart Given was also dismissed to keep "costs down" for the upcoming season according to the team.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Front office reorganization
Additions were made to the scouting department, including the hiring of pro scouts Roy Smith, Steve Springer and four others.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions
The most significant change from the 2008 team was the departure of pitcher A. J. Burnett, who filed for free agency and signed a contract with the New York Yankees. Shaun Marcum (elbow), Casey Janssen (shoulder) and Dustin McGowan (labrum) started the season on the disabled list. Janssen has since returned, Getting a loss in his season debut vs the Braves, which the Jays lost 4-3.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Retentions
For the twelfth consecutive season the organization avoided going to an arbitration hearing, re-signing the five arbitration eligible players on the team. The team and relievers Brandon League (one year/$640K), Jeremy Accardo (one year/$900K), Jason Frasor (one year/$1.45M), Brian Tallet (one year/$1.025M) and Shawn Camp (one year/$750K) along with infielder José Bautista (one year/$2.4M) all came to terms.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Retentions
The team also picked up the club option held on catcher Rod Barajas.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Departures
On November 5, 2008, pitcher A. J. Burnett opted out of the remaining two years of his five-year contract, ending months of speculation that the starter was planning to leave Toronto. Burnett, who in 2008 led the team in strikeouts and won 18 games, went on to sign with the division rival New York Yankees on December 18.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Departures
None of the five major league free agents from the Blue Jays' 2008 roster were tendered contracts. Catcher Gregg Zaun ended his five-year tenure in Toronto and signed a one-year deal with the rival Baltimore Orioles. Outfielder Brad Wilkerson (Boston), relief pitcher John Parrish (Orioles), and infielder Héctor Luna (Los Angeles (NL)) all signed minor league contracts elsewhere, while outfielder Kevin Mench signed a one-year deal with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan's Nippon League.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Departures
Minor league pitching prospect Jean Machi, who had been on the forty-man roster, was also released by the club in November. Another major departure, third baseman Scott Rolen, was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for personal reasons.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Arrivals
The Blue Jays, faced with financial hardships, the fall of the Canadian dollar against the American dollar and a smaller budget, did not opt to make any major impact moves. Towards the end of spring training, they did however sign Kevin Millar to a one-year deal. Millar is known as a solid player to have in the clubhouse and would find time playing the DH and utility infield.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Arrivals
However, with the trade of Scott Rolen to the Cincinnati Reds, the Blue Jays welcomed infielder Edwin Encarnación, relief pitcher Josh Roenicke and a minor league pitching prospect.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Arrivals
Two starters recovering from major shoulder surgery would have an opportunity to claim rotation slots with the club coming out of spring training. Former All-Star starter Matt Clement, who spent an injury riddled 2008 season with St. Louis was signed on December 12. Left-handed starter Mike Maroth, who last pitched in the majors in 2007 with St. Louis, was inked to a minor league deal on December 30.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Arrivals
Two former first overall draft picks were also acquired by the club. 2002 top selection Bryan Bullington was claimed off waivers from Cleveland in October. The Jays also traded for 2004 number one choice Matt Bush in February. Bush had previously been in the Padres organisation.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Arrivals
The team imported fourteen-year Nippon League veteran Ken Takahashi from Japan. Toronto claimed southpaw Brian Burres (Baltimore), and reliever T. J. Beam (Pittsburgh) off waivers. The club also re-signed Dirk Hayhurst in February, days after releasing the former waiver claim.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Arrivals
Former silver slugging catcher Michael Barrett and infielder Kevin Millar were among the prominent additions to the team offensively. Barrett, who missed much of his 2008 season with the Padres due to a facial fracture, is a top candidate to be the Blue Jays backup catcher. Millar, who spent the previous three seasons with Baltimore and hit twenty home runs in 2008, will have an opportunity for a bench or platoon role with the Jays.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Arrivals
In January, the team signed outfielder Jason Lane (Boston) and infielder Brandon Fahey (Baltimore) to minor league deals. In December, the team inked catcher Raúl Chávez (Pittsburgh) and designated hitter Randy Ruiz (Minnesota). In October the club announced it signed former Orioles pitcher Adam Loewen and will attempt to convert him to a first baseman.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Injuries
Starter Shaun Marcum was lost for the 2009 season when he underwent Tommy John surgery in the fall of 2008. The right-hander went under the knife to repair ligaments in his pitching elbow, and is tentatively expected to be back for the Jays' 2010 spring training.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Injuries
Pitcher Casey Janssen who missed all of 2008 due to shoulder problems was expected to compete for a rotation spot, but was put on the 15-day disabled list just before the season began. Starter Dustin McGowan who is recovering from right labrum surgery is expected to rejoin the club sometime in May.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Injuries
On April 23, the Blue Jays placed starting pitcher Ricky Romero and closer B. J. Ryan on the 15-day disabled list. Romero was suffering from a right oblique strain, while Ryan was sent to see a specialist for a tight left trapezius muscle. Ryan has since returned, but not as the closer.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Offseason, Player transactions, Injuries
On June 9, it was announced that Jesse Litsch will undergo season-ending ligament replacement ("Tommy John") surgery.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Broadcasts
The Jays' flagship station for radio is The FAN 590, which has all 162 regular season games. Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby will call all 162, with Mike Wilner being the third personality. Mike will also host the pregame and postgame show for each game, as long as there is time for it before/after. The Blue Jays' flagship TV station is Rogers Sportsnet, which is airing over 100 games in 2009 for the Jays. The two other stations are both in the TSN network, TSN and TSN2.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Broadcasts
TSN has coverage starting after they are done with NHL on TSN (during the Stanley Cup Finals, coverage usually starts). From May 19–21, the two Jays stations were occupied with hockey and TSN2 airs the Jays in TSN's place. With Sportsnet taking care of the annual Memorial Cup, and TSN covering the NHL conference finals, TSN2 was open, and took in at the time, the biggest series of the Jays' young season. Rod Black and Pat Tabler did not cover this series though, TSN2 broadcast NESN coverage.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Broadcasts
TSN2 had the September 13 game versus the Tigers and will air the Jays home closer versus the Mariners on September 27. Untelevised games can be seen on JaysVision on Rogers Cable (digital only). Otherwise, the viewer must subscribe to MLB Extra Innings, which gets the feed from the opposing team's station. MLB Extra Innings is available on satellite and digital cable.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Regular season, Season summary
The Jays began the year with a schedule that had them playing teams from the Central and the West divisions for 24 games in April. Adam Lind slugged out an opening day record 6 RBI, and the Jays pummeled the Tigers, giving Roy Halladay the win. They went on to win the first 6 series of the season, and finished April with a 15-9 record, tied with the Red Sox for first in the AL East.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Regular season, Season summary
The first game against the New York Yankees occurred on May 12, in a marquee matchup of Roy Halladay versus former teammate A. J. Burnett. Not only did the Jays win 8-2, but Halladay recorded his first complete game of the season, while giving Burnett his first loss on the year. The Jays drew a crowd of 43,737 fans. This was the first non-home opener Rogers Centre sell out since July 22 of the previous year against the Yankees, drawing a crowd of 50,014.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Regular season, Season summary
However, the remaining two games of the 2009series were won by the Yankees, making this the first series lost by the Jays at home that season. They followed this with a series sweep of the Chicago White Sox, at which time the Jays had the best record (27-14) in the American League, but this was followed by a disastrous road trip to Boston, Atlanta and Baltimore during which the Jays lost 9 straight games, tying their longest away-game losing streak since a nine-game run in May 2007.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Regular season, Season summary
This left the Jays at 27-23, behind Boston and the Yankees by 1.5 games. The Blue Jays then bounced back, taking two out of three from Boston, and had some more considerable successes, most notably a three-game road sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies. However, they never again held a playoff position, and gradually faded out of the picture: they were out of contention by the All-Star break, and were never able to mount any sort of charge reminiscent of 2008's 10-game winning streak to get back in the race.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Regular season, Season summary
Roy Halladay and Aaron Hill were named to the American League All-Star team. Halladay was the starting pitcher, and Hill started the game at second base.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Regular season, Firing of J. P. Ricciardi
On October 3, the J. P. Ricciardi era ended in Toronto. When he took over in 2002, he guaranteed a playoff berth; the Jays never even came close to a playoff berth, never finishing better than 10 games behind the top of the division during Ricciardi's reign. After a promising start to 2009, the Jays faltered, and Ricciardi publicized the topic of a Roy Halladay trade, which many Jays fans disapproved. Allegedly, Ricciardi told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports a day before the firing, in which some Blue Jays players spoke critically about Cito Gaston. A day later, Paul Beeston reportedly found out about Ricciardi leaking the information to the media, and promptly fired him. Assistant GM Alex Anthopoulos took over immediately.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Regular season, 2009 draft picks
The 2009 MLB Draft was held on June 9–11. The Blue Jays had a first round pick, along with one compensation pick. The Blue Jays also had two picks in the third round.


