2012 UCI World Tour
| Second edition of the UCI World Tour | |
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 17 January – 13 October |
| Location | Europe, Canada, Australia and China |
| Races | 29 |
| Champions | |
| Individual champion | Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) |
| Teams' champion | Team Sky |
| Nations' champion | Spain |
The 2012 UCI World Tour was the fourth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The series started with the Tour Down Under's opening stage on 17 January, and consisted of 14 stage races, 14 one-day races, and one team time trial (which only counted towards the team rankings). The Tour of Hangzhou which was originally included in the list of races was postponed until 2013.[1]
Teams
[edit]The 18 UCI ProTeams competed in the World Tour, with UCI Professional Continental teams, or national squads, able to enter at the discretion of the organisers of each event. The ProTeams, which were obliged to take part in all 29 events, were:
| Code | Official team name | License holder | Country | Groupset | Bicycles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALM | Ag2r–La Mondiale (2012 season) | EUSRL France Cyclisme |  France |
SRAM | Focus |
| AST | Astana (2012 season) | Olympus Sarl |  Kazakhstan |
Campagnolo | Specialized |
| BMC | BMC Racing Team (2012 season) | Continuum Sports LLC |  United States |
Shimano | BMC |
| EUS | Euskaltel–Euskadi (2012 season) | Fundación Ciclista Euskadi |  Spain |
Shimano | Orbea |
| FDJ | FDJ–BigMat (2012 season) | Société de Gestion de L'Echappée | France |
Shimano | Lapierre |
| GRM | Garmin–Sharp (2012 season) | Slipstream Sports, LLC | United States |
Shimano | Cervélo |
| OGE | Orica–GreenEDGE (2012 season) | Lachlan Smith |  Australia |
Shimano | Scott |
| LAM | Lampre–ISD (2012 season) | Total Cycling Limited |  Italy |
Shimano | Merida |
| CAN | Liquigas–Cannondale (2012 season) | Brixia Sports | Italy |
SRAM | Cannondale |
| LTB | Lotto–Belisol (2012 season) | Belgian Cycling Company sa |  Belgium |
Campagnolo | Ridley |
| MOV | Movistar Team (2012 season) | Abarca Sports S.L. | Spain |
Campagnolo | Pinarello |
| OPQ | Omega Pharma–Quick-Step (2012 season) | Esperanza bvba | Belgium |
SRAM | Specialized |
| RAB | Rabobank (2012 season) | Rabo Wielerploegen |  Netherlands |
Shimano | Giant |
| KAT | Team Katusha (2012 season) | Katusha Management SA |  Russia |
Shimano | Canyon |
| RNT | RadioShack–Nissan (2012 season) | Leopard SA |  Luxembourg |
Shimano | Trek |
| SAX | Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank (2012 season) | Riis Cycling A/S |  Denmark |
SRAM | Specialized |
| SKY | Team Sky (2012 season) | Tour Racing Limited |  United Kingdom |
Shimano | Pinarello |
| VCD | Vacansoleil–DCM (2012 season) | STL–Pro Cycling B.V. | Netherlands |
Shimano | Bianchi |
GreenEDGE (known as Orica–GreenEDGE from May onwards) was a new team, while FDJ–BigMat regained ProTour status, which it lost for the previous season. These teams replaced HTC–Highroad, which folded after 21 years, and Team RadioShack, which largely merged with Leopard Trek to form RadioShack–Nissan. A change in sponsorship saw Quick-Step become Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, while 2011's Omega Pharma–Lotto became Lotto–Belisol. Two teams each changed their names twice to reflect changes of sponsorship: Team Saxo Bank reverting to its previous name, having been known as Saxo Bank–SunGard in 2011, before becoming Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank in June; while the serial addition of new sponsors gave rise to the names Garmin–Barracuda and Garmin–Sharp.
Events
[edit]All 27 events from the 2011 UCI World Tour were included, and E3 Harelbeke, a one-day race in Belgium, and the World Team Trial Championships, were added.[3]
| Race | Date | Winner | Second | Third | Other points[4] (4th place onwards) |
Stage points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour Down Under |
January 17–22 | Simon Gerrans (AUS) |
100 pts | Alejandro Valverde (ESP) |
80 pts |  Tiago Machado (POR) |
70 pts | 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 4 | 6, 4, 2, 1, 1 |
| Paris–Nice |
March 4–11 |  Bradley Wiggins (GBR) |
100 pts | Lieuwe Westra (NED) |
80 pts | Alejandro Valverde (ESP) |
70 pts | 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 4 | 6, 4, 2, 1, 1 |
| Tirreno–Adriatico |
March 7–13 | Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) |
100 pts |  Chris Horner (USA) |
80 pts |  Roman Kreuziger (CZE) |
70 pts | 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 4 | 6, 4, 2, 1, 1 |
| Milan–San Remo |
March 17 | Simon Gerrans (AUS) |
100 pts |  Fabian Cancellara (SWI) |
80 pts | Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) |
70 pts | 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 4 | N/A |
| Volta a Catalunya |
March 19–25 | Michael Albasini (SWI) |
100 pts | Samuel Sánchez (ESP) |
80 pts | Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL) |
70 pts | 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 4 | 6, 4, 2, 1, 1 |
| E3 Harelbeke |
March 23 | Tom Boonen (BEL) |
80 pts | Óscar Freire (ESP) |
60 pts |  Bernhard Eisel (AUT) |
50 pts | 40, 30, 22, 14, 10, 6, 2 | N/A |
| Gent–Wevelgem |
March 25 | Tom Boonen (BEL) |
80 pts |  Peter Sagan (SVK) |
60 pts | Matti Breschel (DEN) |
50 pts | 40, 30, 22, 14, 10, 6, 2 | N/A |
| Tour of Flanders |
April 1 | Tom Boonen (BEL) |
100 pts | Filippo Pozzato (ITA) |
0 pts[5] | Alessandro Ballan (ITA) |
70 pts | 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 4 | N/A |
| Tour of the Basque Country |
April 2–7 | ||||||||