2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20, Stage 20
22 July 2012 — Rambouillet to Paris (Champs-Élysées), 120 km (74.6 mi)


2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20, Stage 20
The Tour concluded with the now-customary stage finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The stage had an easy start – with two fourth-category climbs 5 km (3.1 mi) apart, inside the first third of the stage – before eight high-speed laps, followed by the finish, which was expected to result in a sprint for the line. In keeping with tradition, the final stage began at a slow pace, and was a largely ceremonial procession through the suburbs of Paris. Shortly after the riders reached the circuit in the centre of the city, racing began in earnest, and after various unsuccessful attempts, the main break was initiated by Jens Voigt (RadioShack–Nissan) and Lampre–ISD's Danilo Hondo with around 40 km (24.9 mi) to go.


2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20, Stage 20
Hondo led the field across the final intermediate sprint point of the race, with Voigt just behind. Hondo did not remain out front however, as Voigt was eventually joined by ten other riders to form the breakaway, with their advantage eventually reaching a maximum of around thirty seconds in the closing stages. Hondo later crashed on the final lap, along with Ag2r–La Mondiale rider Mickaël Cherel, but both riders eventually remounted to finish the stage.


2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20, Stage 20
As the peloton closed down the leaders' advantage, mainly through the work of Team Sky, Liquigas–Cannondale and Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank, the breakaway lost members, until they were all caught with 3 km (1.9 mi) remaining. The lead-out train for Mark Cavendish (Team Sky), which included race leader Wiggins, held the lead of the race through the final corners, and he won the final stage for the fourth successive year, becoming the first incumbent world champion to win on the Champs-Élysées. His 23rd stage victory allowed him to move into fourth place on the all-time Tour stage wins list, while the leaders of the four classifications finished in the peloton to secure their victories, and the traditional prize-giving was made shortly after the race.


2012 Tour de Langkawi
The 2012 Tour de Langkawi was the 17th edition of the Tour de Langkawi, a cycling stage race that took place in Malaysia. It began on 24 February in Putrajaya and ended on 4 March in Kuala Terengganu which carried the slogan "Ready for the World". The race was sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) as a 2.HC (hors category) race on the 2011–12 UCI Asia Tour calendar.


2012 Tour de Langkawi
The race was won for the second time by Colombia's José Serpa, after taking the lead of the race with his second consecutive stage win on the sixth stage, and held the lead until the end of the race. Serpa's winning margin over his Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela team-mate José Rujano was 30 seconds, and the podium was completed by Víctor Niño of the Azad University Cross Team, 33 seconds behind Rujano and 63 in arrears of Serpa.


2012 Tour de Langkawi
In the race's other classifications, Serpa also finished at the top of the mountains classification, Farnese Vini–Selle Italia's Andrea Guardini won the points classification, after taking a record-breaking six stage victories, and Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela finished over twelve minutes clear of their nearest rivals in the teams classification. Astana and their rider Alexsandr Dyachenko finished at the head of their respective Asian sub-classifications.


2012 Tour de Langkawi, Teams
22 teams accepted invitations to participate in the 2012 Tour de Langkawi. Two UCI ProTeams were invited to the race, along with seven UCI Professional Continental and ten UCI Continental teams. The field was completed by three national selection teams.


2012 Tour de Langkawi, Stage 1 to Stage 10
The 2012 Tour de Langkawi was the 17th edition of the Tour de Langkawi, a cycling stage race that takes place in Malaysia. The race consisted of ten stages, starting in Putrajaya on 24 February briefly heading south along the west coast of the Peninsular Malaysia before returning north and crossing eastward to finish in Kuala Terengganu on 4 March.


2012 Tour de Langkawi, Stage 1 to Stage 10
The tour opened with an individual time trial (ITT), and again featured a stage finish at Genting Highlands. The final stage included five circuits around Kuala Terengganu. The seven other stages were flat or undulating.


2012 Tour de Langkawi, Stage 1 to Stage 10, Stage 4
There will be no climbs in the stage with only three intermediate sprints (64.1 km, 84.5 km and 115.5 km) for the day. Like in the previous stage, undulating terrain close to the second intermediate sprint zone, will allow attacks from breakaway riders. A gradual descent after the third intermediate sprint.


2012 Tour de Langkawi, Stage 1 to Stage 10, Stage 5
General classification leader David Zabriskie finished 19 minutes after stage winner José Serpa. His race director suspected fever, heat stroke, or dehydration caused Zabriskie to drop off the back.


2012 Tour de Langkawi, Stage 1 to Stage 10, Stage 6
The Queen stage of the Tour. There were three intermediate sprints in the first 60 km stretch, starting at the 35 km mark. The stage finished at the top of the Hors category climb up to Genting Highlands. In a similar fashion to David Zabriskie's trouble on Stage 5, overnight race leader Darren Lapthorne of Drapac Cycling lost the overall lead to José Serpa from Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela. Lapthorne was suffering from severe chest pains and was unable to match the pace of the leaders up the final climb, eventually finishing over 15 minutes behind Serpa.


2012 Tour de Langkawi, Stage 1 to Stage 10, Stage 7
This stage is the longest stage of the Tour this year. Three intermediate sprints starting from Mentakab (57.7 km), Maran (117.3 km) and Gambang (164 km) while there is a Category Four climb at 95.5 km.


2012 Tour de Langkawi, Stage 1 to Stage 10, Stage 9
Andrea Guardini won his fifth stage of the 2012 Tour de Langkawi. He is the first cyclist to record ten stage victories in the history of the Tour de Langkawi. The previous record of nine victories was established in 2005 by Graeme Brown riding for the Ceramica Panaria-Navigare cycling team, now known as Colnago–CSF Bardiani.


2012 Tour de Luxembourg
The 2012 Tour de Luxembourg cycling race  was the 72nd running of the Tour de Luxembourg. It was part of the 2012 UCI Europe Tour and classed as a 2.HC event. It was won by Jakob Fuglsang from Denmark, a member of the Luxembourg-based team, RadioShack–Nissan.


2012 Tour de Luxembourg, Stages
Key: : Leader and eventual winner of General Classification, based on total time. : Leader and eventual winner of points classification, based on points given for finishing position on each mass start stage. : Leader and eventual winner of climbers' classification, based on points gained on passing hilltops. : Leader and eventual winner of young riders' classification, based on total time, but restricted to riders under 25 at beginning of year.


2012 Tour de Luxembourg, Stages, Stage 4
Stage results were taken from the first passage through the finish line for safety reasons due to poor weather conditions.


2012 Tour de Picardie
The 2012 Tour de Picardie was the 66th edition of the Tour de Picardie cycling stage race. It started on 11 May in Clermont and ended on 13 May in Maignelay-Montigny and consisted of three stages.


2012 Tour de Picardie
The race was won by Argos-Shimano rider John Degenkolb, who claimed the leader's yellow jersey after winning the first and the third stage. His winning margin over runner-up Kenny van Hummel of Vacansoleil-DCM was 10 seconds, and Cofidis' Leonardo Duque completed the podium, 15 seconds down on Degenkolb.


2012 Tour de Picardie
In the race's other classifications, Argos-Shimano rider John Degenkolb won the points classification's green jersey. Cofidis rider Leonardo Duque King of the Mountains classification, with Team Europcar finishing at the head of the teams classification.


2012 Tour de Pologne
The 2012 Tour de Pologne was the 69th running of the Tour de Pologne cycling stage race. It started on 10 July in Karpacz and ended on 16 July in Kraków, after seven stages. It was the 19th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.


2012 Tour de Pologne
The race was won by Liquigas–Cannondale rider Moreno Moser, who claimed the leader's yellow jersey after winning the penultimate stage, and maintained the lead of the race until its conclusion; he also won the race's opening stage, his first wins at World Tour level. Moser's winning margin over runner-up Michał Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step – the highest-placed Polish rider – was five seconds, and Team Sky's Sergio Henao completed the podium, eleven seconds down on Kwiatkowski and sixteen behind Moser.


