2012 German motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Pedrosa is the first rider to arrive at parc-fermé, being congratulated by some of his crewmembers as he puts both his arms in the air to signal victory. He gets hugged by one of the crewmembers, then happily stares into the camera as he celebrates on. Now both Dovizioso and Lorenzo arrive at parc-fermé, the Italian stepping off his bike already. Dovizioso then inspects his own and the other riders' rear tyres for wear as Pedrosa takes off his gloves, still sitting on the bike.


2012 German motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
A disappointed Stoner has now arrived back at the garage, sitting down in his chair and taking off his gloves in the meantime. As home hero Bradl goes back to his pit box, the crowd cheers him on. Pedrosa meanwhile gets hugged by the Repsol Honda crewmembers at the edge of the fence as Bradl also gets a hero reception at the LCR Honda pit box, the crewmembers hugging him and standing around his bike. Lorenzo goes up to Pedrosa back at parc-fermé and gives him a handshake to congratulate him on the win, then walks over to the section where the media is to be interviewed.


2012 German motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
All the riders make their way onto the podium, beginning with Dovizioso, then Lorenzo and then a happy Pedrosa. The constructors trophy gets handed to the crew chief of Honda, then Stanislaw Tillich (then prime minister of Saxony) hands over the third-place trophy to Dovizioso. Vito Ippolito hands the second-place trophy to Lorenzo before Tillich hands Pedrosa the winners trophy, the crowd loudly cheering for him as he receives his trophy. The Spanish national anthem plays for Pedrosa as he smiles with glee on the podium. Once the anthem stops, the crowd applauds and cheers once more as the podium girls hand the riders the champagne, Pedrosa soaking Mike Leitner as others spray each other and the crowd before drinking some of it.


2012 German motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Pedrosa's win, Stoner's retirement and Lorenzo's second place has now blown the title hunt wide open again. Lorenzo now leads the title again on points, having 160 points. In second place is now Pedrosa with 146 points, overtaking Stoner who now is in third place with 140 points.


2012 German motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round eight has concluded.


2012 German presidential election
An early indirect presidential election (officially the 15th Federal Convention) was held in Germany on 18 March 2012, the last possible day following the resignation of Christian Wulff as President of Germany on 17 February 2012. Joachim Gauck was elected on the first ballot by a Federal Convention, consisting of the 620 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of members selected by the states of Germany based on proportional representation.


2012 German presidential election
On 19 February 2012, Joachim Gauck was nominated as the joint presidential candidate of the governing coalition (CDU, CSU, and FDP) and the opposition (SPD and Greens). He also had the support of the Free Voters and the South Schleswig Voter Federation.


2012 German presidential election, Background
In December 2011, allegations emerged concerning Christian Wulff's former ties with affluent businessmen. While he was still Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Wulff denied having had any business ties with Egon Geerkens, despite having received a private home loan of about €500,000 from Egon's wife Edith in 2008 and which Geerkens had admitted arranging. On 22 December 2011, Wulff made a public statement apologizing for his handling of the loan affair and conceded that he should have made his personal records available more quickly.


2012 German presidential election, Background
Later, it was alleged that President Wulff had applied undue pressure to Springer Press to delay or even prevent initial revelations of the loan scandal. By the beginning of January 2012, President Wulff had already lost public support, commentators were calling for him to resign, the opposition was again increasing pressure, and his own party was distancing itself from him over the allegations.


2012 German presidential election, Background
On 4 January 2012, Wulff said in an interview that he wanted to stay in office and that the call to Bild editor Kai Diekmann had been a "serious mistake" that was "unworthy" of a president and for which he had already apologized.


2012 German presidential election, Background
As more allegations of possible corruption emerged, the prosecutors in Hanover asked the Bundestag to lift Wulff's presidential immunity in order to investigate the possible granting or accepting of undue favors. Pre -empting this, Wulff resigned on 17 February 2012, explaining that the loss of the people's trust had damaged his effectiveness.


2012 German presidential election, Procedure
To win, a candidate must win an absolute majority on one of the first two ballots or a plurality on the third. Until the new president was elected, Horst Seehofer of the Christian Social Union (CSU), President of the Bundesrat, served as acting head of state.


2012 German presidential election, Candidates, CDU, CSU, FDP, SPD, Greens, Free Voters and SSW
In the days following Wulff's resignation, the media speculated about several candidates, among them Joachim Gauck, Thomas de Maizière and Klaus Töpfer. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would consult with the Social Democrats and The Greens to find a consensus candidate to replace Wulff.


2012 German presidential election, Candidates, CDU, CSU, FDP, SPD, Greens, Free Voters and SSW
On 19 February 2012, the governing coalition's CDU, CSU, and FDP and the opposition SPD and Greens agreed on independent Joachim Gauck, the 2010 presidential candidate of the SPD and Greens, as their joint candidate. This happened after the FDP, the SPD, and the Greens had strongly supported Gauck and urged CDU to support him as well. The SPD chairman, Sigmar Gabriel, had already stated on 17 February 2012 that Gauck was his party's preferred candidate, alleging that Gauck enjoys "great trust from the citizenry". Reportedly, Merkel conceded to FDP chairman (and Vice-Chancellor) Philipp Rösler's staunch support for Gauck; the agreement was announced after the FDP presidium had unanimously voted for Gauck earlier on 19 February. The Free Voters in Bavaria and the Danish minority party, the South Schleswig Voter Federation, also supported Gauck.


2012 German presidential election, Candidates, CDU, CSU, FDP, SPD, Greens, Free Voters and SSW
On the night of being nominated, Gauck warned Germans that he should not be seen as "Superman" following two successive short-lived presidencies. In the week prior to the election, Die Zeit also said that Gauck could teach Germans that "we can learn that democracy means thinking and acting for one's self rather than waiting for political redeemers."


2012 German presidential election, Candidates, Minor parties
Die Linke nominated Beate Klarsfeld, an activist who is not a member of any party, as a candidate. The National Democratic Party of Germany nominated Olaf Rose, a historian who works as an adviser to the group of the NPD in the Landtag of Saxony. The German Pirate Party considered naming a separate candidate but failed to do so before the election.


2012 German presidential election, Results
Voting started at noon. At 14:24 on 18 March 2012, Gauck accepted his election. He was elected in the first ballot with 991 votes in the Federal Convention. Bundestag president Norbert Lammert announced the result. In reaction, Gauck exclaimed: "What a beautiful Sunday", also referring to the anniversary of 18 March 1990 when East Germans had been able to vote freely for the first time.


2012 German presidential election, Reactions
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso congratulated Gauck. Quoting Goethe, he said: "Freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew."


2012 Gerry Weber Open
The 2012 Gerry Weber Open was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 20th edition of the event known that year as the Gerry Weber Open and is part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2012 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Gerry Weber Stadion in Halle, Germany, between 11 and 17 June 2012. Unseeded Tommy Haas won the singles title.


2012 Gerry Weber Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Gerry Weber Open, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2012 Gerry Weber Open, Finals, Doubles
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi /  Jean-Julien Rojer defeated  Treat Conrad Huey /  Scott Lipsky, 6–3, 6–4


2012 Gerry Weber Open – Doubles
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi were the defending champions but Bopanna decided not to participate. Qureshi plays alongside Jean-Julien Rojer and won the title beating Treat Conrad Huey and Scott Lipsky in the final, 6–3, 6–4.


2012 Gerry Weber Open – Singles
Philipp Kohlschreiber was the defending champion but lost to Tommy Haas in the semifinals. Eventually, Haas won the title after defeating Roger Federer in the final by 7–6(7–5), 6–4.


2012 Gerry Weber Open – Singles, Seeds
The top four seeds receive a bye into the second round.


2012 Geylang United FC season
The 2012 season was Geylang United FC's 18th consecutive season in the S.League. The club also competed in the Singapore Cup and the Singapore League Cup.


2012 Ghana Movie Awards
The 2012 Ghana Movie Awards was the third edition of the ceremony to reward excellence in the Ghanaian Film Industry. The event was held at Accra International Conference Center on December 2, 2012. The nomination party took place on November 26, 2012.


2012 Ghanaian general election
General elections were held in Ghana on Friday 7 December 2012 to elect a president and members of Parliament in 275 electoral constituencies. Owing to the breakdown of some biometric verification machines, some voters could not vote, and voting was extended to Saturday 8 December 2012. A run-off was scheduled for 28 December 2012 if no presidential candidate received an absolute majority of 50% plus one vote. Competing for presidency were incumbent president John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), his main challenger Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and six other candidates.


2012 Ghanaian general election
Incumbent president John Mahama was declared winner of the presidential contest with 50.7% of the vote, just a few thousand votes over the threshold for avoiding a run-off election. Nana Akufo-Addo received 47.74%. The opposition alleged tampering with results by the Electoral Commission (EC), and filed a petition at the Ghanaian Supreme Court to review the election results. The NPP produced more than 11,000 so-called "pink sheets" to the judges who had to compare them to similar papers from the EC, NDC and possibly other parties.


2012 Ghanaian general election
These pink sheets state the results as counted in single polling stations, before aggregating them to any higher level, such as municipality, district and region. The NPP claimed that there were differences between the results as stated immediately after their counting in polling stations, and those which were used in aggregations, and that this can be proven by the pink sheets.


2012 Ghanaian general election
In a separate part of the procedure, the EC was challenged to prove that 14,000 expat Ghanaians had voted abroad, and failed to produce any registered voters in foreign countries due to, so EC, the fatal work of a virus in its computer. The election petition led to great changes in the electoral system that helped ensure a high level of transparency in the voting system and collation of the results.