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Player stats, Batting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases. Excludes batting by pitchers (interleague games).


2009 Toronto Blue Jays season, Player stats, Pitching
Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts Updated through July 21, 2009.


2009 Toronto FC season
The 2009 Toronto FC season was the third season in Toronto FC's existence. The club narrowly missed their first appearance for the MLS playoffs, losing the last game of the season when a win would have meant qualification.


2009 Toronto FC season, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Toronto FC season, Squad, Transfers, In
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Toronto FC season, Squad, Transfers, Out
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Toronto FC season, Competitions, Regular season, Standings
(SS) = Supporters Shield winner; (E1) = Eastern Conference champion; (W1) = Western Conference champion


2009 Toronto FC season, Competitions, Regular season, Results summary
Last updated: October 24, 2009Source: 2009 Major League Soccer seasonPld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won;  T = Matches tied;  L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference


2009 Toronto FC season, Squad statistics
Competitive matches only. Numbers in brackets indicate appearances as a substitute. Updated to games played October 24, 2009.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival
The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009. The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography Creation. The Young Victoria, based on the early years of Queen Victoria, closed the festival on September 19.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival
TIFF is a non-profit organization whose goal is to change the way people look at the world through film. The festival is Canada's largest film festival, receiving 4,209 submissions in 2008. Of this total, 312 films were screened coming from 64 different countries. TIFF creates an annual economic impact of $135 million CAD. Aided by over 2,000 volunteers, 100 full-time staff members and 500 seasonal or part-time staff are responsible for organizing the festival. Two screenings of each of the invited films are presented to the public and at least one screening is provided for press and industry. The 2009 festival contained 19 different Programmes, or categories of films. After the ten days of film, the Awards reception was held at Intercontinental Hotel on Front Street in Toronto.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival
Perhaps the most prestigious of the awards was bestowed to Lee Daniels's Precious: based on the novel Push by Sapphire. This award was the 2009 Cadillac People's Choice Award and is based solely on votes by Festival audiences. This award carries a $15,000 cash prize and also comes with a custom made award from Cadillac. It is widely considered to be the most prestigious because it has had the greatest impact on audiences and inspires film distributors to sign the winning film for larger international releases.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival
Last year's winner Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle, went on to reap huge international spotlight which culminated at the 2009 Academy Awards where it won Best Picture. Lee Daniel's Precious was also a big Oscar contender as it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, however it lost to The Hurt Locker and its helmer Katheryn Bigelow. The First runner-up was Bruce Beresford's Mao's Last Dancer and the second runner-up was Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival
The City of Toronto and Astral Media's The Movie Network Award for Best Canadian Feature Film went to Cairo Time directed by Ruba Nadda. Sponsored by Astral Media's the Movie Network and the City of Toronto, this award came with a cash prize of $30,000.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival
Future endeavors by the TIFF will be aided by the ongoing construction of TIFF Bell Lightbox, a 1,750,000-square-foot (163,000 m2) facility with an estimated annual economic impact of over $200 million. Complete with 5 cinemas, learning studios, galleries and a rooftop lounge, this will become the hub of TIFF in 2010 when construction is scheduled to be completed.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
More than 1,500 people, including prominent filmmakers, academics, and writers signed a letter of protest directed at the Toronto International Film Festival regarding its decision to spotlight Tel Aviv and the work of 10 Israeli filmmakers. The protest leaders emphasized that it is not a call for a boycott. The original protest letter in part reads:


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
The signatories and supporters include Ken Loach, David Byrne, Naomi Klein, Alice Walker, Jane Fonda, Wallace Shawn, Danny Glover, John Greyson, Viggo Mortensen and the American Jewish group Jewish Voice for Peace.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
John Greyson's letter of protest highlighted an interview "Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin gave to Canadian Jewish News in which he described the TIFF spotlight as a culmination of his year-long Brand Israel campaign, which included ads on buses, radio and television." Greyson claims that "This isn't the right year to celebrate Brand Israel, or to demonstrate an ostrich-like indifference to the realities (cinematic and otherwise) of the region, or to pointedly ignore the international economic boycott campaign against Israel."