2012 Tour de Pologne
In the race's other classifications, Vacansoleil–DCM rider Tomasz Marczyński won the King of the Mountains classification, Team Sky's Ben Swift won the white jersey for the points classification after winning two stages during the event, and Adrian Kurek of Utensilnord–Named won the intermediate sprints classification, for the second year in succession. As well as their two-stage victories, Team Sky finished at the head of the teams classification.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Schedule
Aside from entering the Czech Republic (to the city of Český Těšín on the border with Poland) during the third stage, the race stages started and ended in Polish locations.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Participating teams
As the Tour de Pologne was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Along with Team Poland BGŻ – the Polish national team – six other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 25-team peloton.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 1
The opening stage of the Tour began with 22.7 km (14.1 mi) of riding, prior to entering a 39.2 km (24.4 mi) loop around Karpacz and Jelenia Góra, where the riders would complete four laps before the finish. Included on each lap was a first-category climb at the Karpacz Orlinek, a site for ski jumping during the winter months, while on the third full lap of the circuit, there was an intermediate sprint in Karpacz offering bonus seconds towards the general classification. A five-rider breakaway was initiated in the early kilometres of the stage; the move consisted of Ag2r–La Mondiale's Sylvain Georges, Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank rider Jarosław Marycz, Daniel Teklehaymanot of Orica–GreenEDGE, Federico Rocchetti (Utensilnord–Named) and Bartłomiej Matysiak, riding for the representative Team Poland BGŻ.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 1
The quintet opened up a maximum advantage of nine minutes over the rest of the field during the second circuit, as rain began to dampen the parcours, and it eventually resulted in a crash in the main field. Among the riders going down were Omega Pharma–Quick-Step teammates Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra, as well as Liquigas–Cannondale's Fabio Sabatini; of the riders, only Boonen was able to rejoin the peloton, as Terpstra abandoned after the crash due to injuries suffered, and Sabatini was taken off the parcours in an ambulance but suffered only heavy bruising in the incident. Team Sky's Sergio Henao tried to chase down the leaders from out of peloton, but could not bridge the gap to them. Marycz, Teklehaymanot and Georges dropped Rocchetti and Matysiak with around 30 km (18.6 mi) remaining of the stage, with Astana bringing the advantage to beneath two minutes.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 1
Georges looked to go clear on his own, on the fourth and final climb of the Karpacz Orlinek but could not hold off until the summit when the peloton, now led by Henao and his teammate Lars Petter Nordhaug, swept past him. The work carried out by Team Sky and Astana on the front of the peloton had reduced the main field to just 36 riders. Alexandr Kolobnev launched an attack on the descent of the climb for Team Katusha but was brought back to the peloton.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 1
Christophe Le Mével then went clear for Garmin–Sharp but he was passed by a secondary move by Kolobnev inside of the final 2.5 km (1.6 mi) of the stage. However, Kolobnev faded on the false flat to the finish; from the reduced pack, Liquigas–Cannondale's Moreno Moser launched a late attack – akin to his victories in the Trofeo Laigueglia and the Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop earlier in the year – and managed to hold off the rest of the field for his first World Tour victory. Moser finished ahead of the best-placed Polish rider Michał Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) and Rabobank rider Lars Boom.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 2
With a parcours of 239.4 km (148.8 mi), the second stage was the longest of the 2012 edition of the Tour de Pologne. On the route from Wałbrzych, there were three intermediate sprint points in the towns of Paczków, Prudnik and Krapkowice, as well as a third-category climb in the village of Chrząszczyce, 28 km (17.4 mi) from the end of the stage. The final 18 km (11.2 mi) of the stage was conducted in three laps of a 6 km (3.7 mi) circuit within Opole. The breakaway was almost entirely made up of home riders, as Polish trio Damian Walczak, Łukasz Bodnar (both riding for the representative Team Poland BGŻ) and Utensilnord–Named's Adrian Kurek were joined at the head of proceedings by Italian Diego Caccia, riding for the Farnese Vini–Selle Italia team.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 2
With Bodnar being best-placed of the quartet, at just 1' 13" behind overnight leader Moreno Moser of Liquigas–Cannondale, the peloton did not allow for them to accumulate a substantial advantage on the road, but the leaders did acquire a ten-minute advantage at one point. Bodnar did however gain nine seconds during the stage, by taking first place at each of the three intermediate sprint points, and assumed the red jersey for that classification. Once he had done so, he returned to the peloton to allow for their advantage to grow once again.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 2
The leaders were three minutes clear with 30 km (18.6 mi) remaining, when Caccia made his move off the front. By the time he crossed the finish line in Opole for the first time, with 18 km (11.2 mi) left, the lead had been almost halved. Caccia held off until the final lap, when he was caught by the sprinters' teams. Rabobank and Team Sky were prominent at the front of the main field for Theo Bos and Ben Swift respectively, and it was Swift that out-sprinted everyone for his first road win of the year. Moser maintained his race lead, despite crashing late on.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 3
The stage started in Kędzierzyn-Koźle, moving south-west towards the finish including a short distance covered in the Czech Republic around Český Těšín, before returning to Poland for the finish in Cieszyn. There were three categorised climbs, with two ascents of the Kubalonka climb – one during each lap of a 17.2 km (10.7 mi)-long intermediary circuit around the towns of Wisła and Czarne – and the other being a third of the way around a 6.3 km (3.9 mi) closing circuit in Cieszyn.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 3
As well as the climbs, there were also three intermediate sprint points during the 201.7 km (125.3 mi) parcours, held in Skoczów, Ustroń and in Český Těšín, prior to entering the finishing circuit which was to be completed three times. Three riders – Orica–GreenEDGE rider Fumiyuki Beppu, Utensilnord–Named's Gabriele Bosisio and Mateusz Taciak representing the national Team Poland BGŻ – went clear in the early kilometres of the stage, and quickly established a substantial lead on the road, reaching a maximum of seventeen minutes. However, this advantage was still not enough to last all the way to the finish; indeed, the trio were caught at the start of the first of three finishing circuits in Cieszyn.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 3
A counter-attack of three more riders – Taciak's teammate Marek Rutkiewicz, Matteo Trentin of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and FDJ–BigMat rider Jussi Veikkanen – went clear on the opening lap, but the peloton were closing in on them. Rutkiewicz went alone from the lead group, and was eventually caught by Team Sky's Sergio Henao, who had attacked from the main field; Henao had been placed seventh in the general classification overnight, trailing leader Moreno Moser (Liquigas–Cannondale) by just ten seconds, with ten bonus seconds on offer at the stage finish for the winner.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 3
Henao and Rutkiewicz resisted off the front until the final cobbled climb to the finish; Moser was in contention for the stage win, but it was Zdeněk Štybar who finished strongest for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, taking victory – his first at World Tour level, and second win of the season – ahead of Astana's Francesco Gavazzi and Sacha Modolo of Colnago–CSF Bardiani. Moser's overall lead was reduced to one second, after Štybar's teammate Michał Kwiatkowski gained three seconds at one of the sprint points.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 4
The fourth stage was seen as the best chance for the sprinters to take a stage victory out of the entire Tour de Pologne. At 127.8 km (79.4 mi), the parcours was the shortest of the Tour, with circuits in both the start town of Będzin – three laps of a 4.2 km (2.6 mi) circuit – and in the finishing location of Katowice, where six laps of an 8.1 km (5.0 mi) circuit were completed.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 4
There were two categorised climbs during the stage – both third-category – at Syberka and on the penultimate finishing circuit, as well as three intermediate sprint points at Dąbrowa Górnicza, Siemianowice Śląskie and on the fourth Katowice circuit. Michał Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step was first across the line at the first sprint point in Dąbrowa Górnicza, picking up three seconds on race leader Moreno Moser (Liquigas–Cannondale) thanks to help from teammate Tom Boonen, and became the virtual race leader on the route.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 4
The breakaway was formed thereafter, with four riders making up the move; Utensilnord–Named rider Adrian Kurek was joined in the group by Farnese Vini–Selle Italia's Rafael Andriato, Martijn Verschoor of Team Type 1–Sanofi and Ángel Madrazo, representing the Movistar Team and the quartet managed to get clear by around three minutes at one point during the stage. However, they were not to be successful as they were brought back by the peloton on the final circuit in Katowice.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 4
Polish national champion Michał Gołaś (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) looked to go clear, but he could not gain sufficient ground on the peloton in the closing stages. Thus, it was down to the sprinters' teams to sort out the order and tempo at the front of the main field. Team Sky looked to get Ben Swift into play for the sprint, but Aidis Kruopis (Orica–GreenEDGE) launched his sprint off Swift's wheel, and took his first win at World Tour level. Kwiatkowski held his two-second lead to the end of the stage, to take the yellow jersey from Moser. Kurek moved into the red jersey, thanks to points achieved in the day's breakaway.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 5
With six categorised climbs during the stage – one of which, the Wierch Olczański, came in the early running of the stage before three passes of a climb into Zakopane 3.2 km (2.0 mi) before the finish, as well as two climbs of the Głodówka – the stage was not originally suited towards the sprinters. A five-rider breakaway was formed in the early kilometres of the stage, consisting of Team Katusha's Mikhail Ignatiev, FDJ–BigMat rider Mickaël Delage, Bert De Backer of Argos–Shimano, Rafael Andriato (Farnese Vini–Selle Italia) and Davide Mucelli representing Utensilnord–Named. They managed to establish a maximum advantage of around four minutes on the peloton, which was led by Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, who were protecting the overall leader of the race, Michał Kwiatkowski.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 5
As the leaders approached Zakopane for the first time, Ignatiev saw fit to attack off the front of the lead quintet and went away solo from the group. Delage later launched his own move, but remained a couple of minutes behind his former breakaway companion. However, he did not make much headway from the chasing peloton, who closed down a minute's gap before the second and final intermediate sprint of the day, coming with 34.7 km (21.6 mi) remaining in the town of Cyrhla.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 5
After Ignatiev had pedalled through for the three bonus seconds on offer for first, Liquigas–Cannondale's Moreno Moser, trailing Kwiatkowski by two seconds in the general classification overnight, made a bold move for the bonus time at the line. He did gain the two seconds for second place, but Kwiatkowski countered his move to take the one second for third, maintaining his overall lead by one second.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 5
Ignatiev remained off the front until halfway around the final circuit, when he was caught by Movistar Team's David López García, but both riders were eventually brought back to the peloton. Four riders made a counter-move immediately after that, and managed to gather up a 25-second advantage into the final 10 km (6.2 mi) of the stage. RadioShack–Nissan's Jan Bakelants broke the group up with a solo attack, which sent Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas–Cannondale) back to the peloton, as he could not stay with the group.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 5
Bakelants was caught prior to reaching the final summit of the stage, with 3.2 km (2.0 mi) to go, which ultimately led for the sprint finish to be undertaken. Farnese Vini–Selle Italia were first to play their hand along with Rabobank's Michael Matthews, but both moves were far too early for any effect at the line. Bodnar's teammate Elia Viviani was behind, but was beaten to the sprint by the points leader Ben Swift (Team Sky), who took his second win of the race, and extended his lead in the classification.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 6
The queen stage of the Tour de Pologne, the penultimate stage of the race consisted of a lap of 38.2 km (23.7 mi), followed by four laps of a 38.4 km (23.9 mi)-long circuit around Bukowina Tatrzańska with two first-category climbs on each lap; around 12 km (7.5 mi) into each lap, there was an ascent in the village of Ząb, with a maximum gradient of 11.4%, and a much steeper climb in Gliczarów Górny, with a maximum gradient of 21.5%.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 6
On the fourth lap, there was also an intermediate sprint point at Wierch Olczański, but as a whole, the stage remained below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) above sea level. Mountains classification leader Daniel Teklehaymanot (Orica–GreenEDGE) took maximum points at the day's opening climb prior to the breakaway being formed, extending his lead in the classification.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 6
Thereafter, a five-rider breakaway was initiated around halfway around the opening circuit of the stage; the move consisted of Rabobank's Tom-Jelte Slagter, Astana rider Roman Kreuziger, Ian Stannard of Team Sky, Tomasz Marczyński (Vacansoleil–DCM) and Bartosz Huzarski, riding for the representative Team Poland BGŻ. The quintet were able to establish an advantage of around five minutes midway through the stage, but their advantage was not a stage-winning gap, as attacks from the peloton meant that they were surpassed on the final lap.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 6
Stannard's teammate Sergio Henao counter-attacked immediately after, where he was chased by Lampre–ISD's Przemysław Niemiec and Euskaltel–Euskadi rider Jon Izagirre. Stannard attacked once again, before Henao took a second chance of his own, attacking off the front of the peloton. Henao resisted capture until 50 m (160 ft) to go, where a quick-finishing Moreno Moser (Liquigas–Cannondale) surpassed him for his second stage win at the race. With Henao finishing second ahead of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Michał Kwiatkowski, Moser took the overall lead by five seconds, thanks to time bonuses.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 7
As was the case in the 2011 edition of the race, the final general classification battle was to come down to a final circuit race around Kraków. After a 15.8 km (9.8 mi) opening to the stage, the riders contested two 5 km (3.1 mi) loops around the town of Wieliczka; there was a further 19 km (11.8 mi) of racing before the riders entered the finishing circuit of 12.4 km (7.7 mi), to be completed on seven occasions.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 7
Each circuit had an intermediate sprint point on one of the laps, while there was only one categorised climb during the Wieliczka loop, 500 m (1,600 ft) before the end of the second lap. In the early kilometres, twelve riders representing twelve teams established the day's breakaway, including the winner of the third stage, Zdeněk Štybar of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. The group managed to establish an advantage of around three minutes, but the peloton – being led by the Liquigas–Cannondale team, protecting the race leader Moreno Moser – were being attentive in light of the close margins in the general classification.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 7
Bonus seconds on offer at the intermediate sprint points, but the breakaway took all the available points during the circuits, meaning that Moser could only be beaten at the stage finish. Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank's Jarosław Marycz and Team Sky rider Juan Antonio Flecha looked to break the lead group apart on the final lap, before Marycz attacked solo, but the group were eventually brought back by the peloton with 3 km (1.9 mi) remaining. It was at this point that a torrential downpour hit the race, and made the sprint for the line treacherous.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Stages, Stage 7
Argos–Shimano moved forward in the peloton for their sprinter John Degenkolb, and Degenkolb managed to hold off the advances of Team Sky duo Mathew Hayman and Ben Swift to take the victory, his sixth of the season. Moser finished in the pack to secure the general classification by five seconds ahead of Štybar's teammate Michał Kwiatkowski.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Classification leadership table
In the 2012 Tour de Pologne, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses in intermediate sprints and at the finish in mass-start stages, the leader received a yellow jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2012 Tour de Pologne, and the winner of the classification is the winner of the race.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Classification leadership table
There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a fuchsia jersey, representing the Tauron Group, the sponsors of the classification. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs, which were split into three distinctive categories. Double points were awarded for the final climb of the race, on the penultimate stage. The third jersey represented the points classification, marked by a white-and-red jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing in the top 20 in a stage. For all stages, the win earned 20 points, second place earned 19 points, third 18, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 20th.