2012 Ghanaian general election
Mahama was elected to a full term less than five months as president having succeeded John Atta Mills, who died suddenly in office in July 2012.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Preparations, Biometric voters registration
The Electoral Commission of Ghana successfully held a biometric system of registration for the electorate from 24 March 2012 to 5 May 2012. The move was aimed to prevent double registration and to eliminate ghost names in the old register.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Preparations, Electoral demarcations
Controversially, 45 additional constituencies were added to the 230 of the 2008 general election. Voting therefore took place in a total of 275 constituencies and 26002 polling stations.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Monitoring
The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) trained election observers and deployed 4000 of them to monitor the elections nationwide.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Monitoring
Observers from ECOWAS Observer Mission led by former Nigerian president, General Olusegun Obasanjo also monitored the elections. The mission noted the technical glitches caused by faulty biometric machines but added that it had not undermined the fairness and transparency of the election.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Pre-election controversy
There have been accusations against the media for not covering the election in a fair manner after a media have projected that the main opposition.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Pre-election controversy
Following the death of incumbent President John Atta Mills amid concerns for the election, leader of the Electoral Commission of Ghana Kwadwo Afari-Gyan said that "the election calendar remains unchanged—it's purely a party matter" and the National Democratic Congress had to decide whom to nominate as its new candidate.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Pre-election controversy
The main talking point following the close of nominations was the disqualification of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, leader of the newly formed National Democratic Party. This was due to errors in the documentation presented to the Electoral Commission.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Presidential candidates, Running mates
The following eight candidates have been approved by their parties and the Electoral Commission of Ghana as running mates of the above listed presidential candidates for the election on 7 December 2012.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Reaction
The non-partisan Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) all declared that the elections were, for the most part, free and fair. Despite this, there were still widespread allegations of voting irregularities, though these were dismissed as unsubstantiated by the electoral commission chairman.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Reaction
As a result of these claims, the New Patriotic Party immediately rejected the results upon their release and its candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, remarked that his party's leaders would be meeting on 11 December to consider their options, one of which is to contest the results by lodging an appeal in court. Violent opposition was however ruled out.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Reaction
African Union commission chairman Thomas Yayi flew to Ghana to meet with the two men. He was also reported to have congratulated Mahama on his victory, and charged him to preside over an all-inclusive government. Yayi praised the conduct and the participants of the election.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Reaction
In anticipation of petitions regarding the election, Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood has established two public complaints secretariats to swiftly process such concerns.


2012 Ghanaian general election, Reaction
In a statement after being declared the victor, Mahama gave a reconciliatory message, saying  "I wish to welcome my fellow candidates to join me now as partners in the project of nation building and of creating a better Ghana".


2012 Gilbert mayoral election
The 2012 Gilbert mayoral election was held on August 28, 2012, to elect the mayor of Gilbert, Arizona. It saw the reelection of John Lewis.


2012 Ginetta GT Supercup
The 2012 Ginetta GT Supercup is a multi-event, one make GT motor racing championship held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded drivers, competing in a Ginetta G55 or Ginetta G50 that conform to the technical regulations for the championship. It forms part of the extensive program of support categories built up around the BTCC centrepiece.


2012 Ginetta GT Supercup
This season will be the second Ginetta GT Supercup, having rebranded from the Ginetta G50 Cup, which ran between 2008 and 2010.


2012 Ginetta GT Supercup, Race calendar and results
The series will last for 27 races over 10 rounds, and will support the British Touring Car Championship at all rounds.


2012 Ginetta GT Supercup, Championship standings
A driver's best 25 scores counted towards the championship, with any other points being discarded.


2012 Ginetta Junior Championship
The 2012 Ginetta Junior Championship was a multi-event, one make motor racing championship held across England and Scotland. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded drivers, aged between 14 and 17, competing in Ginetta G40s that conformed to the technical regulations for the championship. It formed part of the extensive program of support categories built up around the British Touring Car Championship centrepiece.


2012 Ginetta Junior Championship
This season was the sixth Ginetta Junior Championship. The season commenced on 1 April 2012 at Brands Hatch – on the circuit's Indy configuration – and concluded on 21 October 2012 at the same venue, utilising the Grand Prix circuit, after twenty races at ten meetings, all in support of the 2012 British Touring Car Championship.


2012 Ginetta Junior Championship, Regulation changes
The championship included a new two class structure, with a rookie class running alongside the main class. The rookie class was run by Ginetta instead of independent teams and open to any race driver who had not been in the championship before. The £2,800 cost per weekend was intended to encourage young drivers to enter motorsport.


2012 Ginetta Junior Championship, Race calendar and results
The 2012 calendar supports the BTCC at all rounds, with no major changes from 2011.


2012 Gippsland earthquake
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck Gippsland near Moe at 8.55 pm on 19 June 2012, at a shallow depth of 10.0 km. It was the strongest recorded in Victoria in at least three decades, with some sources suggesting it was the strongest in over a century. It was felt across much of Victoria and parts of New South Wales, with strong shaking reported across the state capital, Melbourne. Some minor building damage was reported in the Latrobe Valley close to the epicentre, and in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Around 30 requests for help were made to the SES, mainly due to cracked walls and ceilings, and a number of local businesses lost some stock. Approximately 60 aftershocks were recorded the following day, but most of these were not felt.


2012 Gippsland earthquake
A magnitude 4.3 Mw aftershock occurred in the same area at 7.11 pm on 20 July 2012 at a similar depth. This tremor was felt across south Gippsland, as well as Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. This aftershock was the strongest of over 200 that occurred since the initial quake.


2012 Girabola
The 2012 Girabola was the 34th season of top-tier football in Angola. It ran from 3 March to 4 November 2012 and involved 16 teams, the bottom three of which were relegated to 2013 Segundona.


2012 Girabola, Changes from 2011 season
Relegated: FC de Cabinda, Primeiro de Maio, Académica do Lobito Promoted: Atlético do Namibe, Sporting de Cabinda, Nacional de Benguela


2012 Giravanz Kitakyushu season
The 2012 Giravanz Kitakyushu season sees Giravanz Kitakyushu compete in J.League Division 2 for the fourth consecutive season. Giravanz Kitakyushu are also competing in the 2012 Emperor's Cup.


2012 Girls' Youth NORCECA Volleyball Championship
The 2012 Girls' Youth NORCECA Volleyball Championship was the eight edition of the bi-annual Women's Volleyball Tournament, played by seven countries from August 6–11, 2012 in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The event served as qualifier to the 2013 Girls Youth World Championship


2012 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship
The 2012 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship was the 18th edition of the tournament, organised by South America's governing volleyball body, the Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol (CSV). It was determined February 26, 2011 the Peru would be the host. The top three teams qualified for the 2013 Youth World Championship.


2012 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship, Competing nations
The following national teams participated in the tournament, teams were seeded according to how they finished in the previous edition of the tournament with host Peru being seeded first:


2012 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship, Competing nations
Peru (Host & 3rd) Chile (4th) Colombia (5th) Paraguay (8th)


2012 Girls' Youth South American Volleyball Championship, Final standing
Team Roster:Luciana del Valle,	Hilary Palma,		Yomira Villacorta(L),	Cristina Cuba,Shiamara Almeida,	Violeta Delgado(L),	Diana Torres,Maguilaura Frias,Barbara Briceño,	Rosa Valiente,	Andrea Urrutia,	Ángela Leyva(C),Head Coach: Natalia Málaga


2012 Giro d'Italia
The 2012 Giro d'Italia was the 95th edition of Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Danish city of Herning, and ended in Milan. The complete route of the 2012 Giro d'Italia was announced in mid October. For the first time since the 2007 edition no climbing time trial was included in the route. The colour of the jersey for the mountains classification was changed for this year's edition from green to blue. The move came at the behest of sponsor Banca Mediolanum, who renewed its support of the mountains classification for a further four years.


2012 Giro d'Italia
The race was won by Canada's Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin–Barracuda, becoming the first Canadian rider to win a Grand Tour event and the second non-European rider to win the Giro (the first being Andrew Hampsten in 1988); he also became only the second rider to take the leader's jersey from another rider on the final day, after Francesco Moser did so in 1984.


2012 Giro d'Italia
Hesjedal won the general classification by 16 seconds over runner-up Joaquim Rodríguez of Spain, representing Team Katusha – the closest race-winning margin since Eddy Merckx beat Gianbattista Baronchelli by 12 seconds in the 1974 edition – who also won two stages and the points classification title, edging out Team Sky sprinter Mark Cavendish by one point.


2012 Giro d'Italia
Third place was taken by Vacansoleil–DCM's Thomas De Gendt of Belgium, after he put in strong performances on the final two stages of the race; he won the race's queen stage, finishing at the high-point of the itinerary, at the Stelvio Pass and also finished in the top five of the time trial. As such, he gained sufficient time to move up from ninth to third over those stages, becoming the first Belgian rider to take a Grand Tour podium since Johan Bruyneel finished third at the 1995 Vuelta a España.