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
The protest letter was met with condemnation by some, such as Simcha Jacobovici, "a Toronto filmmaker who recently moved with his family to Israel, noted in a statement that the Palestinian government in Gaza had recently called a U.N. proposal to teach the Holocaust in Palestinian schools a war crime." Jacobovici asked "Why does [protest supporter John Greyson] want to align himself with Holocaust deniers?" Others accused those who signed the protest letter as engaging in a boycott of Israel films.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, has stated that "it is clear that the script [the protesters] are reading from might as well have been written by Hamas."


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
Patrick Goldstein, writing in the Los Angeles Times, wrote against the protest and made an analogy to actions by musician Paul Simon:


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
In response to the protest, a number of Hollywood stars circulated a counter-protest letter on September 15, 2009. This letter,  which appeared simultaneously in the Los Angeles Times and the Toronto Star, included signatories Jerry Seinfeld, Sacha Baron Cohen, Natalie Portman, Jason Alexander, Lisa Kudrow, Lenny Kravitz, Patricia Heaton, Jacob Richler, Noah Richler, George F. Walker and Moses Znaimer. The letter said:


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
Anyone who has actually seen recent Israeli cinema, movies that are political and personal, comic and tragic, often critical, knows they are in no way a propaganda arm for any government policy. Blacklisting them only stifles the exchange of cultural knowledge that artists should be the first to defend and protect.


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
Jane Fonda, in a posting on Huffington Post, says that she now regrets some of the language used in the original protest letter and how it "was perhaps too easily misunderstood. It certainly has been wildly distorted. Contrary to the lies that have been circulated, the protest letter was not demonizing Israeli films and filmmakers."


2009 Toronto International Film Festival, About the 2009 Festival, Controversy over Tel Aviv spotlight
She continued writing "the greatest 're-branding' of Israel would be to celebrate that country's long standing, courageous and robust peace movement by helping to end the blockade of Gaza through negotiations with all parties to the conflict, and by stopping the expansion of West Bank settlements. That's the way to show Israel's commitment to peace, not a PR campaign. There will be no two-state solution unless this happens."


2009 Toronto Nationals season
The 2009 Toronto Nationals season was the first for the franchise. Their first game in the MLL was on May 15, 2009 against Washington Bayhawks, which they won 17–16. They also won their first home game over the Chicago Machine 15–11. The Nationals qualified for the playoffs as the second seed with a 7–5 record and the best offense in MLL with 184 goals for. The Nationals played their first playoff game against the Long Island Lizards at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.


2009 Toronto Nationals season
Toronto won their semi-final matchup 14–13 thanks to a strong game by Merrick Thomson scoring 4 goals. Toronto went on to face the Denver Outlaws in the Steinfeld Cup Final. The Nationals were tied with the Outlaws 9–9 with over a minute to go in the game. Nationals head coach Dave Huntley called a time-out to draw out a strategy. With 45 seconds left to go, Joe Walters passed to Shawn Williams and Williams scored the winning goal to give the Toronto Nationals their first championship victory 10–9 over the Denver Outlaws. Merrick Thomson was named Playoff MVP and Brodie Merrill won the Major League Lacrosse Defensive player of the Year Award.


2009 Toronto Nationals season, Standings
W = Wins, L = Losses, PCT = Winning Percentage, GB = Games Back of first place, GF = Goals For, 2ptGF = 2 point Goals For, GA = Goals Against, 2ptGA = 2 point Goals Against


2009 Toronto Nationals season, Standings
Long Island finished ahead of Boston based on a head to head record of 3-0.


2009 Toronto Rock season
The Toronto Rock are a lacrosse team based in Toronto playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2009 season was the 13th in franchise history, and 12th as the Rock.


2009 Toronto Rock season
On November 6, 2008, the Rock announced that veteran Chris Driscoll would be the new team captain, replacing the retired Jim Veltman.


2009 Toronto Rock season
Only three games into the season, the Rock fired head coach Glenn Clark and assistant coach Terry Bullen and hired former Chicago Shamrox and Colorado Mammoth coach Jamie Batley as the new head coach. Assistant coach Jim Veltman was relieved of his coaching duties, but remained with the Rock as an advisor.


2009 Toronto Rock season
After winning their first game of the season, the Rock won only once in their next eight games before a three-game winning streak gave fans some hope that the season was not lost. However, three straight losses forced the Rock out of the playoffs for the second straight year. Rock President Brad Watters said that the team "drastically under-delivered", and vowed to make whatever changes were necessary to fix the team.


2009 Toronto Rock season, Regular season, Conference standings
x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games PlayedW: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowedDifferential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game


2009 Toronto Rock season, Player stats, Runners (Top 10)
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; LB = Loose Balls; PIM = Penalty Minutes


2009 Toronto Rock season, Player stats, Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games Played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals Against; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average


2009 Toronto Rock season, Transactions, Entry draft
The 2008 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 7, 2008. The Rock selected the following players:


2009 Totnes Conservative primary
The Totnes Conservative Party parliamentary primary of 2009 was the 1st open primary election used to select the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency of Totnes. The election was held on Tuesday 4 August 2009 under the first-past-the-post system. The primary was triggered by Anthony Steen's announcement that he would not stand at the next election. This came just days after details of Steen's expenses claims were published in The Daily Telegraph.


2009 Totnes Conservative primary, Background
On 17 May 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported that Anthony Steen, MP for Totnes, had claimed over £87,000 on a country house with 500 trees On 20 May he announced that he would retire from Westminster at the next election - the day after this announcement, he told BBC Radio 4's long-running lunchtime program The World at One that the Labour Government's Freedom of Information Act was to blame for making his expenses public. He also accused his constituents of being "jealous". Later that day, Steen issued an apology.


2009 Totnes Conservative primary, Background
On 8 June the Totnes Conservative Association advertised the position of Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Totnes - the deadline for applications was ten days following this. On 10 July it was announced that the Association would organise a constituency-wide postal ballot in which registered voters, regardless of their political affiliation, could select the Conservative PPC.


2009 Totnes Conservative primary, Candidates
On 14 July the Totnes Conservative Association announced a shortlist of three candidates whose names would appear on the ballot. The candidates were:


2009 Totnes Conservative primary, Campaign
The three candidates campaigned throughout the constituency - each registered voter received a personal leaflet from each candidate as well as the ballot paper. Sarah Wollaston capitalised on the fact that she was the only candidate to not have had a political career and, at the public hustings, avoided taking a partisan approach, which proved favourable among voters.