2012 Tour de Pologne, Classification leadership table
The fourth jersey represented the sprints classification, marked by a red jersey. In the sprints classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 3 at intermediate sprint points during each stage, with the exception of the individual time trial stages. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.


2012 Tour de Romandie
The 2012 Tour de Romandie was the 66th running of the Tour de Romandie cycling stage race. It started on 24 April in Lausanne and ended on 29 April in Crans-Montana and consisted of six stages, including a race-commencing prologue stage and a race-concluding individual time trial. It was the 14th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.


2012 Tour de Romandie
The race was won by Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky, after winning two stages including the final stage time trial, to take the general classification on the final day. Wiggins won the general classification by 12 seconds over runner-up Andrew Talansky of Garmin–Barracuda, who finished second to Wiggins in the final stage; Talansky also won the young rider classification title. Third place was taken by Movistar Team's Rui Costa after he also put in a strong performance in the time trial, and gained sufficient time to move up from ninth overnight.


2012 Tour de Romandie
In the race's other classifications, Petr Ignatenko of Team Katusha won both the green jersey for the most points gained in intermediate sprints, and the pink jersey for the King of the Mountains classification, while Team Sky finished at the head of the teams classification, with three of the squad's riders – Wiggins, Richie Porte and Michael Rogers – finishing in the overall top five.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Participating teams
As the Tour de Romandie was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Two other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 20-team peloton.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Prologue
The race began once again with a short prologue stage held in and around Lausanne; the stage returning to the city after the race visited Martigny for the prologue in the 2011 edition of the race. The stage itself, 3.34 km (2.1 mi) in length, was relatively flat, dropping only 39 metres (128 ft) in altitude from the start, to the end. With rain expected to disrupt the stage, teams decided to spread their time trial specialists across the field in order to maximise their potential of winning the stage.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Prologue
For the first rider to depart the start in Lausanne, Saur–Sojasun's Maxime Méderel, weather conditions were dry. Mederel ultimately recorded a time of 3' 51" for the stage, but his time only held for a minute as Team Europcar's Franck Bouyer completed the course 2.1 seconds quicker. Ramūnas Navardauskas (Garmin–Barracuda) improved upon Bouyer's time by almost ten seconds, recording a time one-hundredth inside 3' 40".


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Prologue
Navardauskas' time was marginally quicker than the times of Rabobank's Maarten Wynants and his own Garmin–Barracuda team-mate David Zabriskie, with the trio of riders maintaining their lead positions until the end of the second wave of riders, when Martin Velits assumed the lead for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. Velits completed the course four tenths of a second faster than what Navardauskas had achieved; but he was to only hold the lead for around quarter of an hour, as in the third wave of riders to start the prologue, Stef Clement took the lead for Rabobank; the former Dutch national champion in the discipline completed the course in slightly over 3' 37".


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Prologue
Clement's time held for a while, as riders struggled to match the pace that he had set; it was not until Giacomo Nizzolo, a rider regarded as a sprinter at the RadioShack–Nissan team, recorded a time of 3' 34".