2012 Giro d'Italia
In the race's other classifications, Team Sky rider Rigoberto Urán of Colombia finished as the best rider aged 25 or under in the general classification, finishing in seventh place overall; the mountains competition was won by Italy's Matteo Rabottini of the Farnese Vini–Selle Italia team, scoring almost double the number of points that his nearest rival in the standings accrued. Rabottini was the only Italian to feature on the podium, as for the first time since 1995, no Italian riders finished in the top three overall, as Lampre–ISD's Michele Scarponi – the defending champion – could only finish fourth overall.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Teams
All 18 UCI ProTeams were automatically invited and were obliged to attend. In addition four UCI Professional Continental were announced in January 2012. The full list of participating teams is:


2012 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
2011 winner Alberto Contador was banned for two years on 6 February for doping during 2010 Tour de France and  therefore did not start in the Giro. Ivan Basso, winner of the Giro of 2006 and 2010, announced on 13 November 2011 that he was aiming for a third pink jersey.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
Johan Bruyneel, manager of the new fusion team between Leopard-Trek and Team Radioshack, stated that it would be hard for three-time runner-up Andy Schleck and his brother Fränk Schleck to win the 2012 Tour de France because of the large number of kilometers against the clock. There was a chance that one of the brothers would target the Giro d'Italia instead. On 19 November 2011 Fränk initially announced that the Schleck brothers would not ride the Giro and will focus on the Tour despite the time trialing kilometers. Eventually on 29 April 2012 it was announced that Fränk Schleck would replace the injured Jakob Fuglsang as the team leader during the race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
On 17 April Michele Scarponi, winner of the 2011 edition after Contador's suspension, announced that he wanted to win the Giro on the road and not after a suspension of another rider. Scarponi teamed-up with Lampre-ISD teammate and 2004 Giro d'Italia winner Damiano Cunego. Cunego aimed for a high finish in the Giro and skipped the 2012 Tour de France due to the large amount of time trialing kilometers.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
Other riders named as overall contenders were Ag2r-La Mondiale's John Gadret (third overall in the 2011 Giro d'Italia), 2011 Youth classification winner Roman Kreuziger of team Astana, Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez (fourth overall in the 2011 Giro d'Italia) and the Venezuelan climber José Rujano of the Androni Giocattoli team.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The first three stages were announced on 5 October 2011, with the remaining stages announced on 16 October. On 18 April 2012 it was announced that the route for Stage 12 Seravezza to Sestri Levante had been altered because the coastal road through the Cinque Terre remains unusable following the severe landslides which struck the area on 25 October 2011. The new route is 155 km (96 mi) long.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The stages were divided into five categories of difficulty; category A, B for flat stages (from A for "stages presenting no particular difficulty"), category C for medium mountain stage, category D for mountain stages and category E for time trial stages. These categories were used to determine the time limit on the stage.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
In the 2012 Giro d'Italia, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages, the leader received a pink jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the Giro d'Italia, and the winner was considered the winner of the Giro.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a red jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. Unlike in the better known points classification in the Tour de France, the type of stage had no effect on what points were on offer – each stage had the same points available on the same scale. The win earned 25 points, second place earned 20 points, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 15th. In addition, points could be won in intermediate sprints.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a blue jersey. The jersey had been green since the jersey was first awarded, but with a sponsorship change, the jersey color was changed to blue. In the mountains classifications, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists. Each climb was categorized as either first, second, third, or fourth-category, with more points available for the higher-categorized climbs. The Cima Coppi, the race's highest point of elevation, awarded still more points than the other first-category climbs. The Cima Coppi for the 2012 Giro d'Italia was the Passo dello Stelvio. The first rider to cross the Stelvio was Thomas De Gendt.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1987 were eligible.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
There were also two classifications for teams. In the Trofeo Fast Team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time; the Trofeo Super Team was a team points classification, with the top 20 placed riders on each stage earning points (20 for first place, 19 for second place and so on, down to a single point for 20th) for their team.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.


2012 Giro d'Italia Femminile
The 2012 Giro d'Italia Femminile, or Giro Donne, was the 23rd running of the Giro d'Italia Femminile, the most prestigious stage race on the women's road cycling calendar. It was held over nine stages from 29 June to 7 July 2012, starting in Naples and finishing in Bergamo. The race was won by last year's winner Marianne Vos, who also won 5 of the 9 stages as well as the yellow jersey (points).


2012 Giro d'Italia Femminile, Teams
Seventeen teams competed in the 2012 Giro d'Italia Femminile: the top ten UCI Women's Teams (listed on the left below), a Dutch national team, and six 'wildcard' Italian teams (listed on the right below):


2012 Giro d'Italia Femminile, Stages
The 2012 race started with the longest stage, a 139.1 km flat stage from Naples to Terracina. The second stage was a 7.2 km individual time trial around the streets of Rome.


2012 Giro d'Italia Femminile, Classification
There were five different jerseys awarded in the 2012 Giro Donne. These followed the same format as those in the men's Giro d'Italia, and as in the men's race, the leader of the general classification received a pink jersey. This classification was calculated by adding the combined finishing times of the riders from each stage, and the overall winner of this classification is considered the winner of the Giro.