2009 Totnes Conservative primary, Results
Almost one quarter of 68,000 eligible voted in the primary. Some Totnes Conservatives thought that Liberal Democrats had encouraged members to vote for Bye; if true the party raiding did not work, as he came in last.


2009 Totnes Conservative primary, Results
Wollaston later said "I have no doubt that I was selected because I had no track record in politics but instead had experience in the NHS, education and as a police surgeon treating victims of domestic and sexual violence", but one Conservative member told The Guardian of his fear that without a political background, she was the candidate Liberal Democrats could most easily defeat.


2009 Totnes Conservative primary, Cost
There was concern regarding the cost of the vote after it was revealed that the primary had cost Conservative Campaign Headquarters over £40,000.


2009 Toulon Tournament
The 2009 Toulon Tournament was the 37th edition of the Toulon Tournament, and was held from 3 June to 12 June 2009. The tournament concluded with the final between France and Chile at Stade Mayol in Toulon as Chile won their first title after the final score of 1–0, scored by Gerson Martínez on 73rd minute.


2009 Toulon Tournament squads, Group A, United Arab Emirates
Head coach: Mahdi Ali Hassan RedhaGK Mohammed Saif Youssuf Al Ahli United Arab EmiratesFW Ali Ahmed Al Hajeri Al Jazira United Arab EmiratesDF Saad Surour Baniyas Al Ahli United Arab EmiratesDF Fahad Sebil Ibrahim Obaid Al Nasr United Arab EmiratesMF Adnan Ali Shanbih Al Nasr United Arab EmiratesMF Habib Al Fardan Al Wasl F.C. United Arab EmiratesDF Mohamed Fawzi Abdalla Al Ahli United Arab EmiratesMF Ahmed Ali Khamis Al Arbi Al Wahda Unitd Arab EmiratesFW Theyeb Awana Baniyas Sports United Arab EmiratesFW Salem Saleh Al Rejaibi United Arab EmiratesDF


2009 Toulon Tournament squads, Group A, United Arab Emirates
Abdelaziz Mohammed Sanqour Al Ahli United Arab EmiratesFW Mohammed Al Alawi Fayez Al Ain United Arab EmiratesDF Abdulaziz Hussain Al Balooshi Al Shabab United Arab EmiratesGK Yousif Abdelrahman Albairaq Ittihad Kalba United Arab EmiratesFW Ahmed Al Junaibi Khalil Shabbab Al Ahli Club United Arab EmiratesMF Maher Ghuloom Jassim Al Wasl F.C. United Arab EmiratesMF Sultan Saleh Bargash Al Menhali Al Jazira United Arab EmiratesDF Hamdan Ismaeel Al Kamali Al Wahda United Arab EmiratesMF Omar Al-Amoodi Abdulrahman Al Ain United Arab EmiratesDF Mohammed Ahmed Juma Gharib Al Shabab United Arab Emirates


2009 Toulouse Olympique season
2009 was the first year of participation to the Championship for the Toulouse Olympique rugby league club. Toulouse was allowed special dispensation to field five overseas players in their first season. The new Toulouse team was composed of 9 full-time players, 13 part-time players and 10 members of the Toulouse academy. With a largely renewed team and a lack of preseason (only friendly with the Dragons cancelled due to the weather), the TO started its season with a series of defeat. Its first match in the Championship proved to be too much of a challenge with a hammering 70-0 at Widnes in front of Sky cameras. However, after the victory away against Batley, the TO accumulated victories and looked on track for a top 4 spot.


2009 Toulouse Olympique season
The match against Featherstone at home in June however marked another turning point in the season. With the injury of the play maker Nathan Wynn and several referee decisions going against the team, the TO lost the match. Without Wynn, at the crucial time where the team was to be opposed to the favourite of the Championship, the TO lost 4 games in a row. With Wynn coming back a win away at Featherstone was a short lived success. An unexpected defeat at home against Gateshead in battle for relegation removed almost any chance left of making the playoffs. Without much stakes left in the Championship (given the absence of relegation for the TO in its first 3 seasons in Championship), Toulouse lost also two of its last 3 matches at Leigh and Halifax.


2009 Toulouse Olympique season
The final ranking of Toulouse, 10 out of 11, does not represent fairly the quality of a team who won 9 out of 20 matches in a very competitive division where the final champion, Barrow, won only 13 of its matches.


2009 Toulouse Olympique season, League table
Source: Note (a): Toulouse were exempt from relegation. Note: (b): Doncaster lost 9 competition points for entering administration. Classification: 1st on league points; 2nd on match points difference. League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0. Pld = Games played; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; PF = Match points scored; PA = Match points conceded; PD = Points difference; BP = Bonus Points; Pts = League points.


2009 Tour Down Under
The 2009 Tour Down Under was the 11th edition of the Tour Down Under cycling stage race, taking place over 20–25 January in and around Adelaide, South Australia. The Tour Down Under was the first race outside Europe to be given ProTour status by the UCI, and this edition was the first race in the inaugural UCI World Ranking calendar.


2009 Tour Down Under
The race was preceded by an opening race called Down Under Classic, not part of the UCI ProTour competition.


2009 Tour Down Under, Teams
The Australian national team called Team UniSA-Australia was the only non-UCI ProTour team invited to the race.


2009 Tour de France
The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco. The race visited six countries:  Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy, and finished on 26 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.


2009 Tour de France
The total length was 3,445 kilometres (2,141 mi), including 93 kilometres (58 mi) in time-trials. There were seven mountain stages, three of which had mountaintop finishes, and one medium-mountain stage. The race had a team time trial for the first time since 2005, the shortest distance in individual time trials since 1967, and the first penultimate-day mountain stage in the Tour's history.


2009 Tour de France
2007 winner Alberto Contador won the race by a margin of 4′11″, having won both a mountain and time trial stage. His Astana team also took the team classification. and supplied the initial third-place finisher, Lance Armstrong. Armstrong's achievement was later voided by the UCI in October 2012 following his non-dispute of a doping accusation by USADA, and fourth place Bradley Wiggins was promoted to the podium. Andy Schleck, second overall, won the young riders' competition as he had the previous year.


2009 Tour de France
Franco Pellizotti originally won the polka dot jersey as the King of the Mountains, but had that result (along with all his 2009 results) stripped by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2011 due to his irregular values in the UCI's biological passport program detected in May 2010. and the King of the Mountains title was retroactively awarded to Egoi Martínez. Mark Cavendish won six stages, including the final stage on the Champs-Élysées, but was beaten in the points classification by Thor Hushovd, who consequently won the green jersey.