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Prologue
Only one rider bettered his time for the course, and it was the rider that started immediately after him; Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) set the fastest time of 3' 29", taking his team's fourteenth victory of the year, and his first since returning to the roads after a successful UCI Track World Championships, where he claimed a gold medal and a silver medal. Although he won the stage, Thomas' focus for the race was to support Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins in their respective classifications.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Prologue
After these two placings had been wrapped up, further riders from Team Sky, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and Rabobank looked to place themselves among the top ten riders for the stage. Kristof Vandewalle was third for a time, recording a 3' 35" for the parcours, before his time was bettered by Michael Rogers and then Cavendish, who set his time just as the weather conditions changed; rain began to become a factor in the stage proceedings from then on.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Prologue
With these conditions, it guaranteed most of the top ten placings for the early runners but Manuele Boaro recorded the best time of those that went out later in the start order; eventually setting the ninth-fastest time for the stage, with Alex Rasmussen rounding out the top ten for Garmin–Barracuda.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Prologue
Overall contenders Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team), Jérôme Coppel (Saur–Sojasun), as well as Wiggins and van Garderen's team-mate Cadel Evans all finished outside the top ten after starting in the worst of the conditions; Wiggins placed best in eleventh, having again encountered wet conditions as he had done in the opening stage of March's Paris–Nice race.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 1
Four riders – BMC Racing Team's Martin Kohler, Kenny Dehaes of Lotto–Belisol, Angelo Tulik (Team Europcar) and Saur–Sojasun rider Jimmy Engoulvent – 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 five minutes around a third of the way through the stage.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 1
With all the riders close together time-wise following the prologue stage, Team Sky were mainstays at the front of the peloton, trying to chip away at the advantage of the breakaway prior to the final finishing loop of 65 km (40.4 mi) around La Chaux-de-Fonds. The quartet held an advantage of just under three-and-a-half minutes over the main field as the pack came across the line for the first time.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 1
Team Sky were in formation at the head of the field, with the entire team except for Richie Porte, setting the tempo and continued to steadily cutting into the advantage that the lead four riders held; with 50 km (31.1 mi), the gap had been cut to around 2' 20", with Liquigas–Cannondale also shadowing the British squad, but allowing them to take a free range of the pace being set.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 1
Over the next 20 km (12.4 mi), the leaders' gap was cut to around a minute, prior to the second of the day's three categorised climbs, the second-category Haut de la Côte. Continued pressure at the head of the main field meant that riders were dislodged from the rear of pack, and those included prologue winner Geraint Thomas and Mark Cavendish. The breakaway was absorbed on the climb with Kohler trying to get clear but a counter-attack from Engoulvent's team-mate Fabrice Jeandesboz put him clear at the summit, although he was later brought back by the field.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 1
With his team on the front, Bradley Wiggins suffered a puncture at around 25 km (15.5 mi) to go, but with Porte, Michael Rogers and Kanstantsin Sivtsov around him for pacing, they all latched back on to the peloton prior to the final climb of the day, Le Communal de la Sagne at 13 km (8.1 mi) remaining. Out front at this point was a seven-rider move representing six teams but could not sustain a meaningful gap ahead of the main field.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 1
Several mini-moves tried to get away with force after the descent from the climb, but BMC Racing Team started to push forward in the pack, and helping out Team Sky with the pace-making and their protection of team leader Cadel Evans. Jeandesboz and Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) were the last riders to attempt a move but were caught by the now-pacemaking Rabobank and Liquigas–Cannondale teams in the closing stages.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 1
The latter squad's Polish tandem Sylwester Szmyd and Maciej Paterski looked to gain distance at the front of the field ahead of the sprint, but an elongated move from Wiggins ultimately proved successful as the British national champion managed to hold off on the front, to take the leader's jersey on the line. Behind him, his rival from Paris–Nice, Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil–DCM) finished second ahead of Paolo Tiralongo for Astana.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 2
Two riders – GreenEDGE's Christian Meier and Lotto–Belisol rider Lars Bak – went clear of the main field in the early running of the stage – beginning just over the Swiss-French border in the city of Montbéliard – and managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of almost four minutes at one stage of the parcours, slightly less than the advantage that was given to a breakaway quartet the previous day.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 2
Between them, Bak led across each of the three categorised climbs during the day – taking the pink jersey at the end of the stage, as the mountains classification leader – while Meier claimed the honours at the first of two intermediate sprints during the stage, coming after 63.2 km (39.3 mi) in Delémont. Meier and Bak held their advantage at around three minutes with around 60 km (37.3 mi) remaining.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 2
At this point, Branislau Samoilau attacked off the front of the peloton for the Movistar Team, but could not gather a sufficient advantage from the field; with a maximum gap of just 22 seconds, Samoilau was more likely to be reabsorbed into the pack, and that scenario played out several kilometres along the parcours – at around the 40 km (24.9 mi) to go mark – with the gap to Meier and Bak dropping to just over two-and-a-half minutes as they started to tire out front, having completed over 100 km (62.1 mi) together off the head of the peloton.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 2
Team Sky were again prominent at the peloton's front; although Mark Cavendish was not part of their squadron, after having to slow back to the team car after a mechanical problem. On the La Caquerelle climb, Bak and Meier struggled off the front, with the climb reaching a gradient of 15% in places. Meier eventually cracked on the climb, leaving Bak on his own; at the summit, Bak led by just five seconds ahead of a two-man counter-attack from Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur–Sojasun) and Garmin–Barracuda's Peter Stetina, and the peloton were eleven seconds further in arrears.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 2
After passing Bak on the road, Jeandesboz and Stetina continued to step up the pace, putting both riders in contention to take the virtual race lead from Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins, having started the stage within 30 seconds of Wiggins in the general classification. At the second Delémont intermediate sprint – coming with just 14.2 km (8.8 mi) to go – Jeandesboz and Stetina held an advantage of 31 seconds through the point, with Stef Clement maintaining the sprints classification lead for Rabobank, by taking the single point on offer for third through the sprint.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 2
Team Sky, and later GreenEDGE, slowly brought the pair back, with Luke Durbridge setting the pace for the latter squad, and achieved the catch with 4 km (2.5 mi) to go. This ultimately set up a sprint finish in Moutier, where Stetina's team-mate Ryder Hesjedal attacked first, but was usurped by both Rui Costa (Movistar Team), and Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank); however, all three riders were beaten to the line by Jonathan Hivert, taking his first win at World Tour level for Saur–Sojasun.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 3
A quintet of riders – Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Matt Brammeier, Team Katusha rider Gatis Smukulis, Leigh Howard of GreenEDGE, Lotto–Belisol's Tosh van der Sande and Team Saxo Bank rider Anders Lund – made the early breakaway from the field, and managed to extend their advantage over the main field to almost six minutes at one point during the stage.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 3
As such, the riders between them managed to take all sub-classification points on offer during the stage, at the pair of intermediate sprints – coming after 112.8 km (70.1 mi) at La Cantine and 140.1 km (87.1 mi) at Bulle respectively – and all three categorised climbs during the stage. Their advantage out front was cut methodically by the peloton – led by Team Sky, Lampre–ISD, Garmin–Barracuda and Rabobank – with the breakaway holding an advantage of about three-and-a-half minutes with around 30 km (18.6 mi) to go.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 3
After going through the intermediate sprint at Bulle, Smukulis stepped up his pace and left his fellow breakaway riders behind him. With a gap of nearly 20 seconds over them, Smukulis tried to further the gap but was starting to lose some ground; indeed, Brammeier and van der Sande tried to kick away from Howard and Lund, but all four riders remained together behind Smukulis. The gap to the peloton was tumbling quickly, as Saur–Sojasun, the team of the previous day's winner Jonathan Hivert, were striving on the front of the main field. After all bar Smukulis were caught outside of 5 km (3.1 mi) remaining, Smukulis was brought back within the following kilometre. Further attacks from Saur–Sojasun's Fabrice Jeandesboz, Astana pair Roman Kreuziger and Janez Brajkovič, Team Katusha's Simon Špilak as well as Vacansoleil–DCM rider Johnny Hoogerland were all thwarted quickly.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 3
With their main sprinter Michael Matthews not in contention in the peloton, Rabobank put their sprint hopes in Luis León Sánchez, who had finished third into Moutier. Indeed, once Hoogerland had been caught within the final 500 m (1,600 ft), Team Sky had Richie Porte and Michael Rogers pace race leader Bradley Wiggins on the front of the field, with Sánchez in position in third wheel behind Rogers and Wiggins, after Porte had fallen back.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 3
Sánchez launched his sprint first and was chased by Lotto–Belisol's Gianni Meersman and Astana rider Paolo Tiralongo – both of whom had taken top-five stage placings in the race to that point – as well as the leader of the young rider classification, Andrew Talansky of Garmin–Barracuda. Sánchez held his line to the far right of the road, pushing Meersman towards the barrier on the run-in, which left him frustrated; as he crossed the line behind Sánchez, in second place, he raised hand in protest at the finish. His team protested the sprint, but the race commissaires took no further action. Sánchez moved into second place overall behind Wiggins; a ten-second bonus for winning the stage reduced his deficit to Wiggins to just one second.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 4
The race's queen stage consisted of four categorised climbs over the 184 km (114.3 mi) parcours, including three first-category climbs; the Col des Mosses, the Piste de l'Ours and also the climb of the St-Martin, with each climb rising to in excess of 1,450 m (4,760 ft) above sea level. After several unsuccessful attacks set the course of the early running – as the field remained as one – for much of the first half-hour of racing; it was not until the Col des Mosses that the stage's primary breakaway had been formed.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 4
Six riders went clear on the climb, and the break consisted of Ag2r–La Mondiale's Jean-Christophe Péraud, Team Katusha pair Petr Ignatenko and Eduard Vorganov, BMC Racing Team's Johann Tschopp, Guillaume Levarlet (Saur–Sojasun) and Jorge Azanza of Euskaltel–Euskadi; Tschopp was best placed overall of the riders, having trailed by 25 seconds to Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) overnight.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 4
With Tschopp in such a prime position to Wiggins in the general classification, Wiggins' team was doing the lion's share of the work in the main field; a main field that was struggling to make headway due to the weather conditions. A strong headwind – gusting up to 60 km/h (37 mph) in places – was keeping the speeds of the chase down. The headwinds did claim one victim as Tschopp's team-mate Tejay van Garderen was struck by a falling tree branch on the descent from the Col des Mosses.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 4
He received stitches for a wound on his nose, but was forced to abandon the race; he had been lying 17th overall in the general classification, trailing Wiggins by 15 seconds, and had been just four seconds behind countryman Andrew Talansky (Garmin–Barracuda) in the under-25 classification. As the breakaway reached the finish site in Sion for the first of two passings, their advantage was around the two-minute mark over the main field. The leaders split up after the second-category climb to Basse-Nendaz, as Tschopp, Ignatenko and Levarlet left the other three riders behind and set off to try and extend their ever-reducing advantage to the main pack.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 4
Not long later, a four-rider wave counter-attacked from the peloton; Garmin–Barracuda rider Peter Stetina was joined by Rabobank's Laurens ten Dam, Rui Costa (Movistar Team) and Giampaolo Caruso of Team Katusha, setting off in pursuit of the lead trio. They caught them with around 30 km (18.6 mi) to go, through Euseigne; but as they were doing so, the peloton were almost on their tails, and were soon absorbing the seven riders back into the midsts of the main field.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 4
On the ascent of the day's final climb, Roman Kreuziger (Astana) was one of five riders to go clear, gaining twelve seconds on the peloton as they summited the St-Martin climb; joining him were Mikel Landa of Euskaltel–Euskadi, Ag2r–La Mondiale pair John Gadret and Rinaldo Nocentini, and Team Saxo Bank's Jesús Hernández. A mini-group of around a dozen riders, including Wiggins, was prominent with around 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 4
It eventually came down to a final sprint to the line in Sion, where Luis León Sánchez took the stage victory for the second consecutive day, winning by a bike length. With ten seconds on offer to the winner as a bonus, Sánchez took the race leader's yellow jersey by nine seconds from Wiggins, ahead of the final stage time trial. Nocentini finished second on the stage, with Movistar Team's Branislau Samoilau completing the podium.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 5
As was expected, the battle for the overall race victory came down to the final stage of the race; a technical 16.24 km (10.1 mi) individual time trial in and around the ski resort of Crans-Montana. On the parcours was the first-category climb to Aminona, which would settle the destination of that particular jersey, coming around the midpoint of the stage. As was customary of time trial stages, cyclists set off in reverse order from where they were ranked in the general classification at the end of the previous stage.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 5
Thus, Danny Pate of Team Sky, who, in 138th place, trailed overall leader Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank) by forty-five minutes and twenty-six seconds, was the first rider to set off on the final stage. Pate recorded a time of 31' 20" for the course, but his team-mate Chris Froome bettered that time almost immediately, taking the benchmark through the 31-minute barrier, recording a time of 30' 41"; completing his first race on his return from a parasitic infection.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 5
No rider could get close to that time until Nelson Oliveira assumed the lead for RadioShack–Nissan, having taken the start around fifteen minutes after Froome; Oliveira's time edged Froome's by just over a second. His stay at the top of the timesheets was brief however, as Team Saxo Bank rider Manuele Boaro, a former Italian junior national champion who placed in the top five of the race-concluding time trial at Tirreno–Adriatico, soon lowered the best time for the stage down a time of 30' 24", taking fifteen seconds off Oliveira.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 5
FDJ–BigMat rider Jérémy Roy troubled Boaro's time, but eventually finished just 0.67 seconds off the fastest time at that point; Paris–Nice opening time trial winner Gustav Larsson was eventually the first rider to go sub-thirty minutes, recording a 29' 58" for Vacansoleil–DCM. Larsson's time was soon bettered by team-mate Thomas De Gendt, who went eight seconds quicker than Larsson over the stage. De Gendt's time held to well inside the last forty riders to start the stage; with the top 37 riders in the general classification being separated by 48 seconds overnight.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 5
De Gendt's time was eventually beaten by Thibaut Pinot, who went two seconds quicker for FDJ–BigMat, but that time was bettered substantially by the next rider through the finish, Richie Porte.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 5
Porte recorded a time of 29' 13", which was guaranteed to move him up from 32nd overall; his time was not beaten until Garmin–Barracuda's Andrew Talansky went below 29 minutes – using a time-trial bike, unlike many other riders – with a time of 28' 57" to guarantee himself the victory in the young rider classification; so dominant was his performance, that he almost caught his rival for that competition, Rabobank's Wilco Kelderman, on the road, after Kelderman had started two minutes before him.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Stages, Stage 5
Talansky's time was only beaten by one other rider; Team Sky rider Bradley Wiggins recovered from an early mechanical problem – caused by a dropped chain – to go quickest for the course, although his margin to Talansky was a marginal 0.7 seconds. The time was more than good enough to win the race overall, as Sánchez lost over a minute as last man on the road, which dropped him from the lead to tenth place in the final standings. Behind Talansky, Rui Costa completed the overall podium for the Movistar Team, after recording the fourth-quickest stage time. Following his Paris–Nice win earlier in the year, Wiggins became the first rider to win both races in the same year since Dario Frigo in 2001.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Classification leadership table
In the 2012 Tour de Romandie, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses in mass-start stages, the leader received a yellow jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2012 Tour de Romandie, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Classification leadership table
Additionally, there was a young rider classification, which awarded a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1987 were eligible to be ranked in the classification. There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a pink jersey. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs.