2012 Giro d'Italia Femminile, Classification
The other jerseys differ in colour from those of the men's Giro:


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
The 2012 Giro d'Italia began on 5 May, and stage 11 occurred on 16 May. The 2012 edition began with an individual time trial stage – where each member of the starting peloton of 198 riders competed against the clock – in Herning, Denmark with two more stages held in the country before an early rest day. The riders then travelled by air to Italy, with the race resuming in Verona and a team time trial, an event where each member of a team started together racing against the clock.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Taylor Phinney held the lead of the race throughout its opening Danish leg; having won the race-commencing individual time trial, Phinney defended it on the following two stages, despite crashing in the closing stages of the third stage after being involved in a multi-rider incident. Phinney crossed the line in an ambulance, receiving medical attention before making his way onto the rostrum. The incident itself was started by Roberto Ferrari clipping Mark Cavendish – the winner of the second stage – causing Cavendish to fall and the rest of the field to stack up behind.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Race organisers saw fit to demote Ferrari on the stage results, penalise him on both time – 30 seconds penalty on the general classification – and a 25-point deduction, while he was fined also. Ferrari was remorseful at the time of the crash, but later apologised to Cavendish and other riders involved.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Upon the race's return to Italy, Garmin–Barracuda won the fourth stage, the team time trial in Verona. Alex Rasmussen had been placed third after the Danish leg, but he was dropped during the stage and thus it was Ramūnas Navardauskas who picked up the maglia rosa from Phinney, becoming the first rider from Lithuania to wear the leader's jersey at the Giro. Navardauskas held on to the jersey for another day, before Adriano Malori assumed the lead of the race at the end of stage six.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Malori had been a part of the breakaway on that stage, before Miguel Ángel Rubiano soloed to victory on the day. The jersey changed hands again the following day, as Malori cracked during the seventh stage, with Ryder Hesjedal coming through to become the first Canadian to wear the pink jersey. He held the jersey for three days, before handing it over to Joaquim Rodríguez, who took the jersey with a win on the tenth stage, a steep finish into Assisi. Rodríguez held on to the jersey the next day, topping the overall standings with the more mountainous second half of the Giro still to race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
The race commenced with a short individual time trial stage, much like it had done on the Giro's previous start in a foreign country – the start in Herning was the tenth time that the race had started outside of Italy, and the furthest north geographically – when the race began with an individual time trial of 8.4 km (5.2 mi) held in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2010. The stage in Herning itself, 8.7 km (5.4 mi) in length, was relatively flat, dropping only 8 metres (26 ft) in altitude from the start, to the end.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Despite this, it was considered technical due to the nature of the parcours, with several tight ninety-degree turns and cobblestones on several sections of the course before the finish at H. P. Hansensvej. Jackson Rodríguez (Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela) was the first rider to depart the start house in Herning, recording a time of 11' 58" for the course, a time that was eventually only good enough for the bottom ten places overall.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Indeed, Rodríguez's lead was short-lived as Marco Bandiera (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step), Team Saxo Bank's Jonas Aaen Jørgensen and Team Sky rider Bernhard Eisel all assumed the top spot as they reached the finish, with Robert Hunter of Garmin–Barracuda recording the first time under eleven minutes, as he set a time of 10' 54". Hunter's time held to the next group of riders and it was his team-mate Ramūnas Navardauskas that took the lead; Navardauskas recorded a time some six seconds faster, and was good enough to hold off the rest of the field for over two hours.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Navardauskas' time was given a few close calls; RadioShack–Nissan's Jesse Sergent went quicker at the start of the stage – four seconds ahead of Navardauskas to the mid-stage intermediate point – but ultimately faded to two seconds outside of the Lithuanian rider's time. A while later, Brett Lancaster went even closer to the time of Navardauskas for the newly renamed Orica–GreenEDGE team; he was quicker to the intermediate point than what Sergent had been, but fell outside the time by just one second at the stage finish, having encountered his minute-man Andrey Zeits (Astana) in the closing stages.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Navardauskas' stay at the head of the stage classification was eventually ended by Team Saxo Bank's Manuele Boaro, who had placed in the top ten in individual time trials of both Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour de Romandie, having set the quickest time to the intermediate point and eventually continued the pace to the end of the stage, recording a time of 10' 41". Geraint Thomas was next to the line for Team Sky, and went six seconds below the time of Boaro, but both were eventually eclipsed by BMC Racing Team's Taylor Phinney, the 2010 world under-23 time trial champion.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Thomas had held the advantage at midpoint by one second, but an impressive second half of the course turned a deficit into an eventual stage-winning margin of nine seconds. Thus Phinney, who later stated that it had been a dream to win the jersey, became only the third American rider to wear the leader's maglia rosa after Andrew Hampsten in 1988 and Christian Vande Velde in 2008. Phinney and Thomas were safe from further challenges, but Alex Rasmussen (Garmin–Barracuda) and Vacansoleil–DCM's Gustav Larsson both broke into the top five later on, recording times of 10' 39" and 10' 48" respectively.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Further back, Astana's Roman Kreuziger recorded the best time of the overall contenders, with a time of 11' 02" good enough for 28th position in the stage results. Ivan Basso (Liquigas–Cannondale) and Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) set times within ten seconds of Kreuziger in their disadvantageous discipline; although they both gained a 20-second advantage over Lampre–ISD pair Damiano Cunego and Michele Scarponi.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
Three riders – Farnese Vini–Selle Italia's Alfredo Balloni, Olivier Kaisen of Lotto–Belisol, and Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela rider Miguel Ángel Rubiano – advanced clear of the main field in the early running of the stage; the quartet managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of over thirteen minutes around a quarter of the way through the stage. With all the riders close together time-wise following the opening stage, Team Sky and BMC Racing Team were mainstays at the front of the peloton, trying to chip away at the advantage of the breakaway throughout the twisting Danish roads alongside the coast.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
Orica–GreenEDGE were also prominent towards the front of the main pack, as they looked to protect their main sprinter Matthew Goss. In the breakaway, Balloni guaranteed himself as the recipient of the first maglia azzurra of the race, as he crested the day's only categorised climb in Østerbjerg first, ahead of Rubiano and Kaisen.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
The lead advantage at this point – with around 90 km (55.9 mi) remaining – had been cut to less than half of what it had been before; Team Sky's pace on the front allowed the gap to fall to just over five minutes on the route. With other teams coming towards the front of the main pack, namely Liquigas–Cannondale and Lampre–ISD, the advantage that the trio out front held, continued to dwindle.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
It was inevitable that the trio would be caught, and sure enough, just shy of the 40 km (24.9 mi) to go banner, the peloton absorbed the breakaway back into their midsts. Parity however was short-lived as an attacking move was launched by Kaisen's team-mate Lars Bak, the Danish rider giving home fans someone to cheer for; he was given space for a time by the main field, allowing to get clear by around 45 seconds as they reached the 30 km (18.6 mi) remaining mark. He stayed off the front for a time longer, and was caught with around 17 km (10.6 mi) to go; Astana and Rabobank having done most of the legwork to bring him back, after the other teams had only brought Bak back marginally.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
The riders remained together as they entered Herning for the final finishing loop of 12.5 km (7.8 mi) in and around the city, with no riders being allowed any initiative to get a gap on the field, and thus limiting the chances of somebody getting clear in the closing stages. The lap had been passing without drama, until race leader Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) crashed a third of the way around the lap.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
Once he got back onto his feet, Phinney suffered the misfortune of dropping his chain and lost over 30 seconds trying to fix the issue, but with help from his team-mates, including Danilo Wyss and Alessandro Ballan, he managed to bridge back up to the main pack ahead of the finish. At the front, Garmin–Barracuda were starting to set up their leadout train for Tyler Farrar while Farnese Vini–Selle Italia had hoped to get Andrea Guardini, the six-stage winner at the Tour de Langkawi earlier in the season, in position for the sprint.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
As the field rounded the final corner, Rabobank's Theo Bos lost control – having clipped the wheel of team-mate Mark Renshaw – and crashed into Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), and caused a stack-up which reduced the number of contenders for the stage win; Garmin–Barracuda's train was still in position at the front, but Geraint Thomas delivered Mark Cavendish to the line for the incumbent world champion to claim his 31st Grand Tour stage win on the line, ahead of Goss and FDJ–BigMat's Geoffrey Soupe. Phinney held the leader's jersey after finishing within the main field, while Cavendish took the lead of the points classification from Phinney.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
The third stage of the race was dedicated to Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt – the winner of the third stage of the 2010 edition of the race into Middelburg, Netherlands – after he crashed while descending the Passo del Bocco during the third stage of the 2011 race, and died of his injuries in the crash. A short ceremony, including a minute's silence led by RadioShack–Nissan team members – Weylandt's former Leopard Trek team – was held prior to the stage in Horsens. As well as Weylandt, the mayor of Horsens, Jan Trøjborg, was also commemorated during the ceremony. Trøjborg, who had been a prevalent figure in bringing the Giro to Denmark, died on 6 May after suffering a heart attack during an amateur bicycle ride in Jutland.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
Six riders made up the stage's breakaway, including sixth-placed Ramūnas Navardauskas (Garmin–Barracuda), but they could not gather more than three-and-a-half minutes of an advantage throughout the entire parcours, and were all caught by around 25 km (15.5 mi) remaining. As he had done the previous day, Lotto–Belisol's Lars Bak counter-attacked the peloton as they caught the leaders, but he was caught on the final lap of a finishing circuit 14.3 km (8.9 mi) in length, and thus setting up for an eventual bunch sprint to the finish line.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
Team Sky and Team Saxo Bank were towards the front although Geraint Thomas later sat up as Mark Cavendish was not directly behind him, and in effect leaving him without a lead-out man. Orica–GreenEDGE brought their men forward inside the final kilometre; with Tomas Vaitkus and Brett Lancaster setting the pace for Matthew Goss, they moved to the head of the pack. Cavendish picked up the wheel of Garmin–Barracuda's Tyler Farrar and they attacked down the outside of the road, moving forward at around 200 m (660 ft) remaining.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela rider Roberto Ferrari tried to move from the left side of the road to the right side of it, but as he aggressively switched lanes, he clipped Cavendish, sending the world champion to the ground and causing the whole field to stack up behind. Among other riders to fall were overall leader Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) and Colnago–CSF Bardiani sprinter Sacha Modolo.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
In front of the chaos, Goss led out the sprint to take Orica–GreenEDGE's first Grand Tour win, and with the bonus seconds on offer at the finish, moved into the top ten overall, as well as taking the points classification lead from Cavendish; Team Saxo Bank rider Juan José Haedo finished second ahead of Farrar.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
Ferrari, who had finished the stage ninth, was demoted to the end of the stage results, fined, and was penalised 30 seconds in the general classification and 25 points in the points classification; a decision that his team boss Gianni Savio had no qualms about, although Ferrari was remorseless when reflecting about his actions. Cavendish later tweeted that Ferrari should be "ashamed to take out Pink, Red & World Champ jerseys", and also questioned the decision to keep Ferrari in the race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
For the seventh successive year, the Giro's first stage on Italian soil was held as a time trial; on this occasion it was held in and around Verona, on a 33.2 km (20.6 mi) circuit. The circuit started at the Basilica di San Zeno, heading out towards the comune of San Pietro in Cariano, around 10 km (6.2 mi) outside of Verona before returning to Verona itself, finishing on the city's largest piazza, the Piazza Bra.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
Much like individual time trial stages, each of the squads set off in reverse order from where they were ranked in the teams general classification at the end of the previous stage, with the exception of BMC Racing Team – second in the standings – who started after the classification leaders Garmin–Barracuda, as Taylor Phinney held the lead of the race overall for BMC Racing Team. Thus, Ag2r–La Mondiale, who were bottom of the classification, trailing Garmin–Barracuda by two minutes and eighteen seconds, were the first team to set off on the stage. Ag2r–La Mondiale set a time of 38' 49" for the course, with only Euskaltel–Euskadi – starting three minutes later – recording a slower time overall.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela knocked a second off the time of Ag2r–La Mondiale to take a short spell at the top of the timesheets, before Lampre–ISD comfortably bettered their time, by over a minute, with Italian national champion Adriano Malori helping to drive the pace on the front of the squad's train, with their overall contenders Michele Scarponi and Damiano Cunego in tow. Their time held until the ninth squad to start the stage, Joaquim Rodríguez's Team Katusha, took another half minute off the best time of Lampre–ISD, recording a time of 37' 09


