2009 Cervélo TestTeam season
Cervélo TestTeam established itself as a strong classics team in its first year of existence, with three victories and seven other podium finishes in the spring season.
A press release issued by the team at the time they were first founded indirectly stated that Specialized had outbid them to become Saxo Bank's new supplier.
[4][5] In the six months between the end of the Tour de France and the team's first training camp in Portugal in January 2009, a roster of 25 riders and an entire supporting staff was hired.
Hushovd won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as he outsprinted seven others in a chasing pack that caught two leading riders, including teammate Heinrich Haussler, just before the finish.
[9] The team got its second victory at the Giro del Mendrisiotto two weeks later, as Ignatas Konovalovas soloed to the finish line ahead of a 12-man chase pack.
The race came down to its traditional closing sprint, which Haussler opened early with what seemed to be an insurmountable lead, only to be pipped for the victory by Mark Cavendish.
While the team was pleasantly surprised to get two podium places in the classic,[11] Haussler himself appeared quite despondent at losing the sprint to Cavendish when talking to reporters after the race.
[4] At the Tour of Flanders in April, Haussler took another second place, although this one more resembled a victory as it was a 29-man sprint for second a minute behind the event's winner Stijn Devolder.
[12] Hushovd returned to the podium at Paris–Roubaix, getting to the line ahead of Leif Hoste and Johan Van Summeren in third just over a minute behind Tom Boonen.
Dominique Rollin made the podium at Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen, finishing third in a sprint behind Alessandro Petacchi and Kenny Van Hummel.
[14] In June, as the early season one-day races were coming to an end, Haussler claimed a victory in the GP Triberg-Schwarzwald, outsprinting seven breakaway companions.
Roger Hammond won the second stage, into Al Khor Corniche, gaining the golden jersey as race leader in the process.
[38] In August, Jeremy Hunt won a stage in Danmark Rundt, while Roger Hammond finished on the event's final podium, in third.
[39][40] Though the team did not win any stage in the Vuelta a Burgos, they were the only to finish with two riders (Íñigo Cuesta and Philip Deignan) in the top ten overall.
The victory had been achieved by a change in tactics from the previous flat stages – instead of a proper leadout, members of Hushovd's train instead made repeated attacks in the race's final two kilometers.
[47] Despite a surprising defeat to Philippe Gilbert in a sprint finish to the race's concluding stage, Hushovd won the Tour of Missouri's points classification.
[48] The team did not get any more stage wins on the season, but Hammond finished on the final podium at two events, the Tour of Britain and Franco-Belge.
[55] The Giro's final time trial was won by Ignatas Konovalovas, while Sastre finished the race in fourth place.
[58] His status as defending champion was largely overshadowed by the intra-squad rivalry from the Astana team between Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, and by the latter's return to the Tour for the first time in four years.
[71] Though he did not score again until his sixth-place finish on the Champs-Élysées, where Cavendish took his sixth stage win of the Tour, Hushovd was successful in coming away with the green jersey.
[72] Apart from Hushovd, the team claimed another win in Stage 13, when Haussler attacked three breakaway companions 40 kilometers from the finish line and soloed to victory more than four minutes ahead of them.
After being part of a 16-man group that escaped on the first-category Puerto de Mijares, Philip Deignan continued to shed his breakaway companions on the way to the finish line, last outsprinting Roman Kreuziger for the stage win.