2012 Tour de Romandie, Classification leadership table
The fourth jersey represented the sprints classification, marked by a green jersey. In the sprints classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 3 at intermediate sprint points during each stage, with the exception of the individual time trial stages. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.


2012 Tour de San Luis
The 2012 Tour de San Luis was the 6th edition of the Tour de San Luis stage race. It was part of the 2011–2012 UCI America Tour. Levi Leipheimer of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step won the race, mainly in the time-trial, which he won and where he made the difference with second placed Alberto Contador, who did win two mountain stages. With 2 stage wins for Francesco Chicchi and one for Tom Boonen, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step scored an impressive 4 wins out of 7. Italian Elia Viviani also managed to win one stage.


2012 Tour de San Luis, Teams
Twenty one teams were invited to the 2012 Tour de San Luis: 5 UCI ProTeams, 7 Professional Continental teams, 6 Continental teams and 7 national selection teams.


2012 Tour de Singkarak
The 2012 Tour de Singkarak was the 4th edition of the Tour de Singkarak, one of Indonesian official tournament series of Union Cycliste International (UCI). It started on 4 June in Sawahlunto and ended in the Padang on 10 June. Like previous edition, the international cyclists competed in 7 stages over 7 days, which the routes has been surveyed by Amaury Sport Organization which surveyed also Tour de France routes. Covering a distance of 854 kilometres with prize money total to IDR 1 billion. The route across Lake Singkarak on stage 2 and stage 5.


2012 Tour de Singkarak
Starting in Sawahlunto and finishing in provincial capital Padang, the race visited 14 regencies and cities in the West Sumatra: Sawahlunto, Payakumbuh, Lima Puluh Kota, Sijunjung, Tanah Datar, Padang Panjang, Pariaman, Agam, Solok, Solok Regency, Pariaman, Pesisir Selatan, and Padang.


2012 Tour de Singkarak, Difference
Different from organization of the Tour de Singkarak in previous years which always start from the city of Padang, this year's Tour de Singkarak actually began in Sawahlunto, one of the best old city in Indonesia. While the city of Padang as the capital of West Sumatra, as a finish place Tour de Singkarak, after previously placed in Lake Singkarak. However, Lake Singkarak and other famous objects remain a part of this year trajectory pathway, which length is 854 km. These differences occurred caused this championship has cooperated with the Amaury Sport Organization or ASO, organizers of the Tour de France in France.


2012 Tour de Suisse
The 2012 Tour de Suisse was the 76th running of the Tour de Suisse cycling stage race. It started on 9 June with an individual time trial in Lugano and ended on 17 June, in Sörenberg after nine stages. It was the 17th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.


2012 Tour de Suisse
The race was won by Movistar Team rider Rui Costa, who claimed the leader's yellow jersey after winning the second stage, and maintained the lead of the race until its conclusion holding off attacks from his rivals during the final two stages. Costa's winning margin over runner-up Fränk Schleck of RadioShack–Nissan – the 2010 winner – was fourteen seconds, and Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Levi Leipheimer, the defending champion, completed the podium, seven seconds down on Schleck and twenty-one behind Costa.


2012 Tour de Suisse
In the race's other classifications, Ag2r–La Mondiale rider Matteo Montaguti won the mountains classification, Liquigas–Cannondale's Peter Sagan comfortably won the white jersey for the points classification, having won four stages during the race including the race-opening time trial stage. Astana finished at the head of the teams classification, winning two of the last three stages through Fredrik Kessiakoff's seventh stage time trial victory and Tanel Kangert winning the final stage.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Participating teams
As the Tour de Suisse was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Two other squads – SpiderTech–C10 and Team Type 1–Sanofi – were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 20-team peloton.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 1
For the third successive year, the race began with a short individual time trial in around the city of Lugano. Although starting and finishing at relatively the same height above sea level, the stage had a small hill – the western flank of Monte Brè – around midway through the 7.3 km (4.5 mi) parcours, being used in the race for the second year in succession, after then-world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara won the stage in a time of 9' 41" in 2011.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 1
Race organisers expected the best time for the stage to be four seconds slower than Cancellara's time from 2011, predicting a winning time of 9' 45" for the stage. After returning from injury in May's Bayern-Rundfahrt, Cancellara of RadioShack–Nissan was the undoubted favourite for the stage, having won the opening stage of the race on five separate occasions.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 1
The first rider to depart the start in Lugano was SpiderTech–C10 rider Will Routley, who recorded a time of 11' 33" for the course. His stay at the top of the timesheets was short, as the next two riders – Team Type 1–Sanofi's Daniele Colli and Chris Anker Sørensen for Team Saxo Bank – went substantially quicker than his time.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 1
Julien Bérard lowered the benchmark to 10' 29" for Ag2r–La Mondiale, before former Lithuanian national champion Ignatas Konovalovas (Movistar Team) reduced the leading time further to 10' 24" before Team Sky rider Thomas Löfkvist pushed the leading time into the low 10-minute times, setting a time of 10' 05" for the course; his time was the best of the first wave of riders to start. Berard's team-mate Martin Elmiger was the first rider to record a time below ten minutes, beating Löfkvist's time by eleven seconds to set a time of 9' 54".


