2012 Tour of Belgium

June 2012 Tour of Belgium Route 2012.png 2012 Tour of Belgium 2012 UCI Europe Tour 23—27 May 5 727 km red yellow white black 2011 2013 The 2012 Tour of Belgium was the 82nd edition of the Tour of Belgium cycling stage race. It took place from 23 May to 27 May 2012 in Belgium. The race is part of the UCI Europe Tour. It began with three relatively short stages, followed by two stages meant to be deciding the tour: an individual time-trial on Saturday and a longer stage through the hills of the Ardennes. Different comparing to the previous years was that the leader in the race will wore a red jersey (instead of black), whereas the black jersey went to the most combative rider. To decide the combativity, there were three sprints in each stage (except for the time-trial), where in case of a breakaway, the first five riders earned points (10, 8, 6, 4 and 2). Based on the lead the breakaway has on the peloton, these riders received bonus points, going from 1 point for a 30-second lead up to 5 points for a lead of 4 minutes or more. Another change, as introduced during the 2011 Tour de France, was the so-called "supersprint": each stage had one supersprint, where riders earned points that counted for the yellow sprint jersey and bonification seconds for the general classification. Schedule StageRouteDistanceDateWinner 1Mechelen to Buggenhout22px|alt=|link= 162 km Wednesday, May 23André Greipel GER 2Lochristi to Knokke-Heist22px|alt=|link= 169.5 km Thursday, May 24André Greipel GER 3Knokke-Heist to Beveren22px|alt=|link= 163 km Friday, May 25André Greipel GER 4Turnhout to Arendonk20px|link= 20.5 km Saturday, May 26Tony Martin GER 5Clavier to Engis22px|alt=|link= 212 km Sunday, May 27Carlos Betancur COL Teams Twenty-one teams have been invited to the 2011 Tour of Belgium: 7 teams are from the UCI ProTeams, 7 are UCI Professional Continental Teams and 7 are UCI Continental Teams. UCI ProTeams KAZ AST 2012 USA BMC 2012 BEL LTB 2012 BEL OPQ 2012 NED RAB 2012 RUS KAT 2012 NED VAC 2012 UCI Professional Continental Teams BEL WGG 2012 ITA ASA 2012 NED SUN 2012b FRA COF 2012 BEL LAN 2012 RUS RVL 2012 BEL TSV 2012 USA UHC 2012 UCI Continental Teams BEL SKT 2012 BEL BKP 2012 BEL Telenet–Fidea BEL Sunweb–Revor BEL WBC 2012 BEL BelgiumFollowing a new regulation by the UCI, a sponsor name can not appear on the shirt of more than one team during a race. As such, although being invited, Jong Vlaanderen could not participate as a team due to the presence of TSV 2012. Therefore, the race directors allowed Jong Vlaanderen to participate as a Belgian selection, where they selected 7 riders and were joined by Moreno De Pauw of the Rock Werchter Cycling Team. nb Stages Stage 1 23 May 2012 – Mechelen to Buggenhout, 162 km mi on Early throughout the race, a breakaway of eight riders formed, consisting of Paolo Ciavatta, Leonardo Duque, Simon Geschke, Arnaud Jouffroy, Egidijus Juodvalkis, Philippe Legrand, Michael Schär and Jelle Wallays. With only 17 kilometres to go, Ciavatta, Schär and Wallays sprinted away from the group. They were however not able to stay out of the grasp of the peloton, where mainly OPQ 2012 and LTB 2012 had been chasing hard. The peloton sprinted for the stage win in Buggenhout, where a photo finish was