2012 The National, CBC drops television coverage
Due to a dispute with iSport Media, the Slam management organization, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which had been covering the Slams for four years, dropped their coverage of the 2012 National event at the last minute. It will make the first time since the 1962 Macdonald Brier that CBC will not be broadcasting curling.


2012 The Oaks Club Challenger
The 2012 The Oaks Club Challenger is a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It is the fourth edition of the tournament which is part of the 2012 ITF Women's Circuit. It took place in Osprey, Florida, United States between 26 March and 1 April 2012. It offered the prize of US$ 50,000.


2012 The Oaks Club Challenger, WTA entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 The Oaks Club Challenger, WTA entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry by a lucky loser spot:


2012 The Oaks Club Challenger, Champions, Doubles
Lindsay Lee-Waters /  Megan Moulton-Levy def. Alexandra Panova /  Lesia Tsurenko, 2–6, 6–4, [10–7]


2012 The Oaks Club Challenger – Doubles
Stéphanie Foretz Gacon and Alexa Glatch were the defending champions, but both players chose not to participate.


2012 The Oaks Club Challenger – Doubles
Lindsay Lee-Waters and Megan Moulton-Levy won the title, defeating Alexandra Panova and Lesia Tsurenko in the final, 2–6, 6–4, [10–7].


2012 The Oaks Club Challenger – Singles
Claire de Gubernatis was the defending champion, but chose not to participate.


2012 The Oaks Club Challenger – Singles
Arantxa Rus won the title, defeating Sesil Karatantcheva in the final, 6–4, 6–1.


2012 The Shoot-Out
The 2012 Shoot-Out is an annual curling bonspiel that was held from September 13-16, 2012 at the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton, Alberta as part of the 2012–13 World Curling Tour. The purses for the men's and women's events were CAD$22,000 and CAD$20,000, with teams Jamie King and Kaitlyn Lawes winning their respective events.


2012 The Summit League Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2012 Summit League Men's Soccer Tournament will be the seventh edition of the four-team tournament. The tournament will decide The Summit League champion and guaranteed representative into the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The tournament will be held from November 7–10, 2012 with the higher seed hosting each match.


2012 The Summit League Men's Soccer Tournament, Statistical leaders, Goalscorers
A total of 11 goals were scored over 3 matches, for an average of 3.67 goals per match.


2012 Thespa Kusatsu season
The 2012 Thespa Kusatsu season is Thespa Kusatsu's eighth season in J.League Division 2 since promotion from the Japan Football League in 2005.


2012 Third Division Football Tournament
Statistics of Third Division Football Tournament in the 2012 season. According to the FAM Calendar 2012, Third Division Football Tournament will start on October 15.


2012 Third Division Football Tournament, Teams
43 teams are competition in the 2012 Third Division Football Tournament, and these teams were divided into 14 groups.


2012 Thomas & Uber Cup
The 2012 Thomas & Uber Cup was the 27th tournament of the Thomas Cup and 24th international badminton tournament of the Uber Cup. It was held from May 20–27, 2012 at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium in Wuhan, China.


2012 Thomas & Uber Cup, Host city selection
Jakarta (Indonesia) and Wuhan (China) submitted bids for the competition. Wuhan was announced as the host by BWF after a meeting in Qingdao during the 2011 Sudirman Cup.


2012 Thomas & Uber Cup, Seedings
All the seeding list based on March 1, 2012 world rankings as the draw was conducted on April 15, 2012. The top four seeding teams is in first pot, follow by next four teams in the second pot and the bottom four teams was put in the third pot.


2012 Thomas & Uber Cup, Seedings
For the knock out draw, to be held immediately after the group stage is completed, the four teams that had topped their group will be ranked according to their world ranking on the 17 May, and the top two seeds would then be separated each into one half. Seeds 3/4 will be drawn into each half, then followed by the remaining 5/8 seeded teams.


2012 Thomas & Uber Cup squads
This article lists the confirmed squads lists for badminton's 2012 Thomas & Uber Cup between May 20 and May 27, 2012.


2012 Thomas & Uber Cups Preliminaries for Africa
The 2012 Thomas & Uber Cups Preliminaries for Africa were held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, between 22-26 February and  sanctioned by Badminton World Federation and Badminton Confederation of Africa. Nigeria and South Africa was the defending champion in men's and women's team events. This tournament serves as qualification stage for African countries for the 2012 Thomas & Uber Cup.


2012 Thomas Cup group stage
This article lists the complete results of the group stage of the 2012 Thomas Cup in Wuhan, China.


2012 Thomas Cup knockout stage
This article lists the complete results of the knockout stage of the 2012 Thomas Cup in Wuhan, China. All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).


2012 Thorpe Cup
The 2012 Thorpe Cup was held at the Georg-Gaßmann-Stadion in Marburg on 21–22 July 2012.


2012 Thorpe Cup
Kai Kazmirek won the men's decathlon event with a personal best score of 8130 points and Kira Biesenbach won the women's heptathlon event, also recording a personal best, with 5878 points.


2012 Thorpe Cup
A number of Olympic athletes were in Marburg over the weekend to practise for the upcoming Summer Games in London. One month after recording his world record, Ashton Eaton competed in five of the ten disciplines, and even secured personal bests in the shot put and javelin throw.


2012 Three Days of De Panne
The 2012 Three Days of De Panne (Dutch: KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde 2012) is the 36th edition of the Three Days of De Panne, an annual bicycle race. Taking part in and around the De Panne region of West Flanders, it began in Middelkerke on 27 March and will finish in De Panne two days later. The 544.5 km long stage race contains four stages, with two held on the final day. It is part of the 2012 UCI Europe Tour and is rated as a 2.HC event.


2012 Three Days of De Panne, Teams
24 teams were invited to participate in the tour: 10 UCI ProTeams and 14 UCI Professional Continental Teams.


2012 Three Days of De Panne, Stages, Stage 1
27 March 2011 – Middelkerke to Oudenaarde, 201.6 km (125.3 mi)


2012 Three Days of De Panne, Stages, Stage 2
28 March 2012 – Zottegem to Koksijde, 216.1 km (134.3 mi)


2012 Three Days of De Panne, Stages, Stage 3a
29 March 2012 – De Panne to De Panne, 112.1 km (69.7 mi)


2012 Three Days of De Panne, Stages, Stage 3b
29 March 2012 – De Panne to Koksijde to De Panne, 14.7 km (9.1 mi) individual time trial (ITT)


2012 Three National Figure Skating Championships
The 2012 Three National Figure Skating Championships included the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. The event was hosted by the Czech association in Ostrava on December 16–17, 2011. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing on the senior level. Some junior and novice-level events were also held.


2012 Three National Figure Skating Championships
The results were split by country; the three highest-placing skaters from each country in each discipline formed their national podiums. The results were among the criteria used to determine international assignments. It was the fourth consecutive season that the three countries held their national championships jointly.


2012 Three Rivers District Council election
Elections to Three Rivers District Council were held on 3 May 2012 to elect one-third of the council of Three Rivers district in England.


2012 Three Rivers District Council election
The Liberal Democrats won the largest number of seats and the most votes. The Conservatives failed to strengthen their position against the Liberal Democrats, who remained in overall control of Three Rivers. Labour gained two seats, including one they had lost to the British National Party; the incumbent moved to the English Democrats Party in 2010 and stood as the EDP candidate. Overall, however, this council remains under firm LibDem control, with most seats contested between them and the Conservatives, and Labour having little prospect of improving their own representation.


2012 Thurrock Council election
The 2012 Thurrock Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Thurrock Borough Council in England. This was on the same day as other 2012 United Kingdom local elections.


2012 Thurrock Council election
The Labour party took overall control (previously NOC with Labour administration).


2012 Thénia bombing
The 2012 Thénia bombing occurred on January 11, 2012 when a bomb detonated against a patrol of the Algerian Customs in the town of Thénia, Boumerdès Province, Algeria injuring 2. The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb is suspected as being responsible.


2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season
The 2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season was the club's 9th season in the Chinese Super League, and 44th season in China's top flight. They started the season with Josip Kuže as manager, before replacing him with Alexandre Guimarães halfway through the season. Domestically they finished the season in 8th place, reached the Fourth Round of the FA Cup and were runners-up in the Super Cup. Tianjin Teda also participated in the AFC Champions League, where they were placed in a group with Seongnam, Nagoya Grampus and Central Coast Mariners, they finished bottom of the group with 3 points.


2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season, Squad, Reserve squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season, Squad, On loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season, Transfers, Winter
InNote: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season, Transfers, Winter
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season, Transfers, Summer
InNote: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Tianjin Teda F.C. season, Transfers, Summer
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Tiburon Challenger
The 2012 Tiburon Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the sixth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Tiburon, United States between 8 and 14 October 2012.


2012 Tiburon Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Tiburon Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry as a special exempt into the singles main draw:


2012 Tiburon Challenger – Doubles
Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione were the defending champions but Ball decided not to participate. Guccione played alongside Rik de Voest and won the final against Jordan Kerr and Andreas Siljeström 6–1, 6–4.


2012 Tiburon Challenger – Singles
Ivo Karlović was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Jack Sock won the final against Mischa Zverev 6–1, 1–6, 7–6(7–3).


2012 TicketCity Bowl
The 2012 TicketCity Bowl, the second edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on January 2, 2012, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, as one of the 2011–12 NCAA football bowl games.


2012 TicketCity Bowl
The game, which was telecast at 11:00 a.m. CT on ESPNU, featured the Houston Cougars from Conference USA versus the Penn State Nittany Lions from the Big Ten Conference. The Houston Cougars won, 30–14.


2012 TicketCity Bowl
The 2012 TicketCity Bowl marked the head coaching debut of Tony Levine, and the last college game of quarterback Case Keenum.