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 1
Elmiger held the top spot for all of fifteen minutes as Liquigas–Cannondale neo-pro Moreno Moser recorded the quickest time at the intermediate point 3 km (1.9 mi) into the stage, and maintained that form to the finish line, setting a time of 9' 50" to surpass the time of Elmiger by four seconds. The times of Moser and Elmiger remained untroubled for the majority of the following riders, and it was not until Cancellara took to the course, around two hours after they had completed their efforts, that their times came under significant pressure.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 1
Cancellara was nine seconds slower than Moser at the intermediate time-point, but paced the second half of the course more efficiently and was three seconds quicker at the end of the stage. As Cancellara was finishing, Sagan was starting the course and was six seconds quicker to the same time-point; Cancellara closed out the course quicker, but Sagan held on by four seconds to take the stage victory. Moser and Elmiger maintained third and fourth to the end, with the top five being rounded out by Astana rider Fredrik Kessiakoff.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 2
The race's second stage started across the Swiss border, in the Italian city of Verbania on the shores of Lake Maggiore. The parcours featured two categorised climbs during its 218.3 km (135.6 mi) itinerary; of which both were rated as hors catégorie and both came as the race returned to Swiss soil.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 2
The Simplonpass, reaching an altitude of 2,005 m (6,578 ft), was the first of the two on the route after 87.8 km (54.6 mi), with the other coming on the run-in to Verbier; that particular climb to Verbier had an average gradient of 7.5% for its 8.8 km (5.5 mi) duration. Although the points were on offer with under 2 km (1.2 mi) to go, the route climbed slightly further to the finish line. The breakaway of the day was formed by one member of each of the two wildcard teams in the race, Team Type 1–Sanofi and SpiderTech–C10.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 2
The former team's Alessandro Bazzana was the instigator as soon as the race left Verbania, and was later joined by Ryan Anderson as the two riders quickly set up an advantage over the main field. As such, after only 10 km (6.2 mi) of racing, the pairing held an advantage of around ten minutes over the peloton, but this was cut by half as the race entered Switzerland.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 2
Anderson took the maximum haul of points at the top of the Simplonpass ahead of Bazzana, while the peloton had closed to four minutes behind at that point, but soon slowed down and the advantage was back out towards eight minutes at the foot of the descent. The peloton then started to close the advantage back down, mainly led by BMC Racing Team and Liquigas–Cannondale, and the leaders were caught prior to the intermediate sprint point in Martigny, where race leader Peter Sagan (Liquigas–Cannondale) was first across the line to extend his points classification lead. Sagan also took maximum points at the following intermediate sprint several kilometres later in Sembrancher, which also gave him six bonus seconds towards the general classification.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 2
Rain was starting to play a part in proceedings, making the final climb slightly more trickier than what was expected. Ag2r–La Mondiale and Garmin–Barracuda moved towards the front to set the tempo on the climb, but Laurens ten Dam of Rabobank was the first rider to make a move on the climb, but RadioShack–Nissan closed down the move immediately with Linus Gerdemann leading the peloton across. Gerdemann's team-mate Fränk Schleck – the winner of the race in 2010 – was next to attack, and gathered more ground than what ten Dam achieved, with no immediate reaction from the main field.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 2
Schleck had built up a 30-second lead with 4 km (2.5 mi) remaining, when John Gadret (Ag2r–La Mondiale) attacked. He was brought back, but soon caught up with a secondary move by Garmin–Barracuda's Tom Danielson. Movistar Team rider Rui Costa soon accelerated past both riders and set off after Schleck, who was tiring in the closing stages. Costa caught, passed and gapped Schleck in the closing metres, eventually taking the stage victory by four seconds, with Mikel Nieve third for Euskaltel–Euskadi. Costa, who moved into the race lead with his result, later dedicated his performance to his former team-mate Mauricio Soler, who won the second stage of the 2011 edition of the race, before he suffered serious injuries during a sixth stage crash from which he is still recovering from.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 3
The parcours for the stage had several uncategorised hills during its 194.7 km (121.0 mi) itinerary; indeed, for the points and mountains classifications, points were on offer in the final 39.1 km (24.3 mi) circuit around Aarberg. In that final 39.1 km (24.3 mi) circuit, there were two intermediate sprint points in Wiler and Uettligen, as well as the two categorised climbs; a third-category climb at Frienisberg, and a fourth-category pass on the Aarbergstrasse, with the latter coming at around 10 km (6.2 mi) before the finish in Aarberg itself.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 3
There was a fast-paced start to the stage with several short and punchy attacks, but were closed down immediately. However, a three-rider move was allowed to be initiated after 3 km (1.9 mi), with Ag2r–La Mondiale's Guillaume Bonnafond, Team Saxo Bank rider Michael Mørkøv and Jonas Vangenechten of Lotto–Belisol all breaking free, with Bonnafond being best-placed at over nine minutes down on race leader Rui Costa of the Movistar Team.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 3
The leaders got clear by over seven minutes in the early running of the stage, which eventually reached a margin of eleven minutes approaching the midpoint of the stage where rain started to fall once again. With Bonnafond being the virtual leader on the road, several of the sprinters' teams looked to close down the advantage that the trio held, with the Movistar Team and Orica–GreenEDGE leading the way on the front of the peloton.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 3
In Murten, a railway crossing closed with members of those teams able to get through while the rest of the field had to wait until it was cleared; race commissaires later ruled that the riders – around twenty in total – that got through the crossing without waiting were ordered to drop back to the peloton once again. With 40 km (24.9 mi) to go, the three leaders still held an advantage of around eight minutes.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 3
Vangenechten dropped back at Frienisberg, while Mørkøv and Bonnafond managed to resist capture until inside the final kilometre, which ultimately set up the bunch sprint. The sprint itself was won by Liquigas–Cannondale's Peter Sagan for his tenth victory of the season, ahead of Orica–GreenEDGE's Baden Cooke and Team Sky rider Ben Swift. Costa maintained his overall lead, finishing within the peloton three seconds later.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 4
Having started from the previous day's finish in Aarberg, the fourth stage saw the itinerary take in several uncategorised passes in the early kilometres of the 188.8 km (117.3 mi) parcours, before the first-category Scheltenpass at the 81.5 km (50.6 mi) mark. Having descended from the climb, the race went over several small hills before entering a 42.3 km (26.3 mi) finishing circuit around the towns of Trimbach and Olten. During the finishing circuit, there were two more categorised climbs; the third-category Unterer Hauenstein and the second-category Salhöhe, with the latter climb summiting at 17.8 km (11.1 mi) remaining. The riders then descended back into Trimbach, via the second and final intermediate sprint point, for the finish.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 4
Two nine-rider groups tried to get clear in the run up to the Scheltenpass, but only the second wave managed to gain a sufficient advantage after the first wave was closed down by the peloton. Nine different teams were represented in the group, with Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Dario Cataldo best-placed of the riders – having started the stage in 21st position – 1' 15" behind the overall leader, Movistar Team's Rui Costa.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 4
Having held a lead of three minutes at the top of the climb, the nine riders' advantage was reduced to just over two minutes by the time that the riders had reached the finishing circuit with 42.3 km (26.3 mi) to go. Martin Kohler of BMC Racing Team was the first rider to attack out of the group on the Unter Hauenstein climb; he was closed down on the first instance, but re-established his momentum, taking SpiderTech–C10 rider Brian Vandborg, Team Saxo Bank's Sérgio Paulinho and Javier Mejías of Team Type 1–Sanofi with him.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 4
They were brought back several kilometres later, with the group remaining at nine riders after the addition of two more Swiss riders – Mathias Frank of BMC Racing Team and Orica–GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini – to replace Mathew Hayman (Team Sky) and Rubén Pérez (Euskaltel–Euskadi), after both riders had been dropped. Cataldo attacked inside of 30 km (18.6 mi) to go, while Hayman's team-mate Lars Petter Nordhaug bridged the small gap between the peloton and the leaders, joining Cataldo for a time before soloing away from him.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 4
BMC Racing Team's Greg Van Avermaet and Ag2r–La Mondiale rider Martin Elmiger also caught up to Cataldo, and like Nordhaug, dropped him on the Salhöhe; ultimately, the main field caught back to them all, with Liquigas–Cannondale doing the majority of the work on the front. Ultimately, it was the team's sprinter Peter Sagan that took the stage victory, his third in four days and eleventh of the season. Sagan praised the work of his team-mates after the stages, giving special mention to Moreno Moser after he had closed down the attacks in the closing stages. Costa maintained his 8-second overall lead, as all the main contenders finished within the peloton.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 5
Third-category climbs were prominent in the itinerary for the fifth stage, with six in total during the 192.7 km (119.7 mi) parcours, of which two – the Bürersteig and Kaistenberg passes – were climbed twice. These climbs were carried out in such a manner, as two laps of a 40.9 km (25.4 mi) finishing circuit around Gansingen were completed before the finish. Once again, the stage was run in conditions of heavy rain, but this did not stop some riders trying to break away from the main field within the opening 10 km (6.2 mi) of the stage. Among those were sprinters Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) and Liquigas–Cannondale's Elia Viviani but neither rider could establish a sufficient gap from the peloton.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 5
Not long after, Viviani's team-mate Daniel Oss was able to breach the confines of the peloton and was joined by Team Saxo Bank's Karsten Kroon; the pair were later joined by five more riders – Team Katusha's Vladimir Isaichev, Euskaltel–Euskadi rider Rubén Pérez, Salvatore Puccio of Team Sky, Klaas Lodewyck (BMC Racing Team) and Sébastien Minard representing the Ag2r–La Mondiale team – and they quickly established a sizable lead over the peloton, as Puccio was the best-placed rider at over thirteen minutes behind race leader Rui Costa of the Movistar Team.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 5
The advantage remained between eight and ten minutes for the majority of the stage, and as the breakaway moved onto their final lap of the circuit, it looked likely that they would stay away and move up the general classification as a result. Lodewyck was the first to launch an attack halfway around the finishing circuit, and was closed down by Isaichev who brought the rest of the group back up to him.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 5
On the second climb of the Kaistenberg, Lodewyck was dropped – due to being physically "broken" – as Pérez pushed the tempo higher, making two attacks off the front but Isaichev closed him down on both occasions. Oss and Kroon both launched solo moves as a disjointed wave of attacks continued in the closing stages, and momentarily split into two small groups before reforming as a group of six with around 5 km (3.1 mi) remaining of the stage.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 5
Minard, Pérez and Oss were slightly clear as they passed under the flamme rouge indicating 1 km (0.6 mi) to go, but Isaichev, Kroon and Puccio pulled back up to the other trio and the six battled it out for the stage victory. Isaichev attacked with 250 m (820 ft) to go and held off his rivals to the line, taking the first victory of his professional career – as well as the lead of the mountains competition – ahead of Pérez and Puccio. Viviani led the main field across the line over eleven minutes down in eighth place, with Costa maintaining his 8-second overall lead for another day.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 6
The sixth stage was seen as the final chance for the sprinters to take a stage victory during the race with an individual time trial and two mountainous stages still to be contested over the remaining three days. An undulating parcours of 198.5 km (123.3 mi) was set out for the riders with five categorised passes to be climbed, with the Schocherswil and Ärgete climbs undertaken twice as part of the final 64 km (39.8 mi) of the stage.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 6
These climbs were also part of two finishing circuits of a 29.1 km (18.1 mi)-long loop – with each climb categorised on an alternate lap, along with intermediate sprints at Waldkirch and Muolen – while the finish in Bischofszell was uphill and narrow, and pavé featured within the final 200 m (660 ft) of the stage.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 6
A five-rider breakaway was formed around 30 km (18.6 mi) into the stage, consisting of Ag2r–La Mondiale's Matteo Montaguti, Team Saxo Bank rider Troels Vinther, Baden Cooke of Orica–GreenEDGE, Vicente Reynès (Lotto–Belisol) and home rider Rubens Bertogliati representing Team Type 1–Sanofi. With Bertogliati just 1' 45" behind overall leader Rui Costa (Movistar Team) overnight, the peloton were keeping a close margin to the breakaway in the early stages of the breakaway, but Bertogliati later dropped back to the peloton in order for the advantage to be extended.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 6
Liquigas–Cannondale, Lampre–ISD and the Movistar Team were mainstays at the front of the peloton as they continue to close down the breakaway; Reynès and Cooke were caught with 6 km (3.7 mi) remaining, with Montaguti and Vinther holding off until 2 km (1.2 mi) remaining. The sprint finish was thus set up, and despite being hemmed in towards the barriers by Orica–GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini, Peter Sagan (Liquigas–Cannondale) out-sprinted Team Sky's Ben Swift and Albasini's team-mate Allan Davis for his fourth win of the race. Costa maintained his overall lead of eight seconds into the individual time trial.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 7
Unlike most individual time trials, race organisers created a hilly and technical parcours with several climbs located within its scheduled 34.3 km (21.3 mi) distance. Most prominent was the climb of the Pfannenstiel around a third of the way through the course – the summit marked the first intermediate time point of the course – up to a height of 727 m (2,385 ft), before descending back down, via an undulating section, to the starting town of Gossau; the estimated time to complete the course was just over 45 minutes.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 7
As was customary of time trial stages, the riders set off in reverse order from where they were ranked in the general classification at the end of the previous stage. Thus, Fréderique Robert of Lotto–Belisol, who, in 148th place, trailed overall leader Rui Costa (Movistar Team) by fifty-two minutes and forty-five seconds, was the first rider to set off on the stage.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 7
Robert ultimately recorded a time of 51' 31" for the course, but was instantaneously beaten by Euskaltel–Euskadi's Pablo Urtasun; Urtasun finished just one second behind on the road, having made up the gap of one minute between the starting times of the two riders. Having passed Grega Bole of Lampre–ISD before the finish, Nikita Novikov lowered the benchmark to below 50 minutes, as the Vacansoleil–DCM rider recorded a time of 49' 22" for the course.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 7
Orica–GreenEDGE rider Stuart O'Grady got closest to Novikov's time, finishing a second off, before it was eventually beaten by Fabian Cancellara, riding for the RadioShack–Nissan team. Cancellara completed the course almost three minutes faster than Novikov, recording a time of 46' 38". Cancellara's time held for around half an hour before Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) surprisingly bettered his time by two seconds; Kessiakoff's time was ultimately good enough for the stage victory, his first since the Tour of Austria in July 2011.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 7
Costa extended his overall lead to fifty seconds after recording the eighth-fastest time of 47' 17" for the course; Kessiakoff's team-mate Roman Kreuziger moved into second, as Fränk Schleck (RadioShack–Nissan) dropped to fifth overall, while a fifth-place performance for the stage by Rabobank's Robert Gesink moved him into third overall, five seconds behind Kreuziger.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 8
Following the previous day's individual time trial in Gossau, the race returned to the town of Bischofszell – the finishing town of the race's sixth stage – for the start to the penultimate stage. The stage itself was undulating to start off, with the first third of the 148.2 km (92.1 mi) parcours running between 600 m (2,000 ft) and 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation. Having reached the town of Altstätten, the roads levelled out and the succeeding 70 km (43.5 mi) was relatively flat before the uphill finish to Arosa, incorporating two categorised climbs. After a second-category pass in Castiel, the race climbed yet further with the hors catégorie climb to Arosa – the summit came with 1.5 km (0.9 mi) remaining – reaching an elevation of 1,739 m (5,705 ft).