necessary to decide the winner as three riders crossed the line nearly simultaneously. Although Danilo Napolitano ostensively gestured and seemed sure of the victory, the photo finish clearly showed André Greipel to cross the line first, with Napolitano in second and Kenny van Hummel in third. Due to the bonification seconds, Greipel became the first overall leader. He also took the first yellow jersey as leader in the sprint classification, while Leonardo Duque took the black jersey as most combative. Greipel wins photo-finish sprint http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.1308183 sporza.be 2012-05-23 nl Stage 1 result RiderTeamTime 1 André Greipel GER LTB 2012 3h 33' 11" 2 Danilo Napolitano ITA ASA 2012 s.t. 3 Kenny van Hummel NED VAC 2012 s.t. 4 Jacopo Guarnieri ITA AST 2012 s.t. 5 Adam Blythe GBR BMC 2012 s.t. 6 Michael Van Staeyen BEL TSV 2012 s.t. 7 Stefan van Dijk NED WGG 2012 s.t. 8 Baptiste Planckaert BEL LAN 2012 s.t. 9 Robin Stenuit BEL WBC 2012 s.t. 10 Tom Meeusen BEL Telenet–Fidea s.t.General Classification after Stage 1 RiderTeamTime 1 André Greipel GER 20px|Red jersey20px|Yellow jersey LTB 2012 3h 33' 01" 2 Danilo Napolitano ITA ASA 2012 + 4" 3 Kenny van Hummel NED VAC 2012 + 6" 4 Egidijus Juodvalkis LTU 20px|White jersey LAN 2012 + 7" 5 Simon Geschke GER SUN 2012b + 8" 6 Leonardo Duque COL 20px|Black jersey COF 2012 + 9" 7 Jacopo Guarnieri ITA AST 2012 + 10" 8 Adam Blythe GBR BMC 2012 + 10" 9 Michael Van Staeyen BEL TSV 2012 + 10" 10 Stefan van Dijk NED WGG 2012 + 10" Stage 2 24 May 2012 – Lochristi to Knokke-Heist, 169.5 km mi on With still 145 kilometres to go, a group of five pelotonriders broke away from the peloton, achieving a lead of up to five minutes over the main bunch. The five riders were Pim Ligthart, Mark McNally, Aleksejs Saramotins, Ramon Sinkeldam and Jay Thomson. Again OPQ 2012 and LTB 2012 were chasing the group, but were unable to bring te gap down below three minutes with 20 kilometres to go. It was only when BMC 2012 stepped up to help, the gap reduced further. In the lead group, Sinkeldam sped away from the others and while the others were caught, he managed to stay out of the grasp of the peloton up to two kilometres of the finish line. For the second day in a row, the peloton sprinted for the stage win, with André Greipel and Danilo Napolitano again finishing first and second. Jacopo Guarnieri was the third man on the podium and due to the bonification seconds he became the new leader in the youth classification. Because of his win, Greipel strengthened his lead in both the general classification and the sprint classification. Leonardo Duque was still leading the combativity classification. Greipel scores two out of two in Tour of Belgium http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.1309151 sporza.be 2012-05-24 nl Stage 2 result RiderTeamTime 1 André Greipel GER 20px|Red jersey LTB 2012 3h 46' 13" 2 Danilo Napolitano ITA 20px|Yellow jersey ASA 2012 s.t. 3 Jacopo Guarnieri ITA AST 2012 s.t. 4 Adrien Petit FRA COF 2012 s.t. 5 Kenny van Hummel NED VAC 2012 s.t. 6 Michael Van Staeyen BEL TSV 2012 s.t. 7 Timothy Dupont BEL Belgium s.t. 8 Bert De Backer BEL SUN 2012b s.t. 9 Alexei Tsatevich RUS KAT 2012 s.t. 10 Sven Vanthourenhout BEL LAN 2012 s.t.General