2009 Tour de France, Teams
20 teams were invited to take part in the race. They include 17 of the 18 UCI ProTour teams (all except for Fuji–Servetto) and three other teams: Skil–Shimano, Cervélo TestTeam and Agritubel. Each team started with 9 riders, making a total of 180 participants, of whom 156 finished.


2009 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
Favourites for the race included 2008 winner Carlos Sastre, 2007 winner Alberto Contador, 2009 Giro d'Italia winner Denis Menchov and two time runner-up Cadel Evans. Lance Armstrong came out of retirement and competed in the race on the same team as Contador. Menchov and Evans performed far below the levels expected of them, finishing 51st and 30th respectively, and Sastre only showed briefly among the leaders on the mountain stages that would have provided his best chance of making a bid for victory, coming 17th overall.


2009 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
Alejandro Valverde, the team leader of Caisse d'Epargne, was not selected by his team for the Tour de France, because the race travelled through Italy on stage 16 and he had received a ban in May 2009 from the Italian Olympic Committee, prohibiting him from competing in Italy. He had finished in the top ten of the general classification of the Tour in the two previous years and was considered one of the favourites for overall victory.


2009 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
News about a positive retest of a 2007 out-of-competition control concerning Thomas Dekker broke three days before the start; his team Silence–Lotto immediately withdrew him from the starting list.


2009 Tour de France, Route and stages
The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,470 m (8,100 ft) at the summit of the Col du Grand Saint-Bernard mountain pass on stage 16.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview
The race started in Monaco with a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) individual time trial, won by Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, who retained the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification throughout the first week, which was dominated by stages suited primarily to sprinters, with Mark Cavendish establishing himself as the strongest finisher. The significant action of the first week in relation to the overall classification was restricted to a split in the field on stage 3, and a team time trial the following day.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview
The second weekend saw the Tour in the Pyrenees, and the first attack on the field by eventual winner Alberto Contador, while the leadership was taken over by Rinaldo Nocentini. Thor Hushovd showed an ability to take points in stages that did not include flat sprint finishes that would be key to the contest for the points classification, and the main contenders for the mountains classification emerged.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview
The journey towards the Alps the following week had a second pair of successive stage wins for Cavendish and a series of wins from riders in breakaways that held no threat to the general classification. An infringement in the sprint finish to stage 14 saw Cavendish relegated in finishing position, and Hushovd gaining the upper hand in the points classification.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview
The first alpine stage was the occasion of Contador's assumption of the race leadership, and the emergence of Andy Schleck as the only rider likely to challenge him in the mountains, and as the top young rider, giving Schleck the right to wear the white jersey. Franco Pellizotti focussed on collecting points on the climbs early in stages to overhaul Egoi Martínez in the race for the mountains classification, without threatening the race leaders. By the end of the three stages in the Alps, and after Contador's victory in the final time trial, it was only the minor placings that were realistically under question in the last mountain stage, held for the first time on the penultimate day of the tour on Mont Ventoux.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview
The UCI introduced a ban on radio communication between team management and riders on stage 10, but the riders responded with a conservative style of racing for most of the stage and the intended repetition of the experiment on stage 13 was abandoned.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview
Mark Cavendish claimed his sixth Champs-Élysées stage win on the final day of the Tour. At the victory ceremony, the national anthem of Denmark was mistakenly played instead of that of Spain. At the victory ceremony for teams, the anthem of Spain was yet played, because Contador was part of the winning team, Astana.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview, Doping
In the 2009 Tour, Doping controls were conducted by the UCI, with the French body AFLD shadowing the process. Officials targeted top riders like Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador with an unprecedented number of tests. While the Armstrong-Contador conflict ruled the headlines, reporting on doping rather took a back seat during the race. The news that Giro runner-up Danilo Di Luca had a positive A probe in the Giro did not change that. Five days after the race finished the UCI announced that the initial Stage 16 winner Mikel Astarloza tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test on 26 June, eight days before the race started. Later, Astarloza was removed from the results, and the stage win transferred to Sandy Casar.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview, Doping
Just days before the 2010 Giro d'Italia, 2009 Giro podium finisher and King of the Mountains winner in this Tour Franco Pellizotti was announced by the UCI as a rider of interest in their biological passport program. He was sidelined by his team, and did not race again in 2010. The case was not fully resolved until March 2011, at which time the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered Pellizotti banned for two years, to pay a fine and court costs, and have all his 2009 results vacated.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview, Doping
In October 2012, Lance Armstrong had all his results post 1998, including the 2009 Tour, voided by the UCI following the USADA investigation into systematic doping.


2009 Tour de France, Race overview, Doping
On 10 July 2014, a UCI press release detailing various athlete sanctions specified that Menchov had been banned (for a period of two years) until 9 April 2015 due to adverse biological passport findings. Due to this, he has been disqualified from the 2009, 2010 and 2012 Tours de France.


2009 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
There were four main individual classifications contested in the 2009 Tour de France, as well as a team competition. The most important was the general classification, which was calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage. There were no time bonuses given at the end of stages for this edition of the Tour. If a crash had happened within the final 3 km (1.9 mi) of a stage, not including time trials and summit finishes, the riders involved would have received the same time as the group they were in when the crash occurred. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Tour. The rider leading the classification wore a yellow jersey.


2009 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The second classification was the points classification. Riders received points for finishing in the highest positions in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints during the stage. The points available for each stage finish were determined by the stage's type. The leader was identified by a green jersey.


2009 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The third classification was the mountains classification. Most stages of the race included one or more categorised climbs, in which points were awarded to the riders that reached the summit first. The climbs were categorised as fourth-, third-, second- or first-category and hors catégorie, with the more difficult climbs rated lower. The leader wore a white jersey with red polka dots.


2009 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The final individual classification was the young rider classification. This was calculated the same way as the general classification, but the classification was restricted to riders who were born on or after 1 January 1984. The leader wore a white jersey.


2009 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The final classification was a team classification. This was calculated using the finishing times of the best three riders per team on each stage; the leading team was the team with the lowest cumulative time. The number of stage victories and placings per team determined the outcome of a tie. The riders in the team that lead this classification were identified with yellow number bibs on the back of their jerseys.


2009 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
In addition, there was a combativity award given after each mass start stage to the rider considered, by a jury, to have "made the greatest effort and who has demonstrated the best qualities of sportsmanship". The winner wore a red number bib the following stage. At the conclusion of the Tour, Franco Pellizotti was given the overall super-combativity award.