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 8
Four riders – Peter Velits of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, Orica–GreenEDGE rider Michael Albasini, Garmin–Barracuda's Thomas Dekker and Rémi Cusin (Team Type 1–Sanofi) – went clear around 15 km (9.3 mi) into the stage, making the early breakaway from the field, and the duo managed to extend their advantage over the main field to around seven minutes, at the halfway point of the stage.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 8
Behind the lead quartet at this point, Rabobank and RadioShack–Nissan were setting the tempo on the front of the peloton in the hopes of reducing the numbers in the peloton ahead of the run-in to Arosa, while race leader Rui Costa (Movistar Team) punctured but was able to make back to the main field. Albasini and Velits increased their pace at the front of the field, which split the lead quartet apart, as Dekker and Cusin could not sustain the accelerated tempo.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 8
That pairing were eventually swept up by the peloton. Albasini dropped Velits with 18 km (11.2 mi) remaining – prior to the final climb – and soloed away to victory by over a minute from the rest of the field; he had been over three minutes clear with around 10 km (6.2 mi) to go, but the attacking moves in the peloton helped to reduce the time gap there had been.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 8
Rabobank and RadioShack–Nissan remained at the front, continually maintaining the pace before the latter team's main general classification rider Fränk Schleck attacked off the front with Euskaltel–Euskadi's Mikel Nieve and Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Levi Leipheimer, the race's defending champion. Costa was struggling at the rear, and eventually became dislodged at the back. The attacking trio maintained a gap off the front all the way to the finish in Arosa, finishing 1' 15" behind Albasini, moving Schleck and Leipheimer into the top three and Nieve into fifth overall. Costa finished 50 seconds behind that group, thanks to help from team-mate Alejandro Valverde, holding on to the leader's jersey by 14 seconds ahead of Schleck.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 9
With six riders within a minute of Movistar Team rider Rui Costa – the overall leader – the final, and queen, stage was set up for numerous attacks and the potential for one of the contenders, including RadioShack–Nissan's Fränk Schleck, to try a solo move and possibly claim the race as a whole. Uncategorised passes were key to the first half of the stage prior to four categorised climbs during the second half; this started with the second-category Rengg climb before a finishing circuit around 60 km (37.3 mi) in length.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 9
On the finishing circuit were two hors catégorie climbs; the Glaubenbielen 6.5 km (4.0 mi) into the lap, having climbed yet further from the finish line, as well as the Glaubenberg about halfway around the circuit. The summit of the final climb – the Südelhöhe – came with just 3.3 km (2.1 mi) before the finish in Sörenberg.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 9
Mini-attacks set the course of the early running of the stage, with the field remaining as a whole for the first hour of racing after the attacks were closed down within minutes. As it was, it was not until 40 km (24.9 mi) into the stage that the breakaway was formed.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 9
A group of five riders – FDJ–BigMat rider Jérémy Roy, Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil–DCM), Brent Bookwalter of BMC Racing Team, Astana's Tanel Kangert and Matteo Montaguti, representing the Ag2r–La Mondiale team – were allowed to break free from the confines of the peloton, and soon gained a lead in excess of twelve minutes on the road, in effect putting Kangert into the race lead if they had managed to maintain such an advantage to the end of the stage. This was not to last however, as Schleck's RadioShack–Nissan team were setting the tempo on the front of the peloton via riders Grégory Rast and Linus Gerdemann.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 9
The pace was maintained all the way until after the Glaubenbielen, where Schleck primed himself for an attack, and eventually did so on the Glaubenberg, countering a move by Euskaltel–Euskadi's Mikel Nieve, who had been fifth overnight. Schleck's move forced the other overall contenders to form a chase group in order to bring him back; Nieve and Costa were joined in the group by amongst others, Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Tom Danielson (Garmin–Barracuda), fifth and seventh overall respectively.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Stages, Stage 9
Schleck's advantage grew to a maximum of around one minute, but the chase group were able to re-establish contact with Schleck, and thus negating the chance for anyone to get clear. Up front, Kangert, Roy and Montaguti had dropped their two breakaway companions, before Montaguti himself was dropped; he eventually finished 31 seconds down in third. Kangert and Roy were left to contend the sprint, where Roy launched his sprint first but fatigue got the better of him, leaving Kangert to take the victory, a result that he could not believe at the end. Costa finished 1' 48" behind Kangert in a group with Schleck, Gesink, Nieve and Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Levi Leipheimer, to take his first overall World Tour win, and the biggest win of his career to date.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Classification leadership table
In the 2012 Tour de Suisse, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses in intermediate sprints and at the finish in mass-start stages, the leader received a yellow jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2012 Tour de Suisse, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race. There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a green jersey. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs; there were twenty-four categorised climbs in the race, split into five distinctive categories.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Classification leadership table
The third jersey represented the points classification, marked by a white-and-red jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing highly in a stage. For stages 3 to 6, the win earned 25 points, second place earned 20 points, third 16, fourth 13, fifth 11, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 15th. For all other stages, the win earned 15 points, second place earned 12 points, third 10, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 12th.


2012 Tour de Suisse, Classification leadership table
Points could also be earned at intermediate sprints for finishing in the top 3 at intermediate sprint points during each stage on a 6–3–1 scale. The fourth jersey represented the Swiss rider classification, marked by a red jersey. This was calculated in the same manner as the general classification, calculated by adding each Swiss cyclist's finishing times on each stage. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.


2012 Tour de Wallonie
The 2012 Tour de Wallonie was the 39th edition of the Tour de Wallonie cycle race and was held on 21–25 July 2012. The race started in Tournai and finished in Perwez. The race was won by Giacomo Nizzolo.


2012 Tour de las Américas
The 2012 Tour de las Américas season consisted of six golf tournaments, hosted in fix different countries across Latin America. Events were played in Argentina, Chile,  Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela from March to June. It was the last season of the Tour de las Américas and was followed by PGA Tour Latinoamérica, which began in September 2012.


2012 Tour de las Américas
The Order of Merit was won by Paraguay's Marco Ruiz.


2012 Tour du Haut Var
The 2012 Tour du Haut Var was the 44th edition of the Tour du Haut Var cycle race and was held on 18–19 February 2012. The race started in Draguignan and finished in Fayence. The race was won by Jonathan Tiernan-Locke.


2012 Tour of Austria
The 2012 Tour of Austria (German: 2012 Internationale Österreich Rundfahrt) was the 64th edition of the Tour of Austria, an annual bicycle race. Departing from Innsbruck on July 1, it concluded in Vienna on July 8. The 1153.9 km long stage race was part of the 2012 UCI Europe Tour, and was rated as a 2.HC event. The winner was the Dane Jakob Fuglsang of the RadioShack–Nissan squad.


2012 Tour of Austria, Teams
18 teams were invited to participate in the tour: 6 UCI ProTeams, 8 UCI Professional Continental Teams and 4 UCI Continental Teams.


2012 Tour of Austria, Stages, Stage 1
1 July 2012 – Innsbruck to Innsbruck, 153.0 km (95.1 mi)


2012 Tour of Austria, Stages, Stage 2
2 July 2012 – Innsbruck to Kitzbüheler Horn, 157.4 km (97.8 mi)


2012 Tour of Austria, Stages, Stage 3
3 July 2012 – Kitzbühel to Lienz, 141.8 km (88.1 mi)


2012 Tour of Austria, Stages, Stage 4
4 July 2012 – Lienz to Sankt Johann im Pongau/Alpendorf, 141.3 km (87.8 mi)


2012 Tour of Austria, Stages, Stage 5
5 July 2012 – Sankt Johann im Pongau/Alpendorf to Sonntagberg, 228.3 km (141.9 mi)


2012 Tour of Austria, Stages, Stage 6
6 July 2012 – Waidhofen an der Ybbs to Melk, 185.2 km (115.1 mi)


2012 Tour of Austria, Stages, Stage 7
7 July 2012 – Podersdorf am See to Podersdorf am See, 24.1 km (15.0 mi)


2012 Tour of Austria, Stages, Stage 8
8 July 2012 – Podersdorf am See to Vienna, 122.8 km (76.3 mi)


2012 Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran)
Tour of Azerbaijan 2012 is 27th round of Tour of Iran (Azerbaijan) which took place between May 11 till May 16, 2012 in Iranian Azerbaijan. The tour had 6 stage.


2012 Tour of Beijing
The 2012 Tour of Beijing was the second running of the Tour of Beijing stage race. It started on 9, October at Tiananmen Square and ended on 13, October in Beijing's Pinggu District after five stages. It was the 28th and final race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.