2012 Tim Hortons Brier
The 2012 Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men's national curling championship, was held from March 3 to March 11 at the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This Brier marked the sixth time that Saskatoon hosted the Brier; the last time that the Brier was hosted in Saskatoon was in 2004. The winner of the Brier, Glenn Howard, will represent Canada at the 2012 Capital One World Men's Curling Championship in Basel, Switzerland.


2012 Tim Hortons Brier
In the final, Ontario's Glenn Howard defeated Kevin Koe in ten ends with a score of 7–6. Howard won his fourth Brier title overall and his second Brier title as skip. Ontario third Wayne Middaugh became the first person in Brier history to win at three different positions, as second in 1993, as skip in 1998, and as third in 2012. Middaugh also set a record for best performance by a third in the final (with 98%), and won the Hec Gervais Award, which was awarded to the most valuable player in the playoffs.


2012 Tim Hortons Brier
This edition of the Brier saw the first Northwest Territories/Yukon team advancing to the page playoffs in Brier history since the induction of the playoffs format in 1980. Previously, the best performance from the Territories came in 1975, when Yukon's Don Twa and his team tied for second place after the round robin. In 1985, the Territories made it to a tiebreaker before being knocked out. The Brier also saw Ontario skip Glenn Howard breaking the record for most career games played at the Brier, which was previously set by his brother Russ Howard at 174 career games, after defeating Saskatchewan in Draw 10.


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
At this year's Brier, Alberta was represented by former Brier champion and former world champion Kevin Koe, who defeated Brock Virtue in the provincial final. He made his second appearance at the Brier with a new third, Pat Simmons, who had skipped for Saskatchewan in five previous Briers. Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador clinched a sixth straight berth to the Brier after defeating former provincial champion Ken Peddigrew in the provincial final. Gushue made his ninth appearance at the Brier with a new team formed at the close of the last season.


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Northern Ontario was represented by Brad Jacobs, who played at his third consecutive Brier after defeating former provincial champion Mike Jakubo in the provincial final. Glenn Howard of Ontario made his seventh consecutive and fourteenth overall appearance at the Brier after winning the provincial final over Peter Corner. Rob Fowler of Manitoba made his first appearance at the Brier after defeating Mike McEwen in the provincial final. Kevin Martin and Jeff Stoughton, two recent Brier champions who together won three of the past four Briers, were both eliminated before the finals of their respective provincial championships.


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
British Columbia was represented by Jim Cotter after Cotter, who played at his third Brier, won his second straight provincial championship over Brent Pierce. Terry Odishaw made his first appearance at the Brier since 1998 after winning the New Brunswick final over defending provincial champion James Grattan. Jamie Murphy represented Nova Scotia at his first Brier, after defeating former Brier champion Mark Dacey in the final of the provincials.


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Prince Edward Island was represented by Mike Gaudet, who made his fourth Brier appearance, his first as skip since 2004, as he was the third for last year's Prince Edward Island skip Eddie MacKenzie. Robert Desjardins represented Quebec at his second consecutive Brier, his first Brier as skip, after defeating Phillipe Lemay in the provincial final. Saskatchewan was represented by Scott Manners, his first appearance at the Brier after upsetting Bruce Korte in the provincial final. Jamie Koe made his fourth consecutive and sixth overall appearance representing the Northwest Territories and Yukon after finishing the provincials with an undefeated record.


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Kevin KoeThird: Pat SimmonsSecond: Carter Rycroft Lead: Nolan ThiessenAlternate: Blake MacDonald


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Jim CotterThird: Kevin Folk Second: Tyrel Griffith Lead: Rick SawatskyAlternate: Ken Maskiewich


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Rob Fowler Third: Allan Lyburn Second: Richard Daneault Lead: Derek Samagalski Alternate: William Lyburn


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Terry Odishaw Third: Andy McCann Second: Scott Jones Lead: Grant Odishaw Alternate: Roger Nason


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Brad Gushue Third: Ryan Fry Second: Adam Casey Lead: Geoff Walker Alternate: Toby McDonald


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Brad Jacobs Third: E.J. Harnden Second: Ryan Harnden Lead: Scott Seabrook Alternate: Joe Scharf


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Jamie MurphyThird: Jordan PinderSecond: Mike BardsleyLead: Donald McDermaidAlternate: Kyle Schmeisser


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Glenn Howard Third: Wayne Middaugh Second: Brent Laing Lead: Craig Savill Alternate: Scott Howard


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Mike GaudetThird: Tyler MacKenzieSecond: Tyler HarrisLead: Sean Clarey Alternate: Andrew Robinson


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Robert Desjardins Third: Jean-Sébastien Roy Second: Steven Munroe Lead: Steeve Villeneuve Alternate: Jean-François Charest


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Scott Manners Third: Tyler Lang Second: Ryan Deis Lead: Mike Armstrong Alternate: Carl deConinck Smith


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Jamie KoeThird: Tom NauglerSecond: Brad ChorostkowskiLead: Robert BordenAlternate: Greg Skauge


2012 Tim Hortons Brier, Top 5 player percentages
The top five player percentages for each position from the round robin are listed as follows:


2012 Tippeligaen
The 2012 Tippeligaen was the 68th completed season of top division football in Norway. The competition began on 23 March 2012 and ended on 18 November 2012, with a summer break from 28 May to 30 June. Molde were the defending champions, while Hønefoss and Sandnes Ulf entered as the promoted teams from the 2011 1. divisjon. They replaced Start and Sarpsborg 08 who were relegated to the 2012 1. divisjon.


2012 Tippeligaen
On 11 November 2011, Molde won the title with one matchday left to play after a 1–0 home win over Hønefoss. It was their second consecutive league title and also their second top-flight title overall.


2012 Tippeligaen, Season summary
Strømsgodset were leading the league most of the season, but four matches before the end of the season there were three teams competing for the title. Rosenborg lost out on the title-race after losing to Strømsgodset and Molde. Molde secured the title in the 29th round after they won 1–0 at home, while Strømsgodset lost 2–1 against Sandnes Ulf.


2012 Tippeligaen, Season summary
Stabæk were relegated after being positioned at the bottom of the table throughout the season. Ahead of the last round, four teams were fighting against relegation, but Fredrikstad lost their match against the league-winners Molde and were relegated, while Sandnes Ulf finished 14th and played relegation play-offs against Ullensaker/Kisa, the sixth-placed team in the 1. divisjon. Sandnes Ulf won the play-offs 7–1 on aggregate (4–0 away and 3–1 at home), and were not relegated.


2012 Tippeligaen, Season summary
The average attendance in 2012 were 7,014 spectators, down from 7,995 in 2011, which was the lowest average attendance in Tippeligaen since 2003.


2012 Tippeligaen, Teams
Sixteen teams competed in the league – the top fourteen teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the 1. divisjon The promoted teams were Hønefoss (returning after a season's absence) and Sandnes Ulf (their first post-World War II top-flight season). They replaced Sarpsborg 08 (relegated after their first ever presence) and Start (ending their three-year spell in the top flight).


2012 Tippeligaen, Relegation play-offs
At the end of the season, Stabæk and Fredrikstad were relegated directly to 1. divisjon, and will be replaced by Start and Sarpsborg who were directly promoted.


2012 Tippeligaen, Relegation play-offs
Five teams entered a play-off for the last Tippeligaen spot in the 2013 season. These were:


2012 Tippeligaen, Relegation play-offs
The four 1. divisjon teams first played a single game knockout tournament, with the winner (Ull/Kisa) advancing to a two-legged tie against the Tippeligaen team (Sandnes Ulf) for the 16th and final spot in the 2013 season. Sandnes Ulf retained their Tippeligaen spot with an aggregate 7–1 win over Ull/Kisa.


2012 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
The 2012 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship was the 122nd staging of the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Tipperary County Board in 1887. The championship began on 30 June 2012 and ended on 14 October 2012.


2012 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
On 14 October 2012, Thurles Sarsfields won the championship after a 1-21 to 2-15 defeat of Drom-Inch in the final at Semple Stadium. It was their 32nd championship title overall and their first title since 2010.


2012 Tipperary county hurling team season
The 2012 season was Declan Ryan's second year in charge of the Tipperary team, the second year of his initial two-year term since succeeding Liam Sheedy. In January the management appointed Paul Curran of Mullinahone as new captain and Pádraic Maher of Thurles Sarsfields as vice captain for 2012 season. On 6 February 2012, forward Lar Corbett announced his withdrawal from the Tipperary hurling panel for the 2012 season due to work commitments. On 13 May 2012, it was announced by Tipperary that Corbett had returned to the Tipperary Senior Hurling panel. On 24 June he made his comeback coming on as a substitute in the first half against Cork in the 2012 Munster Hurling Semi-Final as Tipperary won by 1–22 to 0–24.


2012 Tipperary county hurling team season
In March, Tipperary won their first trophy of the year by capturing the Waterford Crystal Cup against Clare in Sixmilebridge by 1-21 to 2-12. The trophy was presented by Munster Council Vice Chairman Robert Frost to Brendan Cummins who captained the team in the absence of squad captain, the injured Paul Curran and vice-captain, Padraic Maher, who was unavailable following Fitzgibbon Cup games. On the 13 May 2012, it was announced by Tipperary GAA that Lar Corbett had returned to the Tipperary Senior Hurling panel.


2012 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2012 National Hurling League
Tipperary finished in third place in the league table and qualified to meet Cork in the semi-final where they lost by 2-15 to 1-25 on 22 April.


2012 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2012 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
In July, Tipperary retained their Munster title with a 2-17 to 0-16 win against Waterford in the Final.