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
", to aid with Rodríguez's placing in the general classification – moving into the top ten placings – overall. The team's time held until the second team from the end, Garmin–Barracuda went round the course five seconds quicker, for their second team time trial win of the year after a victory in the Tour of Qatar; the result, and the squad's teamwork, pleased sporting director Allan Peiper at the conclusion of the stage.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
Phinney's stay in the maglia rosa was ended, as BMC Racing Team finished the stage in a time 31 seconds outside that of Garmin–Barracuda; assuming the lead of the race was Ramūnas Navardauskas, after the team's highest-placed rider prior to the stage, Alex Rasmussen, was dropped during the stage. Phinney later suggested that his crashes of previous days may have been a contributing factor in the loss of the leader's jersey.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
Following the route of the Via Aemilia Roman road, Pierpaolo De Negri of Farnese Vini–Selle Italia instigated the breakaway of the day, and was joined shortly after by several other riders, with Lotto–Belisol pairing Olivier Kaisen – who had been a part of the second stage breakaway – and Brian Bulgaç, and Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela rider Alessandro De Marchi joining De Negri out front. The quartet quickly stepped up the pace to pull clear of the peloton, fronted by the Garmin–Barracuda team of race leader Ramūnas Navardauskas.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
After leaving Forlì, approaching the midpoint of the stage, the breakaway's lead was over six minutes. Garmin–Barracuda then set about reducing their advantage steadily, with proficient time-trial riders Alex Rasmussen and Sébastien Rosseler controlling the tempo on the front of the main field as they headed ever nearer the finish point; FDJ–BigMat also had riders towards the front, in the hope of setting up their sprinter Arnaud Démare for the finish in Fano.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
Team Katusha then drove the pace of the peloton – reducing their advantage to 2' 30" – as the leaders hit the foot of the day's only categorised climb, the fourth-category Gabicce Monte where De Negri led across the summit, and Kaisen was dropped on the climb. The main field had reduced their advantage to half of what it was at the bottom of the climb.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
De Marchi attacked not long after the summit of the climb, maintaining a lead of around a minute ahead of the peloton now led by Liquigas–Cannondale, who were looking to keep two-time Giro winner Ivan Basso out of trouble, unlike BMC Racing Team's Taylor Phinney, who encountered a crash for the fourth stage in succession. De Negri and Bulgaç were pulled back by the main field not long after the climb, while De Marchi managed to hold off the front until around 20 km (12.4 mi) from the end.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
Within that distance, there were several mini-attacks by the likes of former Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team) and another Lotto–Belisol rider, Adam Hansen, but it all came down to the final sprint for the line. The sprint itself came down to two teams; Orica–GreenEDGE, the team of points classification leader Matthew Goss, and Team Sky, with world champion – and Goss' former team-mate – Mark Cavendish looking to pick up his second win of the Giro.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
As he had done on stage 2, Geraint Thomas led Cavendish out for the sprint with around 200 m (660 ft) to go and despite Goss' best attempts, Cavendish prevailed ahead of Goss, while Daniele Bennati (RadioShack–Nissan) beat out Robert Hunter (Garmin–Barracuda) for third place. With a split in the peloton – resulting in a five-second gap – Hunter missed out on the maglia rosa by five seconds, and the jersey remained with Navardauskas. Goss and Cavendish – who was joined on the podium by his new-born daughter Delilah Grace – both moved into the top five overall with the bonus seconds on offer at the finish.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
After only fourth-category climbs at best during the early stages of the race, the sixth stage saw the introduction of the higher categorised climbs, with three third-category climbs on the stage's parcours, as well as the second-category Passo della Cappella on gravel roads, all coming after the 90 km (55.9 mi) mark.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
Fifteen riders representing fourteen teams – only Team Katusha had more than one rider in the breakaway, with riders Gatis Smukulis and Aleksandr Kuschynski – contributed to the opening move of the stage, as they accelerated off the front of the main field inside the first 20 km (12.4 mi) of the stage. Of the fifteen, four riders were dropped very quickly after that, including mountains classification leader Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini–Selle Italia), with the best placed of the remaining eleven out front being Team Saxo Bank's Luke Roberts, who had been 25th prior to the stage. Liquigas–Cannondale, who did not have a rider in the move out front, set about trying to bring the gap down to the main field, as the eleven riders held an advantage of close to nine minutes prior to the first climb of the day, the Cingoli.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Michał Gołaś led over the climb, while Miguel Ángel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela) attacked on all three of the remaining climbs, giving him enough points to replace Balloni as the leader of the mountains classification at stage's end. After sitting up on the first two climbs to allow his breakaway companions – sans one rider, Movistar Team's Pablo Lastras, who abandoned after a crash with Garmin–Barracuda rider Jack Bauer – to rejoin, Rubiano did not wait at the top of the Montegranaro and accelerated away solo.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
Rubiano continued to extend his gap over the main field in the next few kilometres, extending his gap over his former breakaway companions to a maximum of a minute-and-a-half, while he had three minutes in hand over the peloton. As it transpired, Rubiano continued on to the stage victory, 70 seconds clear of a group of riders consisting of Lampre–ISD's Adriano Malori, Gołaś, Alexsandr Dyachenko of the Astana team, and Cesare Benedetti representing Grand Tour debutants Team NetApp.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
The field was led over the line 41 seconds later by Orica–GreenEDGE rider Daryl Impey, but Malori gained sufficient time to become the new leader of the race overall, 15 seconds ahead of Gołaś. Rubiano moved into fourth place in the standings behind Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin–Barracuda), half a minute behind Malori.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
The race's first summit finish occurred during the seventh stage, with a second-category climb up to Rocca di Cambio, at an altitude of 1,392 metres (4,567 ft). Although there was only one other climb on the parcours – the Colle Galluccio – the stage was considered hilly, as the majority of the stage consisted of frequent hills and descents, and was run above 500 m (1,600 ft) except for the opening 50 km (31.1 mi). The primary breakaway of the stage was formed early in the stage, when a wave of four riders went clear.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica–GreenEDGE) was joined in the breakaway by Vacansoleil–DCM's Mirko Selvaggi as well as two riders representing UCI Professional Continental Teams; Reto Hollenstein for Team NetApp and Farnese Vini–Selle Italia rider Matteo Rabottini, with the quartet quickly gaining a substantial advantage over the main field, as they were over nine minutes clear after 27 km (16.8 mi).


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
The peloton slowly closed the time down at first, but by the time that the four leaders had gone over the climb and then moved on to the intermediate sprint in L'Aquila, efforts from Garmin–Barracuda, Team Katusha and Lampre–ISD had brought the time gap down to just under two-and-a-half minutes. Rabottini then attacked his breakaway companions, soon breaking clear, while in the peloton, several mini-attacks were established, with Colnago–CSF Bardiani rider Stefano Pirazzi being caught before making a second move while Valerio Agnoli tried to follow for Liquigas–Cannondale.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
Pirazzi caught up to Rabottini, while Movistar Team's José Herrada and Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre–ISD) caught up to Agnoli, with Herrada later joining the front duo and BMC Racing Team's Ivan Santaromita established an all-Italian chase group with Agnoli and Pietropolli. Several Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela riders attacked on the climb, which in effect brought the main field up towards the leaders, with Rabottini being absorbed back after failing to hold on to the pace set by Herrada and Pirazzi.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
Pirazzi tried to attack Herrada on several occasions within the final 5 km (3.1 mi) of the stage, but he could not establish a big enough gap to get clear. Pirazzi then wasted his chance of a stage victory by making a mistake on a right-hand corner with around 1.5 km (0.9 mi); he overshot the corner and this gave Herrada a chance to extend his lead, but the peloton were closing all the time.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
In the end, Herrada was ultimately caught with 700 m (2,300 ft) to go where, on the steepest bit of the climb, with a gradient of 10% in places. Lampre–ISD held station at the front of the peloton, with Przemysław Niemiec protecting Michele Scarponi, before Scarponi made an attack on the climb, with Astana's Paolo Tiralongo going with him; Scarponi held the lead until the final corner, when Tiralongo came around the outside of him, to take his second Giro stage victory.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
With Scarponi's team-mate Adriano Malori dropping off the back of the peloton at the foot of the climb, Ryder Hesjedal – fifth on the stage, five seconds behind Tiralongo – assumed the lead of the race, to become the first Canadian rider to wear the leader's pink jersey. Fifteen seconds behind, Tiralongo moved into second place ahead of Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
For the third successive day, the riders contended with a stage that was designated as a medium-mountain stage, with the race reaching its most southerly point by the finish in Laceno. Again, only two categorised climbs were scheduled; the fourth-category Valico di Macerone climb was contested at the 65.5 km (40.7 mi) mark, before descending down and ramping up towards the finish, with the day's other climb – the Colle Molella – coming just 4.4 km (2.7 mi) prior to the finish.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
The primary breakaway of the stage was formed early in the stage, when a wave of four riders – Movistar Team's Andrey Amador, Julien Bérard of Ag2r–La Mondiale, Vacansoleil–DCM rider Tomasz Marczyński and Miguel Mínguez (Euskaltel–Euskadi) – went clear after 15 km (9.3 mi) of the day's running. By the midpoint of the stage, the lead quartet held a lead of over eleven minutes after the peloton elected not to chase them down at first.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
Amador and Marczyński went clear of their companions, after their advantage had been reduced to four minutes by the time of the intermediate sprint with around 65 km (40.4 mi) to go in San Giorgio del Sannio. With Garmin–Barracuda, Astana and Colnago–CSF Bardiani driving the pace on the front of the peloton, the advantage that Amador and Marczyński was reduced steadily, and they were caught with 17 km (10.6 mi) remaining.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
Astana's pace, mainly driven by Amstel Gold Race winner Enrico Gasparotto put numerous riders in trouble, including stage six winner Miguel Ángel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela), but after Gasparotto pulled off, it was left to BMC Racing Team and Liquigas–Cannondale to set the tempo on the Colle Molella.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
At 6.8 km (4.2 mi) to go, Giro del Trentino winner Domenico Pozzovivo attacked, and quickly gained a 30-second gap before any movement was made in the peloton, when Beñat Intxausti (Movistar Team) attempted to follow him; he could not catch him, as Pozzovivo held on to win his first Giro stage by 23 seconds. Intxausti managed to hold on to second place, with a small group being led home by third-placed Joaquim Rodríguez of Team Katusha, four seconds further back. Ryder Hesjedal maintained the maglia rosa, with Rodríguez moving ahead of Paolo Tiralongo into second place – nine seconds behind Hesjedal – while Intxausti and Pozzovivo moved into fifth and thirteenth in the overall classification respectively.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
With no categorised climbs on the parcours, the stage – although undulating – was widely expected to be a battle between the sprinters in Frosinone, with the top two riders in the points classification, Team Sky's Mark Cavendish and Orica–GreenEDGE's Matthew Goss widely tipped for stage honours, with Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) also looking to usurp his former HTC–Highroad team-mates for a first World Tour win.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
Lotto–Belisol rider Brian Bulgaç made it into the breakaway for the second time in five stages, and was joined at the head of the race by Martijn Keizer of the Vacansoleil–DCM team, and Euskaltel–Euskadi's Pierre Cazaux. The breakaway trio's maximum advantage over the main field came around an hour into the stage, with the gap breaching the four-minute mark, but with none of the three riders in any contention to challenge overall leader Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin–Barracuda), the teams of the general classification contenders allowed them to hang off the front.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
With Orica–GreenEDGE on the front of the peloton, the advantage started to dwindle and with 35 km (21.7 mi) remaining in the stage, their lead was under a minute. Keizer left his two rivals behind and began a solo escape in the hope of staying clear of the peloton all the way to Frosinone.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
His hopes were ended halfway towards the finish, as he was caught with around 17 km (10.6 mi) to go. The small hills just outside Frosinone saw several mini-attacks; Lotto–Belisol pair Dennis Vanendert and Gaëtan Bille, Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini–Selle Italia) and Sonny Colbrelli (Colnago–CSF Bardiani) were the first quartet to make moves, but it set up Joaquim Rodríguez, second in the overall classification for Team Katusha, to have a go himself. With help from team-mate Ángel Vicioso, Rodríguez tried to break clear but was promptly recaptured by the main field.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
Several other mini-attacks occurred on the run-in to the finish, but the field was together as they approached a left-hand turn with 400 m (1,300 ft) to go. Contact between Goss and Farnese Vini–Selle Italia's Filippo Pozzato sent both riders to the tarmac, with other riders, including Cavendish, being forced down as well. Pozzato blamed Goss for the crash, while Orica–GreenEDGE sporting director Matt White directed the blame at Pozzato.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
With a reduced number of sprinters for the finish, RadioShack–Nissan rider Giacomo Nizzolo was best placed for the sprint, but a quick-closing Francisco Ventoso of the Movistar Team wrested the stage win away from Nizzolo, his second career Giro stage victory. Ventoso was followed over the line by Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela's Fabio Felline, Nizzolo and Liquigas–Cannondale's Damiano Caruso, the young rider classification leader. Hesjedal was also in the top ten of the stage results, and maintained his overall lead, having covered off Rodríguez's late-stage attack.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
Although race organisers characterised the stage as "medium-mountain", only one climb was categorised on the parcours, with that being the hilltop finish in Assisi. The climb was in two parts, peaking at 15% in places on the first ascent, and after a slight descent, an average gradient of 8.5% for the final 1.2 km (0.7 mi) with elements of the climb being held on pavé.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez – second place overnight, nine seconds behind leader Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin–Barracuda) – was the favourite for the stage, having won numerous races on similarly steep finishes in the previous twelve months, including two stage victories at the 2011 Vuelta a España and a win at April's La Flèche Wallonne.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
After several, yet unsuccessful, mini-attacks in the opening few kilometres of the stage, a breakaway move of riders was established; consisting of Vacansoleil–DCM rider Martijn Keizer – for the second day running – with Euskaltel–Euskadi's Miguel Mínguez also making it out front for the second time during the race. They were joined by Ag2r–La Mondiale rider Guillaume Bonnafond, Matthias Brändle of Team NetApp and Farnese Vini–Selle Italia's Francesco Failli, and this quintet went clear after 10 km (6.2 mi).