2012 Tour of Beijing
The race was won for the second successive year by German rider Tony Martin, riding for the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team. Martin won the second stage of the race with a solo attack 25 km (15.5 mi) from the end of the stage, and ultimately won the stage by 46 seconds from his nearest competitor. He held the overall lead of the race until its conclusion, eventually winning the race by 40 seconds from Astana rider Francesco Gavazzi, who won the race's queen stage on the third day. Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen completed the podium, 6 seconds behind Gavazzi and 46 down on Martin, and also won the points classification for the most consistent finisher on the stages over the race.


2012 Tour of Beijing
In the race's other classifications, fourth-placed overall Dan Martin (Garmin–Sharp) won the mountains classification, seventh-placed overall Rafał Majka was the winner of the young rider classification for Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank, and Liquigas–Cannondale were the victors in the teams classification.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Schedule
The race again consisted of five stages; unlike the 2011 edition of the race, there was no individual time trial stage after Tony Martin maintained his race lead from his time trial win to the end of the race. Ahead of the race, the second stage was modified following rainstorms in the region earlier in the year; the stage was originally scheduled for 134 km (83.3 mi), but was ultimately shortened to 126 km (78.3 mi).


2012 Tour of Beijing, Participating teams
As the Tour of Beijing was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Originally, the race organisers awarded a wildcard place in the race to the Argos–Shimano team, but they withdrew from the race following political tension between China and Japan, which resulted in Japanese riders being asked to leave September's Tour of China, that was held as part of the 2011–2012 UCI Asia Tour. They were ultimately replaced by the Champion System team, and as such, formed the event's 19-team peloton.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 1
The race-opening stage was a circuit race around several of the venues that were part of the 2008 Summer Olympics, primarily between the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. After starting at Tiananmen Square and following a 23.5 km (14.6 mi) run-in, the peloton had to complete twelve full laps of a circuit measuring 7.8 km (4.8 mi) in length. Prior to the end of the stage on the thirteenth passage through the finish line, points – along with time bonuses – were on offer at a pair of intermediate sprint points, held on the fourth and eighth passages respectively. As a result, the stage was widely expected to finish in a bunch sprint, with very little undulation throughout the circuit. with a maximum of around 10 metres (33 ft) in elevation changes.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 1
A group of five riders – Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Marco Bandiera, Mathieu Ladagnous of FDJ–BigMat, Adriano Malori (Lampre–ISD), Vacansoleil–DCM's Bert-Jan Lindeman as well as Craig Lewis for the Champion System team – was established prior to them entering the circuit, at around the 14 km (8.7 mi) point of the stage. The quintet manage to form an advantage of around two minutes, with the main field keeping the gap in check for most of the day.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 1
The breakaway swept up the bonus seconds on offer at the sprint points, with Ladagnous gaining the most as he was first across the line at both for six bonus seconds. The group were swept up on the penultimate lap, setting up the ultimate sprint for the line; Elia Viviani sprinted down the left-hand side of the road for Liquigas–Cannondale, and managed to fend off his rivals for his seventh win of 2012, and assumed the lead of all three classifications on offer on the day. Andrew Fenn finished second for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, ahead of Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 2
Following flooding in Beijing in July that caused the deaths of 79 people, race organisers were forced to re-route part of the stage, but maintained the stage start at the Bird's Nest and the finish in MenTouGou. Ultimately, the stage was slightly shortened from its original itinerary of 134 km (83.3 mi) to 126 km (78.3 mi), maintaining three categorised climbs during the parcours.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 2
Prior to the start of the stage, it emerged that one of the race's competitors – Ag2r–La Mondiale rider Steve Houanard – had tested positive for the glycoprotein hormone erythropoietin (EPO), a performance-enhancing drug, in an out of competition doping test and was asked to leave the race after being suspended by the Union Cycliste Internationale.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 2
On the stage itself, five riders – Rabobank's Juan Manuel Gárate, David Tanner of Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank, Mathias Frank (BMC Racing Team), Team Katusha rider Maxim Belkov and Iván Gutiérrez for the Movistar Team – instigated the breakaway around a quarter of the way through the stage, gaining a maximum advantage of over three minutes at one point. A small group of riders bridged up to the lead group after the peloton had nearly brought them back, and they remained out front until the end.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 2
Defending race winner Tony Martin (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) attacked this lead group with 25 km (15.5 mi) remaining, on the climb of the Dong Gang Hong Tunnel, and sped away to win by around 45 seconds to record his first road stage win since the 2009 Tour de Suisse. His margin of victory allowed him to take the red leader's jersey, as well as the green jersey as points leader.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 3
The queen stage of the Tour of Beijing saw the riders negotiate four categorised climbs during the stage's 162.5 km (101.0 mi) itinerary, ending in the first summit finish in the Tour's short history. The final climb to the Great Wall of China in Badaling was another venue part of the 2008 Summer Olympics – as part of the Urban Road Cycling Course – and the climb itself was a short, punchy climb of around 1 km (0.62 mi) in length and at an average gradient of 6.3%.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 3
Smog would also play a part in the stage's proceedings; after two previously clear days during the race, hazy conditions greeted the riders ahead of the start. Prior to the race, air quality levels were at a "severely polluted" level according to figures released by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 3
With Tony Martin in the overall lead for the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team, they played a prominent part at closing down attacks in the early stages, before a seven-rider breakaway was allowed to be formed, just before the quarter-way point of the stage. Best-placed of the riders was Mathieu Ladagnous of FDJ–BigMat, who had featured in the opening day's breakaway, at around three minutes behind Martin. The group gained a maximum advantage of about four-and-a-half minutes before the likes of Liquigas–Cannondale and Garmin–Sharp sent riders to the front of the peloton to bring the gap down. The group was eventually caught with around 9 km (5.6 mi) remaining, with several counter-attacks occurring from then on.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 3
Sylvain Georges (Ag2r–La Mondiale) launched an attack to try to get clear, but Team Sky – aiding with the pace at the front of the main group – closed him down before he could establish a sizable advantage. Defending mountains classification winner Igor Antón (Euskaltel–Euskadi) was the next rider to try but he too was thwarted before the attack could fully materialise.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 3
Instead, Team Sky's all-rounder Edvald Boasson Hagen attacked with 3.5 km (2.2 mi) remaining, and held a near 20-second lead into the final kilometre, but was closed down in the final metres, with Astana's Francesco Gavazzi taking his first victory for the team and his first since winning a stage of the 2011 Vuelta a España.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 3
Boasson Hagen finished third on the stage as he was also beaten to the line by Garmin–Sharp rider Dan Martin; Tony Martin held on to his race lead, with a reduced advantage of 40 seconds over Gavazzi, following the stage-winning time bonus – introduced for the 2012 edition – for Gavazzi.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 4
The penultimate stage of the Tour of Beijing consisted of a long loop around YanQing – making up most of the itinerary for the first half of the stage, 165.5 km (102.8 mi) in length – before the riders had to negotiate three categorised climbs (within 25 km (15.5 mi) of racing) in the Jundu Mountains, in the second half of the stage. Each of the three climbs were third-category and equally measured 2.3 km (1.4 mi) in length, with average gradients for the climbs ranging from 4.2% to 5.2% respectively. From the top of the final climb – just outside Xiezishi – it was all downhill for the remaining 31.5 km (19.6 mi) of the parcours into the finish in Chang Ping, with the stage finishing near to the district's gymnastics stadium.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 4
A group of five riders – made up of Garmin–Sharp's Alex Howes, Team Katusha rider Timofey Kritskiy, Mitchell Docker of Orica–GreenEDGE, Alex Dowsett (Team Sky) and Jérémy Roy, riding for the FDJ–BigMat team – were allowed to create a breakaway inside the opening 20 km (12.4 mi) of the stage, with none of the quintet threatening overall leader Tony Martin (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) in the general classification. The leaders had gained an advantage of around six-and-a-half minutes towards halfway through the stage, before Omega Pharma–Quick-Step along with the sprinters' teams started to cut into the advantage.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 4
Roy attacked his breakaway companions towards the summit of the final climb; he held almost three minutes over the field at the summit, but he was caught with 5 km (3.1 mi) to go. As a result, this eventually set up a bunch sprint that was won by Kritskiy's team-mate Marco Haller, a neo-pro, who achieved his first professional victory on the line.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 5
The final stage of the race was also its longest stage, with an itinerary consisting of 182.5 km (113.4 mi) of racing. Two of the day's four categorised climbs were negotiated inside the first 30 km (18.6 mi), with the peloton having a relatively flat ride for 100 km (62.1 mi) beyond that. Two further categorised climbs – a second-category climb to Tai Hou Village, followed by the first-category ascent of Si Zuo


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 5
Lou, averaging gradients of 6.7% and 5.9% respectively – featured on the parcours before a long descent towards Ping Gu's Century Square, and the end of the race. The race remained together for the first hour of racing, with mountains classification leader Dan Martin (Garmin–Sharp) gaining the most, claiming maximum points at each of the first two climbs.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 5
After that, a twelve-rider move got clear of the main field but the peloton failed to let them gain a substantial advantage over them; the maximum gap that the group acquired was around two minutes. The group started to break apart on the climb to Tai Hou Village, while Martin's team-mate Ryder Hesjedal made a solo move from the main field, and soon joined up with the lead group; on the final climb, the group was reduced to a trio as only Hesjedal, RadioShack–Nissan rider Jan Bakelants and BMC Racing Team's Steve Cummings remained.


2012 Tour of Beijing, Stages, Stage 5
Bakelants lost contact before the summit, and Hesjedal and Cummings remained clear of the field for the rest of the day. Cummings followed Hesjedal into Ping Gu, and out-sprinted him for his second victory of the season. Edvald Boasson Hagen led the main field home seventeen seconds later, to confirm himself as the points classification winner and third in the general classification – down to bonus seconds – behind Astana's Francesco Gavazzi, and the repeat victor Tony Martin of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step.


2012 Tour of Belgium
The 2012 Tour of Belgium was the 82nd edition of the Tour of Belgium cycling stage race. It took place from 23 May to 27 May 2012 in Belgium. The race is part of the UCI Europe Tour. It began with three relatively short stages, followed by two stages meant to be deciding the tour: an individual time-trial on Saturday and a longer stage through the hills of the Ardennes.