2012 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2012 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary had their heaviest defeat in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship since 1897, with Kilkenny blowing them away by scoring 4-24, 3-15 in the second half to leave Tipperary with an eighteen-point defeat in front of a crowd of 50,220. In that semi-final match Lar Corbett was assigned the role of man marking Kilkenny defender Tommy Walsh around the pitch, with Kilkenny assigning Jackie Tyrrell to mark Corbett. The marking battle between the players developed into a sideshow and nullified Corbetts own game as he remained scoreless during the game.


2012 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2012 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
The tactic was heavily criticized by various analysts and reporters after the game. In early September, Declan Ryan and his management team of Tommy Dunne and Michael Gleeson informed the county board that they would not seek an extension to their two-year term in charge of the Senior hurling team and would be stepping down.


2012 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2012 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
On 25 September, Eamon O'Shea succeeded Declan Ryan as manager of the Tipperary senior team.


2012 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2012 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary had six players, Michael Cahill, Pádraic Maher, Pa Bourke, Bonnar Maher, Noel McGrath, and Brian O'Meara nominated for an All Star award but won no awards in 2012.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico
The 2012 Tirreno–Adriatico was the 47th running of the Tirreno–Adriatico cycling stage race, often known as the Race of two seas. It started on 7 March in Donoratico and ended on 13 March in San Benedetto del Tronto and consisted of seven stages, including a team time trial to begin the race and an individual time trial to conclude it. It was the third race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico
The race was won by Italy's Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas–Cannondale, after recording a quicker time in the race-ending time trial than RadioShack–Nissan's Chris Horner and Astana's Roman Kreuziger, and overhauled both riders for victory; during the race, Nibali also won the race's queen stage to Prati di Tivo. Nibali also took home the red jersey for amassing the highest number of points during stages at intermediate sprints and stage finishes, and won the general classification by fourteen seconds over runner-up Horner. Kreuziger completed the podium, 12 seconds behind Horner and 26 seconds down on Nibali.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico
In the race's other classifications, Wout Poels of Vacansoleil–DCM won the white jersey for the highest placed rider born in 1987 or later by placing eighth overall in the general classification, while Colnago–CSF Bardiani rider Stefano Pirazzi won the King of the Mountains classification, and Ag2r–La Mondiale finished at the head of the teams classification.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Teams
As Tirreno–Adriatico was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Four other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 22-team peloton.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
Following the introduction of a race-opening team time trial by organisers in 2011, the 2012 event began in the same fashion with a short test between the towns of San Vincenzo and Donoratico; both of which are synonymous within Italian cycling as the start and finish towns of the early-season Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi race. Team Saxo Bank were the first team to set off from the start, and set the early benchmark with a time of 19' 19", but only held the top spot for a short period.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
The third team on the course, Garmin–Barracuda – winners of the 2011 Tour de France team time trial, and a time trial in February's Tour of Qatar – were touted as favourites for the stage by several team personnel, and lived up to that, as the team went under the nineteen-minute barrier, with a time of 18' 58". Another fancied team was Team Sky, but they fell six seconds shy of the time of Garmin–Barracuda.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
After struggling to maintain five riders in the train during the 2011 team time trial as Leopard Trek, RadioShack–Nissan were once again highly tipped, with four-time world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara among their ranks, and only just claimed the lead from Garmin–Barracuda, besting their time by less than a second. However, the eventual stage-winning time came from the GreenEDGE team, newly formed for the 2012 season.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
Following practice for the discipline prior to the race, GreenEDGE came into the race with no real contender for the overall race but set a goal to win the team time trial; the team met their goal, recording a time of 18' 41", surpassing the mark of RadioShack–Nissan by seventeen seconds. As Matthew Goss was the first of the team's riders to cross the line, he was entitled to wear the race's first azzurra jersey, while Cameron Meyer was also part of the train at the finish and thus was the best placed rider under the age of 25. Sporting director Matt White later expressed his delight at the team's run, and was surprised at the team's large margin of victory.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
Outside of the top five placed teams, as Roman Kreuziger's Astana team rounded out the top five, several of the teams with general classification favourites suffered arduous runs in the stage. Defending race-winner Cadel Evans' BMC Racing Team and 2011 team time trial winners Rabobank were caught out due to atmospheric conditions; a change in wind direction caused both teams to lose almost a minute to GreenEDGE on the stage, finishing 16th and 17th respectively of the 22 teams contesting the race. Lampre–ISD and Liquigas–Cannondale, the teams of the main Italian hopes for the race – Michele Scarponi and Vincenzo Nibali – also lost more than 45 seconds to the stage-winners. Lampre–ISD finished eleventh, while Liquigas–Cannondale recorded a fifteenth-place finish on the stage.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
Diego Caccia of Farnese Vini–Selle Italia instigated the breakaway of the day, and was joined shortly after by a rider from the Colnago–CSF Bardiani team, with Stefano Pirazzi joining Caccia out front. Caccia and Pirazzi quickly stepped up the pace to pull clear of the peloton, fronted by the GreenEDGE team of race leader Matthew Goss. By the time the lead duo reached the first climb of the race, coming after around 60 km (37.3 mi) in Volterra, with Pirazzi taking maximum points, their lead was close to eight minutes.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
GreenEDGE reduced their advantage steadily, with Svein Tuft controlling the tempo on the front of the main field, knocking the advantage down to five minutes by the second categorised climb after 106 km (65.9 mi). Pirazzi again crossed the line first ahead of Caccia, and thus guaranteed himself the first green jersey of the race for mountains classification leader. Their advantage stayed largely between four-and-a-half and five minutes before entering the finishing circuit, 33.4 km (20.8 mi) in length, at Indicatore for the first of two laps.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
Team Sky and Omega Pharma–Quick-Step joined GreenEDGE at the head of the main field and set about cutting into the lead duo's advantage, and by the time the first lap was complete, the gap was under a minute; within the next 5 km (3.1 mi), the breakaway was over after around 200 km (124.3 mi) clear.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
With Team Sky again controlling the pace of the main pack, Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack–Nissan) attacked inside the final 10 km (6.2 mi), causing two other riders – Enrico Gasparotto of Astana and Fabio Taborre of Acqua & Sapone – to follow suit, but all three were swallowed up shortly after. Gasparotto's team-mate Paolo Tiralongo then launched an attack with BMC Racing Team's Greg Van Avermaet at 3 km (1.9 mi) to go, but to no avail as they were both caught outside Indicatore.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
A large crash with 1.5 km (0.9 mi) to go reduced the number of contenders for the sprint, where Garmin–Barracuda tried to lead it out for Tyler Farrar, the stage-winner in Indicatore in 2011. Farrar held the lead until the closing metres as Mark Cavendish accelerated past him, following a lead-out from Edvald Boasson Hagen, to record his fourth victory of the season ahead of a closing Óscar Freire (Team Katusha) and Farrar. Cavendish moved into fifth place overall, and assumed the lead of the points classification.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 3
Colnago–CSF Bardiani rider Filippo Savini broke away from the field almost from the start of the stage, and managed to get clear without a breakaway companion. The main field decided not to follow him closely to begin with, as he was not a factor in the overall classification; over nine minutes behind overnight leader Matthew Goss of the GreenEDGE team.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 3
Savini's lead grew to over eleven minutes at one point during the stage, but due to windy conditions and the peloton stepping up the pace, it was quickly reduced to around 7' 30" with just over 100 km (62.1 mi) remaining on the stage. Savini gained maximum points on the road; crossing the line first at the two intermediate sprints – gaining six bonus seconds in the process – and also crested the climb at Todi first, with team-mate Stefano Pirazzi maintaining his lead in that competition by crossing second.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 3
Savini's brave salvo off the front of the pack ended with around 30 km (18.6 mi), as BMC Racing Team led the chase of him during the stage. Many of the sprinters' teams launched themselves frontwards in order to set themselves up for the finish in Terni, coming on cobblestones in the town centre.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 3
With no further attacks getting away, it eventually came down to a sprint finish; Garmin–Barracuda looked to get Tyler Farrar the stage victory, but were caught out by an early sprint from Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen, who had been expected to lead-out for team-mate Mark Cavendish, but with Cavendish not in his best shape – despite picking up two bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint – it was left to Boasson Hagen to contest for the honours; taking his team's tenth victory of the season. André Greipel was close behind in second for Lotto–Belisol, ahead of Liquigas–Cannondale's Peter Sagan, Farrar, Manuel Belletti (Ag2r–La Mondiale) and Goss, who maintained his race lead.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
Prior to the running of the stage, its parcours was changed the night before due to poor weather conditions, although the slight rerouting reduced the stage's total distance to 251 km (156.0 mi). On the stage itself, seven riders from six different teams, including mountains classification leader Stefano Pirazzi formed a part of the breakaway. The main field decided not to follow them closely to begin with, with the lead increasing dramatically in the early stages, reaching an ultimate maximum gap of around twelve minutes. With Pirazzi in the lead group, it enabled the Colnago–CSF Bardiani rider to extend his already substantial lead in the mountains classification, taking maximum points on the first two climbs of the stage.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
The peloton, led by a combined front between the Lampre–ISD, Colombia–Coldeportes, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and Liquigas–Cannondale teams enabled the gap between the main field and the breakaway septet to be cut sufficiently, dropping under five minutes at the stage's halfway point, and by 36 km (22.4 mi) to go, the gap was just 90 seconds, and a catch seemed a certainty. With the peloton closing, Pavel Brutt (Team Katusha) and Manuele Boaro of Team Saxo Bank both launched solo attacks in order to maintain their move ahead of the advancing pack.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
Boaro and Brutt were both caught outside of 10 km (6.2 mi) to go before the finish in Chieti. Another crash split the field once again, and Liquigas–Cannondale continued to hold front at the head of the peloton as it moved towards the finish. Johnny Hoogerland launched a late attack for Vacansoleil–DCM, but was usurped by Acqua & Sapone's Danilo Di Luca and Liquigas–Cannondale rider Peter Sagan. Three other riders – Sagan's team-mate Vincenzo Nibali, Roman Kreuziger of Astana and RadioShack–Nissan rider Chris Horner – joined up with the lead duo, and this pentet did battle for the stage honours. Kreuziger and Nibali both launched bids for victory, but it was Sagan that prevailed, ultimately. Horner's gain for making this small group was to assume the race lead, from GreenEDGE's Matthew Goss.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
The race's queen stage consisted of three categorised climbs over the 196 km (121.8 mi) parcours, including two climbs to over 1,200 m (3,900 ft); the Piano Roseto, a climb of just over 20 km (12.4 mi), and also the climb to the mountain-top finish at Prati di Tivo, which crested out at 1,450 m (4,760 ft); a shorter climb of 14.5 km (9.0 mi), at an average gradient of just over 7%.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
Three riders – Lotto–Belisol's Jens Debusschere, Euskaltel–Euskadi rider Egoi Martínez and Kristof Goddaert of Ag2r–La Mondiale – advanced clear of the main field after 15 km (9.3 mi) of the stage, and managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of around ten-and-a-half minutes at one point during the early running of the stage.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
Goddaert was dropped on the Piano Roseto, as his two rivals looked to step up their pace in advance of the Liquigas–Cannondale-led peloton, who had been cutting into their lead quite effectively; reducing their gap out front from around 10' 30" at the start of the climb to a much smaller margin of 3' 30" by its conclusion.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
The race was together once again not long after, as the two remaining escapees were brought back slowly into the main pack, which had numbers reducing by the kilometre. By the time that the field has reached the climb up to Prati di Tivo, around 25 riders remained in contention for the stage honours. After Martínez had been brought back, several mini-attacks were launched, most efficiently by Astana's Paolo Tiralongo in aspirations of potentially setting Roman Kreuziger up for a potential stage win or assuming the azzurra jersey from overnight leader Chris Horner of RadioShack–Nissan.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
Horner himself had elevated the pace in the lead group, and continued to shell riders from it. With around 4 km (2.5 mi) to ride in the stage, Vincenzo Nibali looked to avenge a disappointing showing in Chieti, by going on the offensive, and was not directly followed by any other rider from the main field.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
His gap quickly went to nearly 30 seconds, which would have put Horner in trouble to keep the jersey, but he increased the pace once again; Nibali's eventual winning margin was 16 seconds over Kreuziger, who cut another two seconds off Horner's lead overall, reducing the margin to just five seconds. Nibali also moved within twelve seconds of Horner.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
The final mass-start stage of the race revolved around a circuit race in and around Offida. After an opening loop of 84 km (52.2 mi), the riders returned to the centre of the commune for six laps of a circuit around 16 km (9.9 mi) in length.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
Each lap contained a climb of the Ponte delle Pietre, a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) long climb with an average gradient of over 7% – with certain sections of the climb maxing out at 10% – while the final kilometre saw a slight rise in the road at 2%, with riders also having to negotiate a left-hand corner on the Via Repubblica in the closing metres.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
A group of six riders got clear after around 3 km (1.9 mi), including world champion Mark Cavendish (Team Sky), but their move was quickly negated as the sextet could only muster an advantage of twenty seconds over the field. Cavendish later abandoned the race, in order to recover for the Milan – San Remo Monument classic on 17 March.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
Around 40 km (24.9 mi) later, seven riders – Acqua & Sapone's Carlos Betancur, Luis Felipe Laverde of Colombia–Coldeportes, FDJ–BigMat rider Arthur Vichot, Movistar Team duo Andrey Amador and Branislau Samoilau, Serge Pauwels of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and Vacansoleil–DCM's Mirko Selvaggi – went clear to form the day's primary breakaway.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
The breakaway held a lead of almost five minutes at one point, but with Team Katusha, Liquigas–Cannondale and Garmin–Barracuda all having riders that could contend at the stage finish, the gap tumbled away and the breakaway fractioned with only Amador, Vichot, Pauwels and Betancur surviving together, and were only caught inside of 6 km (3.7 mi) to go.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone) and Michele Scarponi launched punchy attacks not long after, as did Christophe Riblon (Ag2r–La Mondiale) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago–CSF Bardiani), but Liquigas–Cannondale shut down all the moves via their points classification leader Peter Sagan, who had remained with the lead group. Sagan's closing of the group set up a final attack from Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez with 1 km (0.6 mi) remaining, and held on to win his third career Tirreno–Adriatico stage. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas–Cannondale) led Di Luca over the line for second, assuming the points classification lead from Sagan, and moved to within six seconds of RadioShack–Nissan's Chris Horner – who finished fourth on the stage – ahead of the final time trial stage.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
The Tirreno–Adriatico ended as its parent race, the Giro d'Italia, had for the last four years, with an individual time trial. San Benedetto del Tronto in the Marche region played host to a perfectly flat out-and-back ride right along the Adriatic coast; it was held on the same course as the 2011 edition, where Fabian Cancellara claimed victory for the Leopard Trek team, in a time of 10' 33".