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
The group managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of almost five minutes after 50 km (31.1 mi); with Bonnafond being best placed of the five riders in the overall classification, trailing Hesjedal by almost 24 minutes, Team Katusha and Garmin–Barracuda protected their respective highest-placed riders by staying towards the front of the peloton. Failli attempted to drop his breakaway companions with around 30 km (18.6 mi) to go, but in the process destabilised Keizer and Brändle from the group; Rabobank's Stef Clement later caught those two riders after accelerating off the front of the pack.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
With added assistance from Clement, the trio later rejoined Bonnafond, Mínguez and Failli at the head of the race, and held a lead over the peloton, led by Hesjedal's Garmin–Barracuda squad, of around a minute; their strong pace at the front managed to bring the gap down to about twenty seconds with 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining. The leaders were caught 2.5 km (1.6 mi) later, with several teams moving forward to be in a prime position for the climb up to Assisi.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
Tomas Vaitkus (Orica–GreenEDGE) and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Rabobank) tried to go clear on the lower stages of the climb, but it was not until Ag2r–La Mondiale's John Gadret and Team Sky rider Rigoberto Urán hit the front that the main group of riders started to accelerate. Daniel Moreno led the group, protecting Rodríguez but as he stepped aside, it was Paolo Tiralongo that led the move for Astana.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
Slagter then tried to go clear once again, with only Rodríguez and Team NetApp's Bartosz Huzarski following closely; Rodríguez left his sprint until 150 m (490 ft) to go, but was sufficient to take the stage victory – his first Giro win, meaning that he had won a stage in all three Grand Tours – and with bonus seconds on the line, the leader's pink jersey for the first time in his career. Huzarski was second, with Slagter fading to seventh behind Hesjedal.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
The midway point of the race was marked by the longest stage of the entire itinerary; a 255 km (158.4 mi) long stage ideally suited for the sprinters, despite a late-race climb of Vico, with around 11 km (6.8 mi) to go before the finish in Montecatini Terme.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Inside the opening 10 km (6.2 mi) of the stage, six riders – Euskaltel–Euskadi's Adrián Sáez, FDJ–BigMat rider Mickaël Delage, Olivier Kaisen (Lotto–Belisol), Manuele Boaro of Team Saxo Bank, Vacansoleil–DCM rider Stefan Denifl and Simone Ponzi of Astana – advanced clear of the main field, and they managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of almost five minutes. The peloton was keeping the gap in check however, despite Denifl – the best-placed of the sextet – trailing overnight leader Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) by almost 42 minutes.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
With Rabobank, Team Sky and Team Katusha doing the majority of the work on the front of the peloton, the gap that the breakaway held fluctuated between two and four minutes; at the summit of the stage's first of two climbs, the Poggio alla Croce after 100 km (62.1 mi), the gap that the breakaway – now minus Ponzi, who had fallen back to the peloton after the first hour's racing – held was just two minutes. The time gap reduced steadily after that, with around 30 km (18.6 mi) to go, the gap was just a number of seconds.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
At this point, Boaro – a proficient time trial rider, having been national champion as a junior, and finished runner-up to Adriano Malori in the 2011 Italian championships – attacked his breakaway companions. Boaro managed to hold out off the front until the final finishing circuit, 14.4 km (8.9 mi) in length, with the Movistar Team leading the way.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
A mini-attack occurred on the climb at Vico, but it was pulled back quickly after; in effect, guaranteeing a bunch sprint. Team Sky tried to set up the finish for Mark Cavendish, but a miscue on the final corner by leadout men Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas hampered the world champion, allowing Tomas Vaitkus (Orica–GreenEDGE) and Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela's Roberto Ferrari to get through and contest the finish. Behind that, Colnago–CSF Bardiani's sprinter Sacha Modolo hit the tarmac for the second time during the race, having been involved in the stage 3 incident.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Ferrari finished stronger, and beat out his chasers for his first Giro win, with Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Francesco Chicchi outdragging Vaitkus for second. Cavendish finished an unhappy fourth, but did take the points classification lead from Vaitkus' team-mate Matthew Goss. There were no other changes to the jersey holders, with Rodríguez holding the overall lead into the second half of the race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
For further results, see 2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Stage 12 of the 2012 Giro d'Italia was contested on 17 May, and the race concluded with Stage 21 on 27 May. The second half of the race was situated entirely within Italy; starting with a medium mountain stage from Seravezza to Sestri Levante, before the customary race-concluding time trial was held in Milan.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Following his victory in the tenth stage, Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez held the lead into the second half of the race. He maintained his lead on stage 12 – after the breakaway succeeded in staying away until the end of the stage as Lotto–Belisol rider Lars Bak held on to win by eleven seconds ahead of the remnants of the breakaway group – and on stage 13, as Mark Cavendish picked up his third stage victory of the race on one of the few sprinter-suited stages during the second half of the race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Rodríguez gave up the lead of the race at the end of stage 14, after Garmin–Barracuda rider Ryder Hesjedal attacked on the climb to the stage finish at Cervinia – the first that the climb had featured in the Giro since 1997 – taking 26 seconds out of his rival, and reclaimed the maglia rosa that he held for three days in the first half of the race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Rodríguez immediately retook the lead of the race the following day at the summit finish at the Pian dei Resinelli. Although he finished second to Farnese Vini–Selle Italia rider Matteo Rabottini on the day, Rodríguez gained 39 seconds on Hesjedal through his late-stage attack.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
After the race's second rest day which came after that stage, the gap between Rodríguez and Hesjedal remained at the half-minute mark for the next three stages; the breakaway succeeded once again on stage 16 as Euskaltel–Euskadi rider Jon Izagirre soloed away from a group of riders in the closing stages, while on stage 17, Rodríguez won the stage after a group of the leading overall contenders escaped on the Passo Giau.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Also among that group were Hesjedal, former winners Ivan Basso (Liquigas–Cannondale) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre–ISD), with Team Sky rider Rigoberto Urán and Colnago–CSF Bardiani's Domenico Pozzovivo making up the sextet. Stage 18 saw the sprinters' last chance of victory with Andrea Guardini of Farnese Vini–Selle Italia edging out Cavendish for victory.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Hesjedal and Rodríguez took near-identical gaps out on one another during stages 19 and 20; Hesjedal reduced the lead to 17 seconds in the former stage finishing at the Alpe di Pampeago, while Rodríguez moved it back out to 31 seconds following the Cima Coppi finish at the Stelvio Pass. Vacansoleil–DCM rider Thomas De Gendt moved into overall podium contention by winning the stage to the Stelvio, taking between three and five minutes from all of the other overall contenders, and moved from ninth place to fourth place at the end of the stage.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Hesjedal's better time trial abilities enabled him to take the lead of the race on the final day from Rodríguez; he overturned the 31-second deficit, and ultimately became the first Canadian rider to win a Grand Tour. Hesjedal had turned the deficit into a 16-second margin of victory, the closest such margin since Eddy Merckx beat Gianbattista Baronchelli by 12 seconds in the 1974 edition of the race. De Gendt moved ahead of Scarponi for third place, to become the first Belgian rider to finish on a Grand Tour podium since Johan Bruyneel finished third at the 1995 Vuelta a España.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
The stage had been scheduled to be held over a distance of 157 km (97.6 mi), but in April 2012, prior to the start of the Giro, the itinerary was changed slightly to 155 km (96.3 mi). Due to torrential rains which caused floods and mudslides in October 2011, the roads through the Cinque Terre were considered unusable for the race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
As such, the second half of the race began with an undulating stage along the Ligurian coast, with four categorised climbs over the parcours, the last of which coming just 11 km (6.8 mi) from the stage finish in Sestri Levante. Mini-attacks set the course for the stage as the field remained as one, for much of the first hour of racing; it was not until after 40 km (24.9 mi) that the stage's primary breakaway had been formed. An initial move of seven riders representing seven different teams went clear, with the septet later joined by two more riders, Jackson Rodríguez (Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela) and Vacansoleil–DCM's Martijn Keizer, the latter again making it into the breakaway move.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
FDJ–BigMat's Sandy Casar was the best-placed of the nine riders in the group, trailing overnight leader Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) by four minutes, and as the stage wore on, became more of a threat to Rodríguez's lead. The breakaway's gap surpassed that figure, reaching a high of seven minutes, with 40 km (24.9 mi) remaining on the stage. As Liquigas–Cannondale set the pace on the front of the peloton, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Michał Gołaś soloed off the front of the lead group, but he was caught prior to the summit of the day's final climb, the Villa Tassani.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
More attacks occurred between the leaders prior to the finish, but Lars Bak produced the decisive attack with 2 km (1.2 mi) remaining, and eventually went clear to an 11-second winning margin at the finish, winning his first individual Giro stage. Casar led a group of six riders across in second, but his time gap to the peloton was only 3' 23". Despite the twelve bonus seconds on offer for second at the line, Casar was still 26 seconds shy of taking the race lead, but moved into third in the general classification, behind Rodríguez and Garmin–Barracuda's Ryder Hesjedal.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
At 121 km (75.2 mi), stage 13 was the shortest non-time trial stage of the entire Giro; again, the stage was undulating, with only one categorised climb at Montezemolo, 31.7 km (19.7 mi) into the itinerary. The stage was ideally set for the sprinters, potentially their last possible attempt to win a stage, with the final week of the Giro set to be all about the climbers and overall contenders for the race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
The primary breakaway of the stage was formed early in the stage, when Vacansoleil–DCM rider Martijn Keizer and Farnese Vini–Selle Italia's Francesco Failli went clear in the opening stages of the day's running. By the 30 km (18.6 mi) point of the stage, the lead duo held their maximum lead of the day, when they were five-and-a-half minutes, after the peloton – led by Team Sky and FDJ–BigMat – elected to ease their pace.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
The peloton steadily closed down the lead duo after that climb, and with around 20 km (12.4 mi) to go in the stage, Keizer and Failli were absorbed by the main pack. Once they were all together, the pace slowed again as many teams tried to get their protected riders into a safe enough position prior to the finish in Cervere.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
Having slowed the pace before, FDJ–BigMat were on the front again, hoping to set up the sprint for their sprinter, Arnaud Démare; they were later joined on the front by the Rabobank and Orica–GreenEDGE teams, both of whom were looking to set up their respective Australian sprinters Mark Renshaw and Matthew Goss.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
Inside the final 10 km (6.2 mi), three riders – Julien Bérard of Ag2r–La Mondiale, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Julien Vermote and Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela rider Fabio Felline tried to advance clear to alleviate an expected bunch sprint, but the sprint trains of Garmin–Barracuda and Team Sky managed to close them down. Brett Lancaster launched Goss into his sprint, with Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) on his wheel.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
Cavendish tried to come down the left of Goss in the closing metres, but Goss closed the gap and Cavendish had to drop his pace, but recovered effortlessly and took Goss, and held on to win his third stage of the Giro. His 33rd Grand Tour stage win, Cavendish also extended his lead in the points classification, as Goss could only finish sixth behind Team Katusha's Alexander Kristoff, Renshaw, Colnago–CSF Bardiani rider Sacha Modolo and Elia Favilli of Farnese Vini–Selle Italia. Goss left the race following the stage, further extending Cavendish's lead.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
The first categorised mountain stage of the race featured a near-flat opening 137 km (85.1 mi) to the stage, before almost 50 km (31.1 mi) worth of climbing in the remainder of the stage, with two first-category climbs, the Col de Joux – climbing up to an altitude of 1,640 m (5,380 ft) – and the finishing climb to Cervinia, reaching up to a height of 2,001 m (6,565 ft) via an average gradient of 5.5% over the 27 km (16.8 mi).