Classification after Stage 2 RiderTeamTime 1 André Greipel GER 20px|Red jersey20px|Yellow jersey LTB 2012 7h 19' 04" 2 Danilo Napolitano ITA ASA 2012 + 8" 3 Jacopo Guarnieri ITA 20px|White jersey AST 2012 + 16" 4 Kenny van Hummel NED VAC 2012 + 16" 5 Pim Ligthart NED VCD 2012 + 17" 6 Egidijus Juodvalkis LTU LAN 2012 + 17" 7 Simon Geschke GER SUN 2012b + 18" 8 Mark McNally GBR SKT 2012 + 18" 9 Leonardo Duque COL 20px|Black jersey COF 2012 + 19" 10 Ramon Sinkeldam NED SUN 2012b + 19" Stage 3 25 May 2012 – Knokke-Heist to Beveren, 163 km mi on Maxim Belkov, Tijmen Eising, Alessandro Donati, Pieter Vanspeybrouck en Coen Vermeltfoort were the attackers of the day. Belkov held out the longest, being caught only 8 kilometres from the finish line, before the third peloton sprint in three days was a fact. André Greipel and Danilo Napolitano again took the top two places. The jerseys did not change hands, except for the white jersey, which went to Adam Blythe. Greipel sprints to third win in Tour of Belgium http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.1310121 sporza.be 2012-05-25 nl Stage 3 result RiderTeamTime 1 André Greipel GER 20px|Red jersey LTB 2012 4h 03' 34" 2 Danilo Napolitano ITA 20px|Yellow jersey ASA 2012 s.t. 3 Adam Blythe GBR BMC 2012 s.t. 4 Kenny van Hummel NED VAC 2012 s.t. 5 Andrew Fenn GBR OPQ 2012 s.t. 6 Tom Van Asbroeck BEL TSV 2012 s.t. 7 Bert De Backer BEL SUN 2012b s.t. 8 Lars Boom NED RAB 2012 s.t. 9 Alexei Tsatevich RUS KAT 2012 s.t. 10 Borut Božič SLO AST 2012 s.t.General Classification after Stage 3 RiderTeamTime 1 André Greipel GER 20px|Red jersey20px|Yellow jersey LTB 2012 11h 22' 28" 2 Danilo Napolitano ITA ASA 2012 + 12" 3 Kenny van Hummel NED VAC 2012 + 26" 4 Adam Blythe GBR 20px|White jersey BMC 2012 + 26" 5 Jacopo Guarnieri ITA AST 2012 + 26" 6 Pim Ligthart NED VCD 2012 + 27" 7 Egidijus Juodvalkis LTU LAN 2012 + 27" 8 Maxim Belkov RUS KAT 2012 + 27" 9 Lars Boom NED RAB 2012 + 28" 10 Mark McNally GBR SKT 2012 + 28" Stage 4 26 May 2012 – Turnhout to Arendonk, 20.5 km mi on Stage 4 result RiderTeamTime 1 Tony Martin GER OPQ 2012 24' 04" 2 Lieuwe Westra NED VCD 2012 + 46" 3 Niki Terpstra NED OPQ 2012 + 52" 4 Carlos Barredo ESP RAB 2012 + 1' 00" 5 Alexander Serov RUS RVL 2012 + 1' 05" 6 Lars Boom NED RAB 2012 + 1' 11" 7 Andriy Hryvko UKR AST 2012 + 1' 15" 8 Tobias Ludvigsson SWE SUN 2012b + 1' 19" 9 Sergey Firsanov RUS RVL 2012 + 1' 21" 10 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck BEL OPQ 2012 + 1' 23"General Classification after Stage 4 RiderTeamTime 1 Tony Martin GER 20px|Red jersey OPQ 2012 11h 47' 02" 2 Lieuwe Westra NED VCD 2012 + 46" 3 Niki Terpstra NED OPQ 2012 + 52" 4 Carlos Barredo ESP RAB 2012 + 1' 00" 5 Alexander Serov RUS RVL 2012 + 1' 05" 6 Lars Boom NED RAB 2012 + 1' 09" 7 Andriy Hryvko UKR AST 2012 + 1' 15" 8 Tobias Ludvigsson SWE 20px|White jersey SUN 2012b + 1' 19" 9 Sergey Firsanov RUS RVL 2012 + 1' 21" 10 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck BEL OPQ 2012 + 1' 23" Stage 5 27 May 2012 – Clavier to Engis, 212 km mi on Stage 5 result RiderTeamTime 1 Carlos Betancur COL ASA 2012 5h 04' 18" 2 Kevin Pauwels BEL Sunweb–Revor + 2" 3 Sergey Firsanov RUS RVL 2012 + 2" 4 Philippe Gilbert BEL BMC 2012 + 5" 5 Lieuwe Westra NED VCD 2012 + 5" 6 