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
Cancellara was the pre-stage favourite, but much of the focus was upon the impending three-rider battle for the overall honours between RadioShack–Nissan's Chris Horner, Astana's Roman Kreuziger and Liquigas–Cannondale's Vincenzo Nibali; the three riders were split by just six seconds prior to 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. Thus, Alex Rasmussen of Garmin–Barracuda, who, in 148th place, trailed overall leader Horner by one hour, sixteen minutes and thirteen seconds, was the first rider to set off on the final stage.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
Rasmussen set a time of 11' 05" for the course, but was immediately beaten by GreenEDGE's Svein Tuft – the Canadian national champion – who went inside the 11-minute barrier, with a time of 10' 52". Tuft's time was briefly troubled by Manuele Boaro, a former Italian junior national champion, with the Team Saxo Bank rider coming within a second of beating Tuft's time. Daniele Bennati assumed the lead from Tuft later on, for RadioShack–Nissan; his time of 10' 48" put him four seconds ahead of Tuft, but Bennati's time was only beaten by one other rider – team-mate Cancellara. His time of 10' 36", three seconds outside of his 2011 time, was ultimately good enough to give him his second win of the season, and his fourth career Tirreno–Adriatico stage victory.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
Two hours later, the focus shifted to the overall battle; Nibali was the first to leave with Kreuziger and Horner later setting off in two-minute intervals from one another. Nibali set a time of 5' 21" to the intermediate point, and took the virtual lead of the race on the road as Horner and Kreuziger could only muster 5' 32" and 5' 34" respectively. Nibali managed to hold a good pace right to the end of the stage, recording a time of 10' 56"; good enough for ninth place on the stage.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
Kreuziger struggled in the closing stages, and lost a total of 27 seconds to Nibali, while Horner also lost time to Nibali in the second half of the course; finishing in a time of 11' 16", and thus Nibali became the third Italian in four years to win the race. Nibali added the overall victory to his success in the points classification, while Vacansoleil–DCM's Wout Poels managed to just hold off GreenEDGE rider Cameron Meyer in the young rider classification by eight seconds.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
In the Tirreno–Adriatico, 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 blue jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, and the winner was considered the winner of the race itself.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a red jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing in the top ten in a stage. The stage win awarded 12 points, second place awarded 10 points, third 8, and one point fewer per place down the line, to a single point for tenth. In addition, the first four riders across the intermediate sprint lines earned points, 5, 3, 2, and 1 in succession.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
There was also a mountains classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a mountain before other cyclists. There were sixteen recognised climbs in the race, and unlike most other races, the climbs were not separated into categories – each awarded the same points to the first four riders over its summit, on a scale of 5, 3, 2, and 1 in succession.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1987 were eligible to be ranked in the classification.


2012 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
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 Titikaveka by-election
A by-election was held in the Cook Islands electorate of Titikaveka on 21 June 2012. The by-election was precipitated by the death of sitting MP Robert Wigmore on 13 April 2012.


2012 Titikaveka by-election
The election was contested by three candidates, two of whom were siblings. It was won by the Democratic party's Selina Napa.


2012 Titikaveka by-election, Aftermath
On 5 July, Teariki Matenga challenged the result, questioning the eligibility of 20 voters. The petition was withdrawn in August.


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


2012 Toi by-election
A by-election was held in the village of Toi, in Niue, on 31 March 2012.


2012 Toi by-election
A general election was held in Niue on 7 May 2011. The island of Niue is one of the smallest self-governing nations in the world; it has an approximate population of 1,400, and a national Assembly of twenty members. Six of those are elected on an island-wide roll, while the other fourteen are elected from single-member village constituencies. There are no political parties. The electoral system in the constituencies is the first past the post system.


2012 Toi by-election
In the 2011 election, eighteen voters cast a ballot for the constituency seat of Toi; incumbent candidate Dion Taufitu was reelected with an absolute majority of votes (11 votes; 61.1%). When the newly elected Assembly convened for members to take the oath of office, however, Taufitu was ill in Auckland. Assembly Speaker Ahohiva Levi travelled to Auckland and administered the oath to him there. Former Secretary for Justice and Common Roll Member of Parliament Togia Sioneholo challenged the validity of this procedure, arguing that an oath of office was only valid, under the Westminster system, if taken in public. The High Court, in early March 2012, ruled that the oath had not been administered properly, and found that Taufitu was therefore no longer legally the MP for Toi, precipitating a by-election.


2012 Toi by-election, Candidates and result
There were two candidates: the incumbent Dion Taufitu, and Mokaelalini Vaha. Taufitu was reelected with eleven votes to six; there was one invalid vote. He was then sworn in successfully.