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
The climb to Cervinia was being used in the race for the first time since 1997, when eventual race winner Ivan Gotti took the race lead from Pavel Tonkov, and never relinquished the lead to the end of it. Prior to the stage, a minute's silence was held as a mark of respect to victims of a bombing at a school in Brindisi, earlier in the day.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
With the stage parcours as such, there were no major movements off the race for the first hour of racing, before the weather conditions changed; rain would play in the rest of the day's proceedings. Eight riders went clear at around the 60 km (37.3 mi) mark, building up a lead of in excess of thirteen minutes over the main field. Three of the eight were dropped on the lower parts of the Col de Joux, while Liquigas–Cannondale set the pace on the front of the field, reducing their advantage to around ten-and-a-half minutes.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
Team NetApp's Jan Bárta had gone clear, while José Rujano (Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela) had linked up with Lampre–ISD rider Damiano Cunego to try and chase him. They could not do so, and instead it was left to Andrey Amador of the Movistar Team to foot the chase to Bárta. He caught him and eventually proceeded to drop him on the descent, and held a half-minute lead by the time he had reached the final climb to Cervinia. He extended the lead on the lower slopes of the climb itself, and soon held an advantage of over a minute over Rujano's team-mate Alessandro De Marchi, Ag2r–La Mondiale's Matteo Montaguti, Bárta and Farnese Vini–Selle Italia's Pierpaolo De Negri.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
De Marchi and Bárta both later made solo attacks out of the group, and eventually caught up to Amador as the peloton grew ever-closer on the parcours. The peloton had been around five minutes behind with 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining, but the gap had been halved by the time they had reached the 5 km (3.1 mi) to go mark.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
De Marchi tried to break his two companions but could not do so; while in the peloton, there were several movements but it was not until Ryder Hesjedal got clear for Garmin–Barracuda that there was more animation in the peloton. Joaquim Rodríguez tried to follow his rival but was ultimately unsuccessful.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
At the front however, it was down to the three leaders for the sprint; Bárta tried to launch his sprint first, but fell short at the line as Amador achieved the first stage victory for a Costa Rican rider in any Grand Tour. De Marchi finished a couple of seconds behind in third, while Hesjedal gapped the Rodríguez group by 26 seconds to retake the maglia rosa. Hesjedal later stated that his attack on the climb was "unplanned", and that he was confident of taking the race victory in Milan.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
Just like the previous day's stage, the first element of the stage was largely flat, before approaching the first of four categorised climbs, the Valico di Valcava. After the descent from the climb and another uncategorised climb immediately after, the riders took in the third-category Forcella di Bura before two second category climbs; the Culmine di San Pietro with its summit at 25 km (15.5 mi) remaining, as well as the final climb of the Pian dei Resinelli. Heavy rain again dominated the roads, with fog in places, making conditions treacherous for any major attacks.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
The breakaway was instigated by a pair of riders at the 18 km (11.2 mi) mark, when Ag2r–La Mondiale rider Guillaume Bonnafond and Farnese Vini–Selle Italia's Matteo Rabottini were allowed to get clear. Bonnafond and Rabottini soon garnered a gap of around nine minutes some 30 km (18.6 mi) later, but the pair reached the footslopes of the Valico di Valcava with an eight-minute lead.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
At the same time as seven riders making their break from the Garmin–Barracuda-led peloton, Rabottini soon left Bonnafond on the climb, beginning a solo attack of the parcours. Five riders also bridged up to the chase group, making it a dozen riders chasing after Rabottini on the road. Rabottini crossed the summit almost five minutes clear of the chasers, with the peloton several minutes further behind. Garmin–Barracuda and Liquigas–Cannondale continued to set the pace on the front of the main group, looking to bring Ryder Hesjedal and Ivan Basso back into the equation for the overall classification. Rabottini suffered a crash inside the final 30 km (18.6 mi) of the stage, but still held an advantage of over two minutes to the chase group. Astana took their turn on the front of the peloton, with numbers reducing in the gruppetto down to around twenty riders.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
Rabottini took a lead of two-and-a-half minutes into the final 10 km (6.2 mi) of the stage, but Stefano Pirazzi launched an attack from the chase group for Colnago–CSF Bardiani; his second such attack of the stage, having attacked on the Culmine di San Pietro, before he was closed down by other riders. With Damiano Cunego (Lampre–ISD) and Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel–Euskadi) marking each other in the small group, Team Katusha's Alberto Losada counter-attacked, and Cunego could not follow his move as Txurruka joined Losada.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
Losada went clear of Txurruka and Pirazzi and set off after Rabottini, while in the group of overall contenders, Cunego's team-mate Michele Scarponi attacked with only Basso, Team Sky's Sergio Henao and Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) for company. Rodríguez accelerated further, catching and passing Pirazzi and Txurruka, while team-mate Losada waited for him to help his team-mate on the climb; he carried on without Losada, catching Rabottini inside the final 300 m (980 ft).