2009 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
There were also two special awards each with a prize of €5000, the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, given in honour of Tour founder and first race director Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard on stage 16, and the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, given in honour of the second director Jacques Goddet to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col du Tourmalet on stage 9. Franco Pellizotti won both the Henri Desgrange and the Jacques Goddet.


2009 Tour de France, World rankings
The following points were earned in the Tour towards the 2009 UCI World Ranking.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11
These are the individual stages of the 2009 Tour de France, with Stage 1 on July 4 and Stage 11 on July 15.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 1
The 2009 Tour began, as have many in the past, with an individual time trial, but instead of a very brief prologue, this 15 kilometer ride saw the race's overall favorites show themselves on day one. The favourite for the stage, Fabian Cancellara, won with Alberto Contador coming in second. Time-trial specialist Bradley Wiggins came third.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 2
This stage was largely flat, but had one third category, and three fourth category, climbs in its first 129 km, and most of the last 15 km was downhill. A four man breakaway (Stéphane Augé, Stef Clement, Cyril Dessel and Jussi Veikkanen) held a maximum advantage of some 5 minutes, but they were caught with 10 km remaining, initially by Mikhail Ignatiev, and shortly after by the rest of the peloton. Ignatiev was caught with 5 km left, and some of the cyclists shaping to contest the sprint were disrupted by a crash and a missed turn in the last kilometre, allowing Mark Cavendish a clear win.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 3
6 July 2009 — Marseille to La Grande-Motte, 196 kmStage 3 was another flat stage, with a finish on the waterfront at La Grande-Motte. Like in stage 2, a four-man breakaway formed, this time consisting of Maxime Bouet, Koen de Kort, Samuel Dumoulin and Rubén Pérez. They held a maximum advantage of about 13 minutes and were caught with a little less than 30 kilometres to go by a first group who had separated themselves from the rest of the peloton as a result of accelerating in the presence of strong winds near the coastline.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 3
The group contained 28 riders, including leader Fabian Cancellara, 7-time winner Lance Armstrong and the whole Team Columbia-HTC. After a sprint, Mark Cavendish finished first. Several of the favorites and riders classified in the top 10, such as Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Carlos Sastre, the Schleck brothers, Levi Leipheimer and Bradley Wiggins, were not present in this group and were 41 seconds behind at the finish.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 4
This was the first team time trial in the Tour since 2005. Riders finishing with the first five members of their team all received the same time: riders who became isolated from their team recorded an individual time. The time trial was won by Astana, beating Garmin–Slipstream, who rode about half the race with only 5 riders left, by 18 seconds. Fabian Cancellara and Team Saxo Bank took 40 seconds longer than Astana, Cancellara thus having the same overall time as Lance Armstrong but retaining the yellow jersey by virtue of the fractions of a second recorded in the opening time trial.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 4
After the race, some riders complained that the course was too dangerous and that this course was unworthy of a major race like this. During the race several riders had indeed crashed, amongst them Denis Menchov, Alessandro Ballan, Bingen Fernández, Jurgen Van den Broeck, 4 riders of Bbox Bouygues Telecom and also Piet Rooijakkers. Rooijakkers fractured his arm and was rushed off to a hospital, ending his tour.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 5
8 July 2009 — Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan, 197 km


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 5
The Tour visited Cap d'Agde for only the second time ever, as the early Tour flat stages continued. Perpignan, on the other hand, is a traditional city for the Tour to visit, thought to symbolically indicate the Tour's entrance to (or exit from, in "counter-clockwise" years) the Pyrenees. A six rider breakaway, consisting of Anthony Geslin, Yauheni Hutarovich, Mikhail Ignatiev, Marcin Sapa, Albert Timmer and Thomas Voeckler, formed within the first kilometre, and achieved a maximum lead of more than nine and a half minutes. Attacks by Ignatiev in the last 10 km had reduced the escape group to four, until with 5 km Voeckler made what proved to be the decisive break. Ignatiev finished second just in front of Cavendish and the rest of the pack.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 5
During the race, the peloton had split into several groups as a result of the wind, as had happened two days before. Among the absentees in the first group of the peloton were Denis Menchov and Tom Boonen, but they and their group managed to return to the main group after several kilometres of chasing. Robert Gesink, who had crashed just before the windy passage along the coastline started, eventually had to let the peloton go and finished more than nine minutes behind with what in the end proved to be a broken wrist.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 6
9 July 2009 — Girona (Spain) to Barcelona (Spain), 175 km


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 6
This last flat stage before the 2009 Tour entered the Pyrenees took place entirely within Spain, on a course that is frequently used in the Tour of Catalonia. The main break of the day was instigated by David Millar after 46 km, and he was joined by Stéphane Augé, who took the King of the Mountains leadership, and Sylvain Chavanel, and eventually by Amets Txurruka.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 6
Millar, 10th at the beginning of the stage, was virtual leader of the tour for much of the day, as the lead extended to 3'45", and he attacked and left behind his fellow escapees with 29 km remaining. The uphill approach to the finish on Montjuïc did not suit some of the sprinters, but there was a group of about 60 at the head of the field when Millar was caught near the 1 km red flag, and with some GC contenders and climbers contesting the finish, Thor Hushovd emerged as stage winner. The day was marked by numerous rain showers, and a number of falls, with Michael Rogers the main overall contender to lose considerable time.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 7
10 July 2009 — Barcelona (Spain) to Andorra-Arcalis (Andorra)- 224 km


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 7
This second stage in a row that did not visit French soil was both the longest stage, and the highest finish of this year's tour. The first key break of the day comprised three riders, and escaped after 8 km of cycling, but it was joined by a six man chase group shortly after the first of the day's minor climbs, but this was the day on which the race reached the high mountains.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 7
The escapees stretched their advantage to more than 14 minutes before reaching the major climbs, but as they included Rinaldo Nocentini, who was 32nd in the general classification and only 3'13" behind the yellow jersey, the peloton, driven by the Astana squad, made a chase. Although the lead was greatly reduced, all but one of the escapees finished before the elite riders, and Nocentini retained a big enough advantage to take over the race leadership.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 7
Brice Feillu attacked the other four escapees who were at the head of the field with 5.5 km remaining, and stayed away to claim his first professional win in his first Tour de France.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 7
After an attempted attack on the other contenders for the Tour victory by Cadel Evans, 2007 winner Alberto Contador made a successful attack on the elite group with 3 km to go, beating them to the line by 21 seconds, and taking second place overall, while after five days in the yellow jersey, Cancellara finished more than nine minutes behind the stage winner, having been dropped on the final climb.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 8
11 July 2009 — Andorra la Vella (Andorra) to Saint-Girons, 176 km