2012 Tokushima Vortis season
The 2012 Tokushima Vortis season sees Tokushima Vortis compete in J.League Division 2 for the eighth consecutive season. This is their 17th season overall in the second tier. Tokushima Vortis are also competing in the 2012 Emperor's Cup.


2012 Tokyo Marathon
The 2012 Tokyo Marathon (Japanese: 東京マラソン 2012) was the sixth edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo, Japan and was held on Sunday, 26 February. The men's race was won by Kenyan Michael Kipyego in a time of 2:07:37, while the women's race was won by Ethiopia's Atsede Habtamu in 2:25:28.


2012 Tokyo Verdy season
The 2012 Tokyo Verdy season sees Tokyo Verdy compete in J.League Division 2 for the fourth consecutive season and 12th second-tier season overall since 1972. Tokyo Verdy are also competing in the 2012 Emperor's Cup.


2012 Tokyo gubernatorial election
The 2012 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on December 16, 2012, which was held on the same day as the general election.


2012 Tokyo gubernatorial election, Background
After long-term Governor Shintaro Ishihara suddenly resigned to return to national politics ahead of the then-looming next general election. A field of nine candidates emerged, with the front-runner being Naoki Inose, who had been vice-governor under Ishihara from 2007 to 2012, and then acting governor after Ishihara's abrupt resignation. Inose vowed to follow Ishihara's policies.


2012 Tokyo gubernatorial election, Background, Campaign
Information campaign for the polls was administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Election Administration Commission. AKB48's Minami Takahashi, Tomomi Itano and Yui Yokoyama (also of NMB48) were appointed as image characters.


2012 Tokyo gubernatorial election, Result
The result was a landslide victory for Inose, who received 4,338,936 votes, setting a new record for the total number of votes in a Tokyo gubernatorial election. The previous record was 3.61 million cast for the socialist Governor Ryokichi Minobe in 1971.


2012 Toledo Rockets football team
The 2012 Toledo Rockets football team represented the University of Toledo in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by head coach Matt Campbell in his first full year after coaching the Rockets in the 2011 Military Bowl. They played their home games at the Glass Bowl. They were a member of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 6–2 in MAC play to finish in a tie for second place in the West Division. They were invited to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl where they lost to Utah State.


2012 Toledo Rockets football team, Game summaries, @ Arizona
1st quarter scoring: ARIZ – J. Bonano 26-yard field goal


2012 Toledo Rockets football team, Game summaries, @ Arizona
2nd quarter scoring: TOL – Alonzo Russell 59-yard pass from Terrance Owens (Jeremiah Detmer kick); ARIZ – A. Hill 30-yard pass from M. Scott (J. Bonano kick); TOL – David Fluellen 1-yard run (Detmer kick)


2012 Toledo Rockets football team, Game summaries, @ Arizona
3rd quarter scoring: ARIZ – K. Carey 73-yard run (Bonano kick)


2012 Toledo Rockets football team, Game summaries, @ Arizona
OT scoring: ARIZ – T. Miller 10-yard pass from Scott (Bonano kick)


2012 Toppserien
The 2012 Toppserien was the twenty-sixth season of top-tier women's football in Norway since its establishment in 1987. A total of 12 teams contested the league, ten returning from the 2011 season and the two teams promoted from the First Division, Vålerenga and Fart.


2012 Toppserien, Relegation play-offs
Kattem had to face second league's second-place finisher Medkila in a two-legged play-off match for the right to play in the 2013 Toppserien. Kattem won the playoff, but subsequently withdrew their team from the league. Medkila were promoted to take their place in Toppserien.


2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open
The 2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 29th edition of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, and part of the Premier Series of the 2012 WTA Tour. It took place at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan, from September 23 through 29, 2012. Nadia Petrova won the singles title.


2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open – Doubles
Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond were the defending champions, but Huber chose not to compete that year. Raymond played with Sabine Lisicki. Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears defeated in the final the fourth seeded Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Květa Peschke with the score 6–1, 6–4.


2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open – Singles
Agnieszka Radwańska was the defending champion, but lost to Nadia Petrova in the final, 6–0, 1–6, 6–3.


2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open – Singles, Seeds
The top eight seeds receive a bye into the second round.


2012 Torfaen County Borough Council election
The 2012 Torfaen County Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Torfaen County Borough Council in Wales. This was on the same day as other 2012 United Kingdom local elections. The Council shifted from no overall control to Labour.


2012 Torneo Apertura (Chile)
The 2012 Campeonato Nacional Apertura Petrobras was the Chilean football top tier’s 90th season. Universidad de Chile was the tournament's champion, after beating O'Higgins on penalties, in the finals.


2012 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Regular season, Playoff stage
For all ties, the lower-seeded team play the first leg at home.


2012 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Regular season, Playoff stage
Updated as of games played on July 2, 2012. Universidad de Chile wins final by PK 2-0.


2012 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Regular season, Playoff stage, Quarterfinals
In the quarterfinals, the 1 seed play the 8 seed, the 2 seed play the 7 seed, the 3 seed play the 6 seed, and the 4 seed play the 5 seed.


2012 Torneo Apertura (Chile), Regular season, Playoff stage, Semifinals
In the semifinals, the highest seed play the lowest seed, and the second-highest seed play the second-lowest seed.


2012 Torneo Apertura (Primera B de Chile)
The 2012 Torneo Apertura was part of the 62nd completed season of the Primera B de Chile.


2012 Torneo Clausura (Chile)
The 2012 Campeonato Nacional Clausura Petrobras was the 91st season of the Chilean Primera División. The champions was Huachipato which won its 2nd league title, 38 years after winning their first one.


2012 Torneo Clausura (Chile), Regular season, Playoff stage
For all ties, the lower-seeded team play the first leg at home.


2012 Torneo Clausura (Chile), Relegation/promotion playoffs
Everton won 4–1 on aggregate and is promoted to Primera División. Universidad de Concepción is relegated to Primera B.


2012 Torneo Clausura (Chile), Relegation/promotion playoffs
Cobresal won 4–3 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.


2012 Torneo Clausura (Primera B de Chile)
The 2012 Torneo Clausura was part of the 62nd completed season of the Primera B de Chile.


2012 Torneo Descentralizado
The 2012 Torneo Descentralizado de Fútbol Profesional (known as the 2012 Copa Movistar for sponsorship reasons) is the ninety-sixth season of Association Peruvian football. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament, with Juan Aurich as the defending champion. The Torneo Descentralizado began on February 19 and ended on December 9, 2012.


2012 Torneo Descentralizado, Competition modus
The season was divided into 3 stages. In the first stage 16 teams play a round-robin home-and-away round for a total of 30 matches each. In the second stage the 16 teams were divided into 2 groups. In addition, the team ranked first at the end of the first stage was eligible to play the 2013 Copa Libertadores as Peru 3. Each team carried their records from the first stage into the second stage. Both groups played another round-robin home-and-away round for 14 matches.


2012 Torneo Descentralizado, Competition modus
Bonus points were awarded to two teams based on the performance of their reserve teams in the 2012 Torneo de Promoción y Reserva before the first match of the second stage. The teams ranked first in each group at the end of the 14 matches advanced to the third stage. The two teams with the fewest points at the end of the second stage were relegated. In the third stage the championship was contested in a two-legged Play-off. The Play-off finalists qualified for the Copa Libertadores. The remaining international competition berths were determined by the season aggregate table.


2012 Torneo Descentralizado, Teams
On 20 February 2012, Universidad San Martín, in protest of the ongoing players' strike, announced its definitive withdrawal from the tournament, the ADFP, and professional football. It also announced it would be closing its football club. On 14 March 2012, Universidad San Martín returned to the tournament and professional football.


2012 Torneo Descentralizado, Teams, Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Torneo Descentralizado, Second stage
The Second Stage begins on 18 August and concludes 25 November. The winner of each Liguilla will qualify for the group stage of the 2013 Copa Libertadores.


2012 Torneo Descentralizado, Play-offs
The Third Stage will be the finals (also known as the Play-off) of the 2012 season between the winners of each group of the Second Stage. They will be played in December. The group winner with the most points on the aggregate table chooses which leg they will play as the home team. They will also choose the venue of the third match in case both teams are tied on points after the second leg.


2012 Torneo Descentralizado, Aggregate table
The aggregate table will determine the four teams who qualify to the 2013 Copa Sudamericana, one team to the 2013 Copa Libertadores if necessary, and the two teams to be relegated to the Segunda División. The aggregate table consists of the points earned in the First and Second stages.


2012 Torneo Internacional AGT
The 2012 Torneo Internacional AGT was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the tenth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in León, Mexico between 9 and 15 April 2012.


2012 Torneo Internacional AGT, ATP entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Torneo Internacional AGT, ATP entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received entry as an alternate into the singles main draw:


2012 Torneo Internacional AGT – Doubles
Rajeev Ram and Bobby Reynolds were the defending champions but Reynolds decided not to participate. Ram played alongside Travis Parrott, losing in the semifinals. John Peers and John-Patrick Smith won the title, defeating César Ramírez and Bruno Rodríguez 6–3, 6–3 in the final.


2012 Torneo Internacional AGT – Singles
Bobby Reynolds was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Denis Zivkovic won the title, defeating Rajeev Ram 7–6(7–5), 6–4 in the final.


2012 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte
The 2012 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 13th edition of the tournament and was part of the 2012 ITF Women's Circuit. It took place in Biella, Italy between 2 and 8 July 2012.


2012 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte, WTA entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte, WTA entrants, Other Entrants
The following player received entry from a Lucky Loser spot:


2012 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte – Doubles
Lara Arruabarrena Vecino and Ekaterina Ivanova were the defending champions, but both decided not to participate. Eva Hrdinová and Mervana Jugić-Salkić won the title, defeating Sandra Klemenschits and Tatjana Malek in the final with the score 1–6, 6–3, [10–8].