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
Rabottini latched on to Rodríguez, and took him on the outside of the final left-hand turn and beat him to the line for his first victory since the 2011 Tour of Turkey. Rodríguez reclaimed the maglia rosa from Hesjedal, while fourth-placed Henao claimed the young rider classification lead from team-mate Rigoberto Urán.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
Following the second and final rest day of the race the previous day, the race returned with a stage classified "medium-mountain" without any categorised climbs over the 173 km (107.5 mi) parcours. Despite this, the stage gradually rose during its course, before reaching the highest point at the finish – via a closing climb with a gradient reaching 12% in places, yet uncategorised – in Pfalzen, 998 m (3,274 ft) above sea level.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
After a previous thirteen-rider breakaway move had earlier been unsuccessful, a second batch of ten riders launched their attack on the peloton after around 60 km (37.3 mi), but none of the riders posed a threat to overall leader Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha); the best-placed rider of the group was Movistar Team's José Herrada, who was over 32 minutes behind Rodríguez at the start of the stage.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
With such an advantage over their rivals in the lead group, the peloton elected not to chase them down at any point, and as such, the gap to them moved up to an unassailable advantage of almost 13 minutes with under 30 km (18.6 mi) remaining in the stage.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
While the main field managed to marginally cut into the lead that the breakaway had held, inside the final 10 km (6.2 mi), with Team Sky upping the tempo to allow their jersey-wearers Mark Cavendish (points) and Sergio Henao (young rider) to stay out of the way of any potential hazards in the closing stages. At the front, BMC Racing Team's Mathias Frank chased down moves by Herrada, Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela rider Alessandro De Marchi and Jon Izagirre of Euskaltel–Euskadi, but Izagirre managed to break the confines of the group with around 4 km (2.5 mi) to go.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
Izagirre was not caught, eventually soloing away to a 16-second victory for his first Grand Tour win, and second in a month after a previous victory in the time trial of April's Vuelta a Asturias. De Marchi beat Stef Clement (Rabobank) for second place, while the peloton trimmed the gap to the breakaway to under nine minutes at the finish, following injections of pace from Liquigas–Cannondale and Garmin–Barracuda.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
Following the previous day's summit finish in Pfalzen, the race continued in the Dolomites with four high-mountain passes over the 186 km (115.6 mi) parcours, culminating in the first-category Passo Giau, the highest point of the previous year's race. The Passo Giau, a 9.9 km (6.2 mi) climb reaching up to an altitude of 2,236 m (7,336 ft) – an average gradient of 9.3% – was set to break up the peloton prior to the near-20 km (12.4 mi) descent into Cortina d'Ampezzo; where the race was being hosted by the town for the first time since 1977. With much of the focus upon those closing climbs – three inside the final 70 km (43.5 mi) of the stage – with the Passo Duran and the Forcella Staulanza coming before the Passo Giau, there was no immediate breakaway from the start.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
Instead, it was not until the end of the first hour of racing that the breakaway had been instigated. Five riders broke the confines of the peloton at the 35 km (21.7 mi) mark, consisting of mountains classification leader Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini–Selle Italia), José Serpa of Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela, Astana rider Kevin Seeldraeyers as well as Movistar Team's Branislau Samoilau and Matteo Montaguti representing the Ag2r–La Mondiale team.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
The quintet held a lead of almost six minutes on the stage's first climb, the Passo Valparola, but their advantage was cut by the time Rabottini had extended his mountains points lead, by cresting the summit first. Liquigas–Cannondale and Euskaltel–Euskadi were the prominent teams on the front of the field, with Euskaltel–Euskadi rider Mikel Nieve eventually attacking off the front, replacing Montaguti as the fifth member of the breakaway, as he had been dropped. All five were later caught before the Passo Giau, where the Liquigas–Cannondale squad were again leading the reduced peloton. As was expected, the Passo Giau defined the remainder of the stage.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
With three Liquigas–Cannondale riders setting the pace for their team captain Ivan Basso, numerous riders were being dislodged from the back of the group; as such, only six riders remained with the group halfway up the climb, with Basso being joined by overall leader Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Garmin–Barracuda's Ryder Hesjedal, Lampre–ISD rider Michele Scarponi, as well as Rigoberto Urán of Team Sky – after team-mate Sergio Henao had been dropped – and Colnago–CSF Bardiani rider Domenico Pozzovivo.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
Scarponi and Urán were both dropped in the closing stages of the Passo Giau, but they both made it back into the lead group on the descent into Cortina d'Ampezzo; the sextet battled it out for the stage honours in a sprint finish, where Rodríguez came from last position in the line to out-sprint his rivals for his second stage win of the race.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
His overall lead remained at 30 seconds however, as there was no bonus seconds on offer at the finish; but he also stated that Hesjedal was the favourite, due to his superior abilities in the time trial. Rodríguez also dedicated his stage victory to Xavier Tondo, on the first anniversary of his death while preparing for a training session. The only jersey to change hands at the end of the stage was Urán, moving into fifth place overall, taking the young rider classification lead from team-mate Henao.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
Starting from a height of 974 m (3,196 ft) above sea level, the stage steadily descended throughout its entire 149 km (92.6 mi) parcours, except for a few lumps, all the way down to Vedelago at just 45 m (148 ft) above sea level. The stage was set up for the sprinters' final chance to claim stage honours in the race; the following two stages were summit finishes in the high mountains – ruling the sprinters out of contention – before the race-concluding individual time trial in Milan.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
The finish in Vedelago came after a 5 km (3.1 mi) straight run-in, with no potential hazards for late crashes. The opening breakaway of the stage came after just 3 km (1.9 mi), when four riders attacked off the front of the peloton. The breakaway was made up of Pierpaolo De Negri (Farnese Vini–Selle Italia), Colnago–CSF Bardiani rider Angelo Pagani, Rabobank's Stef Clement, and Manuele Boaro of Team Saxo Bank, but with Clement being best-placed at over an hour down on overall leader Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), there was no real hurry to close them down.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
The leaders held a lead of around three minutes at the conclusion of the first hour of racing, but Team Sky were on the front of the peloton in the hopes of extending the points classification lead that Mark Cavendish held over Rodríguez; prior to the stage, Cavendish held a one-point lead over the race leader, after Rodríguez's victory in stage 17.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
Ian Stannard was given the main duties of setting the tempo, following the withdrawal of Peter Kennaugh during stage 17, and managed to bring the breakaway back prior to the intermediate sprint point; Cavendish led across the line in Cesiomaggiore, following a lead-out from Geraint Thomas. Several mini-attacks occurred prior to a second breakaway being instigated.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
Clement was again part of a quartet in front, being joined by Lotto–Belisol rider Olivier Kaisen and Vacansoleil–DCM's Martijn Keizer – the two most active riders in the Premio della Fuga classification for most cumulative kilometres spent in a breakaway of fewer than ten riders – with Mickaël Delage completing the quartet for FDJ–BigMat. Team Sky remained at the front of the peloton with added assistance from Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, as they looked to keep the breakaway's advantage as little as possible; it was around a minute with 45 km (28.0 mi) to go.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
Delage later advanced clear on his own with 14 km (8.7 mi) to go, with Kaisen's team-mate Lars Bak attacking out of the peloton once again to join him in a short stint off the front; the pair were caught inside of 4 km (2.5 mi) to go, setting up the bunch sprint. Bernhard Eisel and Thomas positioned Cavendish at the head of the bunch, but Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini–Selle Italia) finished quickest, having launched his sprint off the wheel of Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela's Roberto Ferrari, and the eleven-time Tour de Langkawi stage winner took his first Giro stage victory. Guardini's win came after he had been criticised by the Italian media prior to the stage. Cavendish extended his points lead to 29 with second at the line, while Rodríguez maintained his 30-second lead in the overall classification.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Like several of the other mountain stages during the Giro to that point, the stage started just above sea level in Treviso before steadily climbing back towards the Dolomites, and the foot of the first of five categorised climbs during the stage, the third-category Sella di Roa.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Having descended from that climb, the riders were then immediately climbing once again after that, with the first-category Passo Manghen, a 20.5 km (12.7 mi) climb with an average gradient of 7.4%; before the first of two ascents of the finishing climb at the Alpe di Pampeago, the first of which going to the Reiterjoch, reaching 2,006 m (6,581 ft) in altitude. On the finishing circuit of 38 km (23.6 mi), the riders encountered the second-category Passo di Lavazè, before the Alpe di Pampeago once again. It was expected that this stage, rather than the queen stage 20, would cause the most alterations in the general classification, but the race winner would become clearer over the two stages, and the final time trial.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Seventeen riders representing seventeen different teams made it into the breakaway at the 20 km (12.4 mi) mark, including the most recent winner of a stage finishing at the Alpe di Pampeago, Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela's Emanuele Sella, who won the stage by more than four-and-a-half minutes in 2008. As well as Sella, FDJ–BigMat rider Sandy Casar was part of the breakaway, who in 19th place, was the highest-placed rider in the general classification, having trailed overall leader Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) by 12' 25" overnight.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
By the time that the lead group had reached the Passo Manghen, the advantage was around the ten-minute mark. With Rodriguez's team, as well as the teams of Ivan Basso (Liquigas–Cannondale) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre–ISD), that advantage steadily fell during the stage, and the margin had been more than halved by the intermediate sprint point of the stage, coming prior to the first ascent of the Alpe di Pampeago, in Tesero.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
On the climb, Casar pulled clear with Tirreno–Adriatico mountains classification winner Stefano Pirazzi of Colnago–CSF Bardiani and RadioShack–Nissan's Thomas Rohregger. Rohregger faded on the climb, and Pirazzi and Casar went clear to the summit. Approaching the summit in the peloton, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Dario Cataldo went clear off the front of the pack, and was joined by Astana pairing Kevin Seeldraeyers and Roman Kreuziger; Kreuziger and Cataldo then left Seeldraeyers behind, and joined up with Cataldo's team-mate Serge Pauwels, who had dropped back from the breakaway.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Sella had bridged himself back up to Rohregger, with both riders later rejoining Casar and Pirazzi at the 11 km (6.8 mi) to go mark; the group only remained together for another 4.5 km (2.8 mi) as Casar and Pirazzi again ventured clear of the other pair. By now, Kreuziger and Cataldo had gathered ground on Rohregger and Sella, joining them after the latter pair had no response to the attack.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Pirazzi went clear again, with Kreuziger and Casar trying to follow, while in the main bunch, Scarponi was trying to break the group up into a handful of riders, but it was not until Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin–Barracuda) attacked with 2.5 km (1.6 mi) remaining that the group splintered. Kreuziger went past Pirazzi and eventually soloed away to his first Giro stage victory, although he – and directeur sportif Giuseppe Martinelli – remained disappointed with his Giro as a whole.


2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Behind, Hesjedal attacked once again, and was not chased down; eventually gaining thirteen seconds on Rodríguez, reducing the latter's advantage to 17 seconds ahead of the final two stages of the race. Scarponi, who finished fourth on the stage behind Rodríguez, moved into third place overall; a 20-second margin over Basso on the stage swung third place in the defending champion's favour by six seconds. Both Rodríguez and Basso felt that the Giro title was Hesjedal's to lose, due to the final stage time trial.