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 8
The Tour returned to France in the second of three Pyrenean stages, which featured three categorized climbs, including the imposing Port d'Envalira at just over 2,400 meters, before a steep descent.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 8
A number of early breakaways, including one featuring Cadel Evans, and one that enabled Thor Hushovd to take sufficient points in intermediate sprints to claim the green jersey, came to nothing, and by the top of the final climb three riders, Mikel Astarloza (later suspended for EPO use),  Vladimir Efimkin and Luis León Sánchez, were at the front of the race, with an array of chasers and struggling former members of breakaways between them and a group that included all the GC contenders and the yellow jersey wearer, Nocentini, who was part of a group, also including Denis Menchov, that had recovered a 30 second deficit on the elite group shortly before the top of the climb.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 8
Meanwhile, Caisse d'Epargne leader and 2006 Tour winner, Óscar Pereiro, became the highest profile rider to abandon the race. On the 42 km descent, Sandy Casar caught the three leaders, and this group of four maintained a comfortable lead over the peloton, and the race among these riders was triggered when Efimkin broke clear with 4 km remaining, a move that at one stage looked as though it might succeed, but he was caught by the other three escapees just before the red kite, and Sánchez won the sprint from Casar. There was no change to the position of the race favorites.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 9
The Pyrenees portion of the 2009 Tour ended with this stage which had two categorized climbs, the Col d'Aspin and the Col de Tourmalet and, as the previous day, a lengthy flat stretch before the finish, essentially neutralising the stage in terms of challenges relevant to the overall classification. An early break of twelve riders became thirteen after extensive effort by the Liquigas squad to get Franco Pellizotti across the divide.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 9
After not much more than half an hour, the escape group was reduced to four: Pellizotti, Jens Voigt, Pierrick Fédrigo and Leonardo Duque, who was dropped on the climb of the Col d’Apsin, while a chase group of 9 riders formed behind, including Egoi Martínez, who was to gain enough points over the cols to take the polkadot jersey at the end of the day.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 9
By the top of that mountain, the leading trio held an advantage of 2'45 over the counter-attack and 3'30 over the peloton; at the top of the Tourmalet only Pellizotti and Fédrigo remained at the front, with seven surviving chasers at 2'40 and the peloton at 5'05. The descent and flat run in saw all the escapees except the two leaders reeled in, as Rabobank and Caisse d'Epargne sought to engineer an opportunity for their sprinters, but Pellizotti and Fédrigo held on to contest the stage win between themselves, the Frenchman emerging as victor.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Rest day
After a lengthy transfer, the rest day was spent at the site of the beginning of the next day's stage.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 10
The Bastille Day stage, one of two stages on which it was intended riders will not be in radio contact with their team cars, was flat, heading to Issoudun for the first time on the Tour de France. The day's break was initiated by Thierry Hupond in the second kilometre, and he was joined by Mikhail Ignatiev and Benoit Vaugrenard, and after a hold-up at a level crossing, by Samuel Dumoulin. The group's lead never reached four minutes, but over the latter stages the peloton found the gap slow to close.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 10
The catch was finally made with a little over 1½ km left, Hupond being the last member of the breakaway to yield to the chasers, and Team Columbia–HTC's train again delivered Mark Cavendish for a win in the sprint, ahead of Thor Hushovd, who retained the green jersey. It was initially announced that a split in the field meant that most of the peloton, including Levi Leipheimer and Bradley Wiggins, two of the top five in the overall classification at the beginning of the day, lost 15 seconds to the first 52 finishers, but this was rescinded the following day.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stages, Stage 11
This was another flat stage, with a two man breakaway, consisting of Johan Van Summeren and Marcin Sapa, which reached its largest advantage of 4'45" after 45 km and was caught with 5 km remaining. Mark Cavendish again dominated the sprint, taking his fourth stage of the tour and regaining the green jersey.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21
These were the individual stages of the 2009 Tour de France, with Stage 12 on 16 July and Stage 21 on 26 July.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 12
This was considered a flat stage, but had six hills that contributed points towards the climbers' competition. After some unsuccessful attempts at breakaways early in the stage, after 64 km Laurent Lefèvre started a breakaway. He was followed by the leader in the polka dot jersey category, Egoi Martínez, and the third-placed rider in that category, Franco Pellizotti, along with Sylvain Calzati, Markus Fothen, and Rémi Pauriol. Ten km later, they were joined by Nicki Sørensen.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 12
The peloton was led by Nocentini's Ag2r–La Mondiale team, with no effort made by the teams of the sprinters to chase down the escape group. The lead held by the escape group increased over the last 40 km, from less than four minutes to over six. With 22 km remaining, Sørensen launched an attack with only Calzati joining him. At 5.5 km, he again attacked, dropping Calzati and remaining clear to win the stage by 48 seconds.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 12
Mark Cavendish had said that he was interested in earning stage wins rather than pursuing the points jersey. However, he increased his lead in that competition by taking points at the first intermediate sprint of the day and leading the peloton home.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 12
Potential GC contenders Levi Leipheimer and Cadel Evans were involved in a fall in the closing stages of the race, but as the incident was within the last 3 km they were credited with the same time as the rest of the peloton. But before stage 13, Leipheimer would abandon the race due to a broken wrist.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 13
This was a medium-mountain stage, with five categorized climbs, including one first category mountain, the Col du Platzerwasel. Christophe Moreau launched an attack after just 3 km, and was joined by Juan Manuel Gárate, Jens Voigt, Rigoberto Urán, Heinrich Haussler, Sylvain Chavanel and Rubén Pérez. These last three moved away from the rest of the escape on the descent from the first climb, and while the rest of the escapees returned to the peloton, the lead trio gained an advantage of 9'10" on the second climb.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 13
Pérez was dropped on the climb of the day's highest mountain, and Haussler dropped Chavanel on its descent, and rode the last 50 km alone to win the stage more than 6½ minutes ahead of the peloton.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 13
A late attack by Amets Txurruka and Brice Feillu allowed the former to gain several minutes on the peloton, but Feillu, only 4'26" behind the yellow jersey at the start of the day failed to keep pace with his fellow escaper, and once it was clear that he would not make a serious challenge to the overall leadership, the peloton eased its chase, and riders who had become detached from the elite group were able to rejoin the peloton, including Thor Hushovd who took enough points in the final placings to regain the green jersey.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 13
Franco Pellizotti took points on three of the five climbs, thus gaining enough points to assume leadership of the King of the Mountains classification. Simon Špilak finished the stage alone more than ¾ hour behind Haussler, but the Tour officials acknowledged that he had been delayed by errors in re-opening the roads to the public earlier than should have been done, and that this contributed to his late finish, and so he was not eliminated. Óscar Freire and Julian Dean were both hit by pellets fired from an air gun during the stage, but were able to continue on the Tour.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 14
This was a relatively flat stage, with a category 3 climb either side of the halfway point. A woman was killed and two other spectators injured when they were hit by a police motorcycle in Wittelsheim, the first fatality connected to the Tour since 2002.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 14
A fourteen man break, initiated after 14 km, by Martijn Maaskant dominated the day's racing. The group was reduced to 12 as Mark Cavendish made a tactical decision to return to the peloton, and Jens Voigt had a puncture inefficiently repaired by the neutral service vehicle, but otherwise remained clear, with a lead that reached nearly nine minutes. Among the escapees were George Hincapie, who started the day in 28th place, 5'25" behind the leader, and Christophe Le Mével, two places and 38 seconds further back.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 14
The Ag2r–La Mondiale team of the yellow jersey wearer Rinaldo Nocentini seemed to be unwilling or unable to defend his overall lead, and the pace of the peloton was dictated for most of the stage by Astana, and in the latter stages by Garmin–Slipstream. As it became clear that day's winner would come from among the group, there were several attacks, of which the effort by Sergei Ivanov with 11 km remaining was decisive. He won the stage by 16 seconds, with the peloton recovering enough time to preserve Nocentini's tenure of the yellow jersey by 5 seconds. It was suggested that Garmin's role in preventing Hincapie gaining the overall lead was influenced by their rivalry with his Team Columbia–HTC, but this was denied.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 14
Green jersey rivals Mark Cavendish and Thor Hushovd were in a hotly contested sprint at the head of the peloton, and although Cavendish finished ahead, he was later relegated to the last position in the peloton for "irregular sprinting", specifically maneuvering Hushovd toward a barricade in the final 300 meters, with a net loss of 14 points to his Norwegian rival.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 15
19 July 2009 – Pontarlier to Verbier (Switzerland), 207 km