2012 Torneo Internazionale Regione Piemonte – Singles
Alexandra Cadanțu was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals against Johanna Larsson, who won the title by beating Anna Tatishvili 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Torneo Nacional Interprovincial
The 2012 season of the Torneio Nacional Interprovincial is the second edition of the third tier of the Bolivian Football pyramid. In this edition will comprise the champions of the nine provincial championship and the host team from Tarija. The host cities are Yacuíba and Bermejo. The winners will be promoted to the 2012–13 Liga Nacional B, while the second place will compete in Copa Bolivia.


2012 Torneo Omnia Tenis Ciudad Madrid
The 2012 Torneo Omnia Tenis Ciudad Madrid was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the second edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Madrid, Spain between 24 and 30 September 2012.


2012 Torneo Omnia Tenis Ciudad Madrid, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Torneo Omnia Tenis Ciudad Madrid, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry as an alternate into the singles main draw:


2012 Torneo Omnia Tenis Ciudad Madrid – Doubles
David Marrero and Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo were the defending champions but Marrero decided not to participate. Hidalgo played alongside Daniel Muñoz de la Nava. Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Iván Navarro defeated Colin Ebelthite and Jaroslav Pospíšil 6–2, 4–6, [10–7] in the final to win the title.


2012 Torneo Omnia Tenis Ciudad Madrid – Singles
Jérémy Chardy was the defending champion but chose not to compete. Daniel Gimeno-Traver won the title after defeating Jan-Lennard Struff 6–4, 6–2 in the final.


2012 Torneo de Promoción y Reserva
The Torneo de Promoción y Reserva is a football tournament in Peru. There are currently 16 clubs in the league. Each team will have in staff to twelve 21-year-old players, three of 19 and three experienced; whenever they be recorded in the club. The team champion in this tournament will offer two points and the runner-up a point of bonus to the respective regular team in the 2012 Torneo Descentralizado.


2012 Torneo de Promoción y Reserva
On February 20, 2012, the club Universidad San Martín for extra-sporting issues, announced his definitive retirement from professional football and the local tournament. On March 14, 2012, the club Universidad San Martín, returned to the local tournament and professional football.


2012 Torneo di Viareggio
The 2012 winners of the Torneo di Viareggio (in English, the Viareggio Tournament, officially the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale), the annual youth football tournament held in Viareggio, Tuscany, are listed below.


2012 Torneo di Viareggio, Format
The 48 teams are seeded in 12 pools, split up into 6-pool groups. Each team from a pool meets the others in a single tie. The winning club from each pool and two best runners-up from both group A and group B progress to the final knockout stage. All matches in the final rounds are single tie. The Round of 16 after envisions penalties and no extra time, while the rest of the final round matches include 30 minutes extra time and penalties to be played if the draw between teams still holds.


2012 Toronto Argonauts season
The 2012 Toronto Argonauts season was the 55th season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 140th season overall. The Argonauts finished in 2nd place in the East Division with a respectable 9–9 record, improving on their 6–12 record from 2011. The Argos hosted their first home playoff game since 2007 against the Edmonton Eskimos, the crossover team from the West, which the Argos won 42–26. Their next opponent was the Montreal Alouettes. In a close game, the Argonauts came out on top 27–20 and made it to the Grey Cup game. The Argonauts won the 100th Grey Cup 35–22 over the Calgary Stampeders.


2012 Toronto Argonauts season, Offseason, CFL Draft
The 2012 CFL Draft took place on May 3, 2012 live at 3:00 PM EDT. The Argonauts had six selections in the six-round draft, with no picks in the first and third rounds after completing trades for quarterbacks Ricky Ray and Steven Jyles respectively.


2012 Toronto Argonauts season, Regular season
With a 31-26 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on October 27, the Argonauts clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2010. It also ensured that the Argonauts would play at home in the playoffs, something Toronto had not accomplished since the club's 2007 season.


2012 Toronto Blue Jays season
The 2012 Toronto Blue Jays season was the 36th season of Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays franchise, and the 23rd full season of play (24th overall) at the Rogers Centre. Their opening game was played on April 5 against the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland. The Blue Jays finished 73–89, in fourth place in the American League East.


2012 Toronto Blue Jays season, New identity
On November 18, 2011, the Blue Jays unveiled a new logo and uniforms for the 2012 season. The logo and all-white home uniform bear a strong resemblance to the original logo and home uniforms, used from 1977 to 1996. The grey road uniform resembles those used from 1989 to 1996, and the alternate royal blue jersey—to be used for home and road games—resembles those used from 1994 to 1996, as well as the batting practice jerseys used from 1982 to 1996.


2012 Toronto Blue Jays season, Spring training
The Blue Jays had a 24–7 win–loss record in spring training, their .774 winning percentage being the best of all MLB teams during pre-season. One of their games finished tied and was therefore not included in the standings.


2012 Toronto Blue Jays season, 2012 Draft picks
The 2012 Major League Baseball draft was held on June 4–6.


2012 Toronto FC season
The 2012 Toronto FC season was the sixth season in Toronto FC's existence. The club missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, having never made a post-season appearance. Their season began on March 7 with the quarterfinal of the Champions League against the Los Angeles Galaxy. They ultimately reached the semi-finals of the tournament where they lost to Mexican side Santos Laguna.


2012 Toronto FC season, Review and events, Season
Toronto FC started the 2012 Major League Soccer season with a nine-game losing streak; a new league record. Aron Winter was dismissed as head coach and was replaced by Paul Mariner. Winter had only won one away match during his tenure as head coach. Mariner became the 7th coach in franchise history. Prior to Winter dismissal, he agreed to take over the youth academy and Mariner would become head coach. However, the night before the changes were to be announced, he asked to be relieved of all duties. Toronto FC failed to qualify the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs. Torsten Frings suffered a hip injury late in the season and missed the remainder of the season, ending his Toronto FC career.


2012 Toronto FC season, Review and events, Season
On September 27, Toronto FC stated on their Facebook page that, "waiving ticketing fees" for the remaining home games between 10 a.m. on the morning of September 27 and 10 a.m. on September 29. Many season-ticket holders were angry over the discount. Paul Beirne, senior director of business operations, stated "it's the cumulative effect of a really difficult season."


2012 Toronto FC season, Review and events, Season
On October 6 against D.C. United, some people in the supporters section wore paper bags over their heads.


2012 Toronto FC season, Review and events, Olof Mellberg
Paul Mariner showed interest in Olof Mellberg after watching Sweden vs. England at Euro 2012. The club pursued the player and agreed to a deal worth $3 million over two years was agreed to in principle. However, the league refuse to let the deal happen. The club was furious the league had decided to not let the Bosman transfer to happen. Major League Soccer claims that they went to the MLSE board of directors and try to convince them not to sign Mellberg. MLS commissioner Don Garber stated "Let's put Mellberg aside. The league hasn't nixed that.


2012 Toronto FC season, Review and events, Olof Mellberg
Toronto has decided it didn't make sense for them." A source that the Toronto Star says that would know of the situation stated that Garber's statement was "absolutely untrue. Not 99 per cent untrue. It's 100 per cent untrue." A rumour circulated within the club that "the league had polled other teams for their thoughts on the deal."


2012 Toronto FC season, Competitions, MLS regular season, Results summary
Last updated: September 1, 2012Source: 2012 Major League Soccer seasonPld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won;  D = Matches drawn;  L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference


2012 Toronto FC season, Squad information, Squad and statistics, Top scorers
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.


2012 Toronto FC season, Squad information, Squad and statistics, Top assists
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.


2012 Toronto FC season, Squad information, Squad and statistics, Clean sheets
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by shirt number when total clean sheets are equal.


2012 Toronto FC season, Squad information, Squad and statistics, Disciplinary record
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by shirt number when total cards are equal.


2012 Toronto FC season, Miscellany, Allocation ranking
Toronto is in the No. 4 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking.


2012 Toronto FC season, Miscellany, International roster slots
It is believed that Toronto FC has 10 MLS International Roster Slots. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots, which can be traded. Toronto FC acquired one slot from San Jose Earthquakes on July 14, 2011. TFC has use of this spot through the end of the 2012 season, at which point it reverts to San Jose. Earlier, Toronto FC had acquired an additional spot from San Jose on July 14, 2008 for use through the end of the 2013 season.


2012 Toronto International Film Festival
The 37th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 6 and September 16, 2012. TIFF announced the films that were accepted on August 21, 2012. On its 37th edition the TIFF included a 289 feature films and 83 short films. Directed by Rian Johnson, Looper  was selected as the opening film.


2012 Toronto International Film Festival, Awards
On 17 September 2012, it was announced that David O. Russell's comedy film, Silver Linings Playbook, had been awarded the People's Choice Award. The film, in which Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence appear as "neurotic lovers obsessed with their exes", is based on a novel by Matthew Quick. The festival director, Piers Handling, stated that the film is "a deeply emotional story." Ben Affleck's Argo was the runner-up for the prize. Jared Leto's Artifact was given the People's Choice Award for best documentary, while Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths won the Midnight Madness audience award.


2012 Toronto Rock season
The Toronto Rock are a lacrosse team based in Toronto playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2012 season was the 15th in franchise history, and 14th as the Rock.


2012 Toronto Rock season
After the retirement of Bob Watson, the Rock needed to fill the starting goaltender spot for the first time in franchise history. In July, the Rock traded defender Kyle Ross to the Washington Stealth for Matt Roik, a 10-year NLL veteran. The Rock lost their first two games of the season, but then won four of their next five. Roik was named Defensive Player of the Week in week 5 and was also named to the Eastern All-Star team. But the team lost their next three games, including a 21–14 blowout to the Buffalo Bandits, and management felt a change needed to be made. They sent a draft pick to the Calgary Roughnecks for backup goaltender Nick Rose and released Roik.