Bert De Waele BEL LAN 2012 + 8" 7 Tony Martin GER 20px|Red jersey OPQ 2012 + 8" 8 Dmitry Kozonchuk RUS RVL 2012 + 8" 9 Alexandr Kolobnev RUS KAT 2012 + 11" 10 Carlos Barredo ESP RAB 2012 + 13"Final General Classification RiderTeamTime 1 Tony Martin GER 20px|Red jersey OPQ 2012 16h 51' 28" 2 Lieuwe Westra NED VCD 2012 + 43" 3 Carlos Barredo ESP RAB 2012 + 1' 02" 4 Sergey Firsanov RUS RVL 2012 + 1' 11" 5 Andriy Hryvko UKR AST 2012 + 1' 26" 6 Francesco Reda ITA ASA 2012 + 1' 38" 7 Philippe Gilbert BEL BMC 2012 + 1' 45" 8 Simon Špilak SLO KAT 2012 + 1' 47" 9 Manuel Quinziato ITA BMC 2012 + 1' 50" 10 Maarten Wynants BEL RAB 2012 + 1' 58" Classification leadership table Stage Winner General classification25pxAlgemeen klassement Points classification25pxPuntenklassement Combativity Classification25pxPrijs van de strijdlust Young Rider classification25 pxJongerenklassement Team classificationPloegenklassement 1 André Greipel André Greipel André Greipel Leonardo Duque Egidijus Juodvalkis LAN 2012 2 André Greipel Jacopo Guarnieri 3 André Greipel Adam Blythe 4 Tony Martin Tony Martin Tobias Ludvigsson OPQ 2012 5 Carlos Betancur Pieter Serry RVL 2012 Final Tony Martin André Greipel Leonardo Duque Pieter Serry RVL 2012 Final standings General classification RiderTeamTime 1 Tony Martin GER 20px|Red jersey OPQ 2012 16h 51' 28" 2 Lieuwe Westra NED VCD 2012 + 43" 3 Carlos Barredo ESP RAB 2012 + 1' 02" 4 Sergey Firsanov RUS RVL 2012 + 1' 11" 5 Andriy Hryvko UKR AST 2012 + 1' 26" 6 Francesco Reda ITA ASA 2012 + 1' 38" 7 Philippe Gilbert BEL BMC 2012 + 1' 45" 8 Simon Špilak SLO KAT 2012 + 1' 47" 9 Manuel Quinziato ITA BMC 2012 + 1' 50" 10 Maarten Wynants BEL RAB 2012 + 1' 58" Points classification RiderTeamPoints 1 André Greipel GER 20px|Yellow jersey LTB 2012 90 2 Danilo Napolitano ITA ASA 2012 75 3 Kenny van Hummel NED VAC 2012 58 4 Carlos Barredo ESP RAB 2012 53 5 Tony Martin GER 20px|Red jersey OPQ 2012 43 6 Lieuwe Westra NED VCD 2012 42 7 Lars Boom NED RAB 2012 42 8 Adam Blythe GBR BMC 2012 39 9 Sergey Firsanov RUS RVL 2012 33 10 Carlos Betancur COL ASA 2012 30 Combativity classification RiderTeamPoints1 Leonardo Duque COL 20px|Black jersey COF 2012 872 Michael Schär SUI BMC 2012 433 Ramon Sinkeldam NED SUN 2012b 354 Alessandro Donati ITA ASA 2012 265 Pim Ligthart NED VCD 2012 216 Jay Thomson RSA UHC 2012 197 Aleksejs Saramotins LAT COF 2012 198 Coen Vermeltfoort NED RAB 2012 189 Maxim Belkov RUS KAT 2012 1610 Paolo Ciavatta ITA ASA 2012 14 Young rider classification RiderTeamTime1 Pieter Serry BEL 20px TSV 2012 16h 54' 08"2 Romain Zingle BEL COF 2012 + 26"3 Petr Ignatenko RUS KAT 2012 + 40"4 Tobias Ludvigsson SWE SUN 2012b + 1' 00"5 Egidijus Juodvalkis LTU LAN 2012 + 1' 01"6 Carlos Betancur COL ASA 2012 + 1' 39"7 Laurens De Vreese BEL TSV 2012 + 3' 33"8 Pim Ligthart NED VCD 2012 + 10' 15"9 Lubomir Petrus CZE BKP 2012 + 11' 12"10 Matteo Trentin ITA OPQ 2012 + 11' 25" Team classification TeamPoints 1 RUS RVL 2012 50h 39' 05" 2 RUS KAT 2012 + 1' 06" 3 USA BMC 2012 + 2' 17" 4 NED VCD 2012 + 3' 45" 5 BEL LAN 2012 + 4' 35" 6 KAZ AST 2012 + 9' 47" 7 NED RAB 2012 + 11' 27" 8 ITA ASA 2012 + 12' 23" 9 BEL TSV 2012 + 12' 54" 10 FRA COF 2012 + 15' 37" References External links Race website Category:Tour of Belgium Tour of Belgium Tour of Belgium