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 15
The Tour reached the Alps, with four third category climbs in the first half of the stage, and the second half featuring the second category climb on the Col des Mosses (1,445 m elevation) and the race's second mountaintop finish at Verbier in Switzerland, at about the same elevation. Tom Boonen did not start the stage, and Vladimir Efimkin, who started in the top 20 overall, withdrew about halfway through the stage. Several early attacks failed to get any lasting gap ahead of the peloton, although they did allow Franco Pellizotti to increase his lead in the climbers' competition.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 15
The longest lasting escape of the day took place after 40 km, and had a number of changes of personnel before it settled to a body of ten riders, including Mikel Astarloza who was 18th overall, 3'02" behind the leader, at the beginning of the day, and who was "virtual leader" until the last 40 km. Rinaldo Nocentini's Ag2r–La Mondiale team made little effort to defend his position as overall leader, and the Astana and Liquigas teams dominated the chase to the bottom of the climb to Verbier.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 15
The breakaway was overhauled by most of the contenders for a high overall placing, with Denis Menchov the most notable absentee from the selection, Simon Špilak having survived for longest. As on the climb to Arcalis, Alberto Contador made a telling attack on the elite group, this time with 6 km remaining, and only Andy Schleck went in pursuit. Contador continued to increase his lead all the way to the line, winning both the stage and the yellow jersey. Andy Schleck came in second and took over the white jersey from Tony Martin after 13 stages.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Rest day
The second rest day took place where the previous day's stage ended.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 16
21 July 2009 – Martigny (Switzerland) to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, 160 km


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 16
The return to racing after the second rest day featured two long climbs and their descents: the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard, the highest point in this year's Tour at 2,473 meters, and the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard, at which stage the race returned to France. An early break initiated by Maxime Bouet grew to 26 members, and mountains classifications challengers Franco Pellizotti and Egoi Martínez, along with Vladimir Karpets moved clear of the group as they approached the first climb. Martínez could not stay with the other two escapees, and Pellizotti took maximum points over the pass.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 16
In the long flat passage between both passes, the two leaders were caught by the large group and together started the last climb. Just before the top of this second climb, Pellizotti and Jurgen Van den Broeck who had been leading the climb, were joined by Mikel Astarloza and Amaël Moinard. Four further escapees also remained ahead of the favourites, but among that group an attack by Andy Schleck caused an elite group in which he was joined by his brother Fränk Schleck, Alberto Contador, Bradley Wiggins, Vincenzo Nibali and Andreas Klöden.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 16
Lance Armstrong led a response, and there was no lasting split among the GC contenders apart from Cadel Evans, who failed to stay with the yellow jersey group. Pellizotti again led over the top of the climb, and in the approach to the finishing town, Astarloza broke clear with 2 km remaining to win the stage, as the four chasers caught the remnants of the lead group. Jens Voigt fell hard while descending the col du Petit-Saint-Bernard with the group of the yellow jersey, he fractured his right cheekbone and suffered a concussion, and had to abandon the Tour. However, five days after the Tour finished the UCI announced that the initial stage winner Mikel Astarloza tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test on June 26, eight days before the race started. Astarloza was removed from the results, and the stage win transferred to Sandy Casar.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 17
22 July 2009 – Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand, 169 km


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 17
This stage had five categorized climbs on it, including four category 1 climbs, and was regarded the queen stage of this year's Tour. The first three quarters of the stage were dominated by the consolidation of the lead in both the climbers' and sprinters' competitions. A group of 20, led by Franco Pellizotti, crossed the first hill, Cormet de Roselend, before being closed down and passed by green jersey holder, Thor Hushovd.


2009 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stages, Stage 17
He remained in a solo lead for more than 80 km (50 mi), climbing two categorised mountains alone (Col des Saisies and Côte d'Araches) in order to gain maximum points at the intermediate sprints. Pellizotti was the first of the following group over the hills, gaining maximum of the remaining climber's points. On the second to last mountain, the Col de Romme, a series of attacks by Andy and Fränk Schleck overhauled the breakaway group, and left the Luxembourgian brothers in a lead group with yellow jersey holder Alberto Contador and his Astana team-mate Andreas Klöden.