2012 Toronto Rock season
The Rock won five of their final six regular season games, finishing the season with a 9–7 record, good enough for first in the Eastern division. In the division semi-finals, they once again faced the Bandits, who had beaten the Rock in 2 of their 3 matchups in the regular season. With stellar goaltending performances by both Rose and former Rock goalie Anthony Cosmo, the Rock defeated the Bandits 7–6 to advance to their third straight Eastern final.


2012 Toronto Rock season
The Rock hosted the Rochester Knighthawks, who had a 4–18 all-time record in Toronto and hadn't beaten the Rock in Toronto since 2008. But the Knighthawks scored early and often, and despite being down by only two at the half, the Rock were never able to regain the lead and Rochester advanced to the Championship game by beating the Rock 17–13.


2012 Toronto Rock season, Regular season, Conference standings
x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games PlayedW: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowedDifferential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game


2012 Toronto Rock season, Transactions, Dispersal Draft
The Rock chose the following player in the Boston Blazers dispersal draft:


2012 Toronto Rock season, Transactions, Entry draft
The 2011 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 21, 2011. The Rock selected the following players:


2012 Toulon Tournament
The 2012 Toulon Tournament was the 40th edition of the Toulon Tournament and took place from 23 May to 1 June. Colombia were the defending champions, but they did not participate this year.


2012 Toulon Tournament
Mexico U-23 won their first tournament title by defeating Turkey A2 3–0 in the final. Héctor Herrera was awarded Meilleur joueur as the most outstanding player of the tournament.


2012 Toulon Tournament squads
Below are the squads for the 2012 Toulon Tournament. Each team had to submit 20 players.


2012 Tour Down Under
The 2012 Santos Tour Down Under was the 14th edition of the Tour Down Under stage race. It took place from 17 to 22 January in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and was the first race of the 2012 UCI World Tour.


2012 Tour Down Under
The race was won by Australian Simon Gerrans of the GreenEDGE team, after taking the lead on the penultimate stage of the race and held the race leader's ochre jersey to the finish, the next day, in Adelaide. Gerrans and runner-up Alejandro Valverde – in his first race since a two-year doping ban expired at the end of 2011 – of the Movistar Team, both finished the race in the same total time, but due to better finishes throughout the week, and despite Valverde winning the race's queen stage at Willunga, Gerrans was awarded overall victory via a tie-break situation. RadioShack–Nissan's Tiago Machado completed the podium, eight seconds down on Gerrans.


2012 Tour Down Under
In the race's other classifications, Rohan Dennis of the UniSA-Australia team won the black jersey for the highest placed rider under the age of 26, by placing fifth overall in the general classification, and Team Sky rider Edvald Boasson Hagen took home the blue jersey for amassing the highest number of points during stages at intermediate sprints and stage finishes; denying Lotto–Belisol's André Greipel, who won three stages during the week. Dennis also won the King of the Mountains classification, with RadioShack–Nissan finishing at the head of the teams classification.


2012 Tour Down Under, Participating teams
As the Tour Down Under was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Together with a selection of Australian riders forming the UniSA-Australia squad, this formed the event's 19-team peloton.


2012 Tour Down Under, Schedule
The route for the race was announced on 13 June 2011.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 1
A quartet of riders – UniSA-Australia's Rohan Dennis, Vacansoleil–DCM rider Marcello Pavarin, Martin Kohler of BMC Racing Team and Team Katusha's Eduard Vorganov – made the early breakaway from the field, and managed to extend their advantage over the main field to in excess of eleven minutes at one point during the stage, which was run in conditions of 40 °C (104 °F). As such, the riders between them managed to take all sub-classification points on offer during the stage, at both of the intermediate sprints and the single categorised climb at Taylers Run.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 1
Their advantage out front dwindled quickly as the peloton – led by Team Sky, Lotto–Belisol and GreenEDGE – gathered pace, taking three minutes from the quartet over 20 km (12.4 mi), leaving them with just 90 seconds of a lead out front. Lotto–Belisol lost their attacking impetus at that point after Greg Henderson, one of the lead-out men for André Greipel, crashed and could not recover back to the main field.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 1
With the field closing yet further, Dennis made a solo bid for victory from 15 km (9.3 mi) out and was clear by around a minute before eventually being caught several kilometres later, towards the run-in to Clare. After Dennis' team-mate Will Clarke had been closed down after a late counter-attack, the field set up for a bunch sprint into Clare. In the final kilometre, a crash involving numerous riders split the field, with many hitting the ground.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 1
Three riders – Lotto–Belisol's Jürgen Roelandts, Ag2r–La Mondiale's Matteo Montaguti and FDJ–BigMat rider Frédéric Guesdon – were taken to hospital, along with a spectator who was hit by a rider during the incident. Greipel was slightly delayed on the run-in but managed to bridge back to the front and managed to out-sprint Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre–ISD) to the line, and achieved his ninth stage win at the Tour to take the race's first ochre jersey.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 1
Petacchi finished second, despite being reviewed by race commissaires, after Greipel complained over Petacchi's tactics in the closing stages, with Yauheni Hutarovich picking up the remaining bonus seconds on the line for FDJ–BigMat, finishing third. Greipel was the first leader of the sprints classification, Dennis held the lead of the youth classification, Pavarin held the mountains jersey after leading over the only climb of the day and Vorganov was named most combative rider for the stage.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 2
Just as he had done the previous day, Martin Kohler of BMC Racing Team made it into the race's primary breakaway of the day, and was joined again by a rider from the UniSA-Australia team, with Will Clarke – fresh from a late-stage attack the previous day – joining Kohler out front.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 2
Clarke and Kohler remained together for just over 60 km (37.3 mi), with Clarke taking maximum points in the categorised climb at Lenswood, while Kohler twice bested Clarke at the intermediate sprints during the early running, and with the bonus seconds, it allowed him to move into the virtual lead of the race, as he was only four seconds behind race leader André Greipel (Lotto–Belisol) overnight. The pair extended their advantage over the peloton to eleven minutes, before Kohler sat up and elected to return to the main field.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 2
After Clarke had been left on his own, the advantage dropped slightly to around eight minutes but after he had steadied himself for a solo escape, the gap to the main field grew once again. The gap was largely held around the ten-minute mark by the peloton, but extended out to over twelve minutes at one point, and by the time Clarke entered the finishing circuit, 21.6 km (13.4 mi) in length, at Stirling for the first of three laps, it was back around ten and a half minutes.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 2
Several teams – including Team Sky, Rabobank and GreenEDGE – comprising many of the general classification contenders for the Tour, brought their riders towards the front of the main pack in order to try to get the gap to Clarke down to a sustainable level in order to catch him. Clarke remained ten minutes clear as he entered the second lap of the circuit and despite the panic that had set in to the teams in the peloton, he maintained a sufficient amount of energy to continue holding them off.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 2
He entered the final lap clear by nine minutes, but was tiring dramatically as the fatigue began to set in after his lengthy exploits off the front of the field. He lost almost five minutes in the first half of the final circuit, but Clarke steadied himself and still held a three-minute lead with 5 km (3.1 mi) to go. He held on to the end of the lap and ended up taking the first victory of his professional career, and honours for most combative rider of the day.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 2
The main pack was led over the line by Rabobank rider Michael Matthews but 62 seconds in arrears, while GreenEDGE's Simon Gerrans completed a 1–2–3 for Australian riders on the day, just ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team). Kohler managed to finish within the pack to take his first race leader's jersey, while Clarke became the leader in the sprints and mountains classifications, and Matthews moved into the black jersey for youth leader in third place overall.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 3
Just like on stage one, a breakaway quartet – RadioShack–Nissan's Jan Bakelants, Vacansoleil–DCM rider Thomas De Gendt, Matt Brammeier of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and Team Katusha's Eduard Vorganov – advanced clear of the main field, and managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of around five-and-a-half minutes at one point during the stage, far less than what the pack gave away to Will Clarke the previous day.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 3
De Gendt earned maximum points during the stage, as he crossed the single categorised climb at Sellicks Hill ahead of his companions, and also crossed the line first at both of the intermediate sprints, gaining six seconds towards the general classification. Brammeier tried to break clear after their advantage was hurriedly reduced, but the field were back as a whole, with 40 km (24.9 mi) remaining. With the field back together, several teams took turns on the front of the main field in order to try and break riders from the comfort of the peloton.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 3
Rabobank, BMC Racing Team and GreenEDGE did most of the work on the front as they pushed speeds to around 55 km/h (34 mph), prior to the finish in Victor Harbor. With all mini-attacks closed down in the closing stages, it was left to another bunch sprint for the bonus seconds on offer at the line to the top three finishers. Rabobank had looked to set up Michael Matthews for victory and a potential ochre jersey, but could not find clear space to attack, and it was left to Mark Renshaw to lead out the sprint to the line.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 3
However, André Greipel (Lotto–Belisol) came around him in the final metres, and thus picked up his second stage win of the week, and his tenth career victory at the Tour Down Under; with the bonus seconds, it allowed him to retake the ochre jersey from Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team). Yauheni Hutarovich finished second for FDJ–BigMat, while Team Sky rider Edvald Boasson Hagen finished a bike length behind in third place, ahead of Renshaw. Greipel also regained the lead of the sprints classification, Matthews maintained the lead of the youth classification, and De Gendt took both the mountains jersey and the most combative rider honours for the stage.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 4
Mini-attacks set the course for the early running of the stage as the field remained as one prior to the first intermediate sprint of the day, coming after 25.3 km (15.7 mi), in the town of Kersbrook. Ochre jersey wearer André Greipel, of Lotto–Belisol, reached the line first, to extend his virtual lead in the general classification to eleven seconds, while Rabobank's Michael Matthews inched closer to second-placed Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team), by placing second at the sprint. It was not until after the intermediate sprint that the stage's primary breakaway had been formed.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 4
Three riders – UniSA-Australia's Jay McCarthy, Rubén Pérez of Euskaltel–Euskadi and Team Katusha's Gatis Smukulis – originally managed to breach the confines of the field, and were later joined by a fourth rider, Ag2r–La Mondiale's Blel Kadri to maintain their bid of extending an advantage over the bunch. Their advantage rarely threatened the main field however, as the peak gap that the four riders out front had, was just over four minutes.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 4
Smukulis quickly dropped back and left his three companions to make the pace out front. GreenEDGE provided the pace in the peloton, and with that speed, it allowed the field to catch the trio out front with around 30 km (18.6 mi) left to run of the parcours, and prior to the final climb of the day at Mengler Hill. With GreenEDGE and Movistar Team still pressurising the field as they were on the climb itself, many riders became dislodged at the back of the peloton due to their nature of the attack.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 4
Among those that fell from the comfort zone were race leader Greipel and Vacansoleil–DCM's Thomas De Gendt, who had been in fourth place overall prior to the stage; GreenEDGE sporting director Matt White later stated that their aim for the stage was to remove Greipel from the race equation. UniSA-Australia rider Rohan Dennis led over the hill, to take the 16 points on offer for first place, while Greipel lost more than seven minutes by stage's end.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 4
Just 48 riders of the 131 who started the stage remained as one to contest the finish in Tanunda. At the finish, it was Team Katusha that featured most prominently, and after a four-man leadout, it was Óscar Freire who advanced down the left-hand side of the road in the closing stages, and gained Team Katusha their first win of the season, and his first since the 2011 Ruta del Sol for Rabobank.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 4
Gerald Ciolek finished second on the stage for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, which like Freire, moved him into the top five of the overall classification, which was led once again by Kohler after he was part of the 48 riders that were in contention. Daniele Bennati finished third for RadioShack–Nissan, and the bonus seconds he earned also advanced his position, into sixth overall.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 4
After finishing just behind Bennati, Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen replaced Greipel as leader of the sprints classification, Matthews held the lead of the youth classification once again, Dennis earned the mountains jersey after earning maximum points on the final climb and Kadri was named most combative rider for the stage.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 5
The race's queen stage had an added twist for its 2012 running, with the implementation of Old Willunga Hill – a 3 km (1.9 mi) climb at an average gradient of 7.6% – as a summit finish for the first time. Again like the previous day, much of the early running of the stage was resorted to mini-attacks prior to the formation of the day's breakaway.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 5
The stage saw a breakaway of six riders, as they quickly went clear of the main field; home riders Stuart O'Grady (GreenEDGE) and Nathan Haas (Garmin–Barracuda) were joined by Team Saxo Bank's Takashi Miyazawa, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Andrew Fenn, Kristof Goddaert of Ag2r–La Mondiale, and the highest-placed rider of the six, Vacansoleil–DCM's Thomas De Gendt. Their peak advantage of eight minutes over the peloton just about covered themselves in the case that they managed to hold their advantage to the end, as De Gendt trailed Martin Kohler, the race leader for the BMC Racing Team, by 7' 51" overnight.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 5
With strong cross-winds during the stages, several teams – mainly BMC Racing Team, Lotto–Belisol and RadioShack–Nissan – looked to create a split in the field via an echelon, which was ultimately successful as the increased pace managed to shed some thirty riders from the back of the peloton, including Lampre–ISD's Matthew Lloyd for a short period of time; also reduced was the advantage to the sextet out front, cutting their gap from over eight minutes down to the three-minute mark.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 5
Goddaert dropped away from the front prior to the first climb of Old Willunga Hill, where Haas attacked and achieved maximum points for the climb; from there, he continued his pace onto the descent. He was chased by De Gendt, whereas O'Grady dropped back in order to help with his team's challenge in the expectation of putting one of their riders into the ochre jersey. Third over the line was Rohan Dennis for UniSA-Australia, to maintain his lead in the mountains classification ahead of De Gendt. Haas was caught prior to the second and final climb of Old Willunga Hill; he was caught with around 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining of the stage by a far reduced lead group.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 5
Movistar Team, Team Sky and RadioShack–Nissan featured prominently in the lead group with several riders from each team looking for a potential stage win and with many riders within a number of seconds of the overall leader, the chance of taking the leader's ochre jersey into the final criterium stage in Adelaide. One rider from each of the prominent teams joined Dennis in a quick break at the foot of the climb, however it was left to Dennis and Tiago Machado (RadioShack–Nissan) to set the pace ahead of the quickly closing peloton.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 5
They were caught in the closing stages, which prompted Michael Rogers to launch an attack for Team Sky, but was quickly usurped by Movistar Team's Alejandro Valverde, in his first race back from a doping ban, and the recently crowned national champion of Australia, GreenEDGE's Simon Gerrans. Valverde and Gerrans contested a two-man sprint for the line which Valverde narrowly won, but Gerrans' second-place finish allowed him to take the ochre jersey ahead of Valverde; both riders were on the same time, but due to better cumulative stage finishes, Gerrans took the jersey.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 5
Machado finished third ahead of Rogers and Dennis, with the three riders also in that order, taking third, fourth and fifth places in the overall standings and within fifteen seconds of Gerrans' lead. Edvald Boasson Hagen maintained his lead for Team Sky in the sprints classification after finishing sixth on the stage, Dennis added the youth classification lead to his lead of the mountains classification, and O'Grady was named most combative rider of the day.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 6
The race finished with its now-customary criterium race around the streets of Adelaide; for the 90 km (55.9 mi) distance, a circuit of 4.5 km (2.8 mi) was completed twenty times with several passages through the finish line counting towards the sub-classifications for sprints and the mountains. Sixteen riders representing thirteen teams managed to get slightly clear of the rest of the field, but their advantage never cleared a minute, and the field was back together just after the first of the intermediate sprints.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 6
Prior to the second intermediate sprint, Jan Bakelants of RadioShack–Nissan attacked in the hope of gaining bonus seconds to allow him to move past Team Sky rider Edvald Boasson Hagen for sixth place overall, and went through the sprint first to pick up the three bonus seconds on offer. Bakelants was later joined by defending race winner Cameron Meyer of the GreenEDGE team and Romain Sicard (Euskaltel–Euskadi) to form the second mini-breakaway of the stage.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 6
The trio managed to get clear by a similar distance to what the opening breakaway had achieved – around 40 seconds – and for a time, it allowed Bakelants to be the virtual leader of the race, as he trailed race leader Simon Gerrans – Meyer's team-mate – by just 16 seconds on the road. Ultimately, the sprinters' teams managed to assert themselves on the front of the peloton, with Lampre–ISD, Liquigas–Cannondale and Lotto–Belisol forcing the cause most prominently. Bakelants' bid for victory ended with a lap and a half to go, and was joined by Sicard in that aspect.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 6
Meyer tried to go all-out in search of victory, and went into the final lap with an advantage over the closing field. Half a lap later, he was caught and that set up a full-field sprint to close the event. As they had done twice before in the week, it was Lotto–Belisol playing their hand best, as André Greipel was released to a third stage victory and an eleventh career win in the Tour Down Under, putting him one shy of the record held by Robbie McEwen. Second place went to Rabobank's Mark Renshaw, and third to Lampre–ISD rider Alessandro Petacchi.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 6
There was no change in the top five overall, which meant that Gerrans secured the overall title for the second time, after previously winning the race in 2006 for AG2R Prévoyance; it also allowed GreenEDGE to claim victory in its first World Tour event. Sixth place on the final stage was enough for Boasson Hagen to claim the sprints classification; despite not winning any stages, Boasson Hagen's consistent finishing across the entire week allowed him to accumulate points from all positions, whereas Greipel's three stage wins were rarely backed up by other high finishes.


2012 Tour Down Under, Stages, Stage 6
Dennis held the lead of the youth classification, and also kept a hold of the mountains classification lead as Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil–DCM) and Gerrans failed to take any points on offer for the stage, and both fell five points shy of Dennis' total. Bakelants claimed the final most combative rider of the stage award, as he managed to move into sixth place overall thanks to bonus time won on the stage.


2012 Tour Down Under, Classification leadership table
In the 2012 Tour Down Under, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, the leader received an ochre jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2012 Tour Down Under, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.


2012 Tour Down Under, Classification leadership table
Additionally, there was a sprints classification, which awarded a blue jersey. In the sprints classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. For winning a stage, a rider earned 15 points, with one point fewer per place down to a single point for 15th place. Points towards the classification could also be accrued at intermediate sprint points during each stage; these intermediate sprints also offered bonus seconds towards the general classification. There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a white 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 Down Under, Classification leadership table
The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a black jersey. This was decided in the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1986 were eligible to be ranked in the classification. 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, and each member of the winning team received a light blue jersey on the final podium. Additionally, a red jersey was awarded on the podium each day, for the most aggressive rider, or riders, of that day's stage.


2012 Tour de Borneo
The 2012 Tour de Borneo, a cycling stage race that took place in Malaysia. It was held from 27 April to 1 May 2012. There were five stages, covering 755.8 kilometres. In fact, the race was sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale as a 2.2 category race and was part of the 2011–12 UCI Asia Tour calendar.


2012 Tour de Borneo
Michael Torckler of New Zealand won the race, followed by Nathan Earle of Australia second and Jonathan Lovelock of Australia third overall. Out of 102 riders, a total 72 riders made it to the finish in Kota Kinabalu.