"2012 Tour de France The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 race stages, including an opening prologue, and covered a total distance of . As well as the prologue, the first two stages took place in Belgium, and one stage finished in Switzerland. Bradley Wiggins () won the overall general classification, and became the first British rider to win the Tour. Wiggins's"
"Lars Boom. The 2012 Tour of Britain was held from 9 to 16 September. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke originally won the event, the first British rider to do so since its relaunch. In 2014, following investigation for biological passport irregularities, Tiernan-Locke was banned for two years and stripped of his 2012 title. The race was retrospectively awarded to Australia's Nathan Haas, riding for the Garmin-Sharp team. Mark Cavendish, in his last race as World Champion, won three stages including the final stage in an uphill sprint up Guildford's cobbled high street. Tour de France 2012 winner, Bradley Wiggins was forced to pull"
"2012 Tour of Britain The 2012 Tour of Britain was the ninth running of the current Tour of Britain and the 73rd British tour in total. The race consisted of eight stages, starting on 9 September in Ipswich, and finishing on 16 September in Guildford. The race was part of the 2012 UCI Europe Tour, and was categorised by the UCI as a 2.1 category race. The race was originally won by rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, who became the first British rider to win the race in its current guise and the first to win a British tour since Chris Lillywhite"
"British winner, and completed the first clean sweep of Grand Tours by three different riders from the same country combined with Chris Froome's win in the Giro d'Italia and Geraint Thomas' win in the Tour de France. The starting teams include: 2017 champion Chris Froome of Team Sky chose not to defend his title after riding four Grand Tours in a row, winning three of them. Four other former winners started the race; Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde (both from ), Vincenzo Nibali () and Fabio Aru (). The other riders considered contenders for the general classification were Richie Porte (),"
"within the peloton to secure the overall victory. 2012 Tour of Britain The 2012 Tour of Britain was the ninth running of the current Tour of Britain and the 73rd British tour in total. The race consisted of eight stages, starting on 9 September in Ipswich, and finishing on 16 September in Guildford. The race was part of the 2012 UCI Europe Tour, and was categorised by the UCI as a 2.1 category race. The race was originally won by rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, who became the first British rider to win the race in its current guise and the first"
"Chris Froome Christopher Clive Froome, (born 20 May 1985) is a British road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeam . He is the reigning Giro d'Italia champion. Considered by many as one of the greatest stage racing cyclists of all time and possibly the greatest of his generation, he is one of the most successful riders in the history of the Tour de France, having won it four times – in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, with a further two podium appearances in 2012 and 2018. After initially being seen as a climbing specialist, Froome has developed as an all-rounder with"
"of Cancellara – who maintained his overall lead – and Boasson Hagen. Gilbert led home the peloton in fourth, as 22-year-old Sagan became the youngest rider to win a Tour stage since Lance Armstrong in 1993. 2 July 2012 — Visé (Belgium) to Tournai (Belgium), The race remained in Belgium for one more day with a flat course heading almost due west from Visé. There was one fourth-category climb of the Côte de la Citadelle de Namur during the stage, but it was expected to ultimately result in a sprint finish in Tournai. Three riders – French pairing Anthony Roux"
"he lost 20 pounds (9.07 kg) and his weight loss has allowed him to ""thrive on the bike, especially in the mountains"". Froome uses special non-round chainrings. Source: Chris Froome Christopher Clive Froome, (born 20 May 1985) is a British road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeam . He is the reigning Giro d'Italia champion. Considered by many as one of the greatest stage racing cyclists of all time and possibly the greatest of his generation, he is one of the most successful riders in the history of the Tour de France, having won it four times – in 2013, 2015,"
"race, although his chances were likely dependent on whether the race ended in a sprint finish. Cavendish was expected to be greatly assisted by his four-man British team which he labelled his 'dream team' prior to the race and regarded by some as the finest road race team to ever compete in the Olympics with four out of the five riders having won a stage at the 2012 Tour de France. The British team included the duo of Bradley Wiggins, who won the 2012 Tour de France, and Chris Froome, who finished second in the 2012 Tour de France and"
"stages. The points classification was won by Nibali's teammate Peter Sagan, who won three stages. André Greipel of and rider Mark Cavendish also won three stages. 's Thomas Voeckler, winner of two mountain stages, won the mountains classification. 's Tejay van Garderen, in fifth place overall, won the young rider classification. The team classification was won by , and Chris Anker Sørensen () was given the award for the most combative rider. The 2012 edition of the Tour de France consisted of 22 teams. All eighteen UCI ProTeams were entitled, and obliged, to enter the race. On 6 April 2012,"
"This newfound British success continued with Chris Froome winning four of the next five Tours (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017), followed by Geraint Thomas taking victory in 2018. In addition to Wiggins, Froome and Thomas, other British riders to enjoy a level of success include Tom Simpson, Barry Hoban, Robert Millar, Chris Boardman, David Millar, Mark Cavendish and Adam and Simon Yates. Britain has had some success in women's cycle racing in producing 4 road racing world champions including Beryl Burton, Mandy Jones, Lizzie Armistead and Nicole Cooke who won the Olympic road race title and the world championship in the"
"2012 Paris–Nice The 2012 Paris–Nice was the 70th running of the Paris–Nice cycling stage race, often known as the ""Race to the Sun"". It started on 4 March in Dampierre-en-Yvelines and ended on 11 March in Nice and consisted of eight stages, including two time trials that bookended the race. It was the second race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season. The race was won by Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins of , who took the lead on the second stage of the race and held the race leader's yellow jersey to the finish, becoming the first British rider to"
"wear the Tour's yellow jersey. He later crashed in that race, as well as the 2017 Giro d'Italia, before winning the 2018 Tour de France. He gained the yellow jersey by winning stage 11, extended his lead by winning stage 12, and retained the lead for the remainder of the event. He became the first Welshman, and the third cyclist from the United Kingdom after Wiggins and Froome, to win the Tour. In 2018 he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Born in Birchgrove, Cardiff, Wales, Thomas attended Whitchurch High School. He began cycling with the Maindy"
"the Tour. Carter Jones () prevailed in the mountains classification thanks to his participation in numerous breakaways, and Lawson Craddock of earned the youth classification jersey at 21 years of age. The winner of the 2012 race, Robert Gesink, did not participate in this edition as he was riding the Giro d'Italia. For this edition, the UCI elected to reintroduce blood testing based on the biological passport, as USADA would also take care of pre-race testing, but no cooperation was established between the two agencies. The favorites for the overall classification have been deemed to be Tejay van Garderen, Haimar"
"In 1888, inventor Frank Bowden founded the Raleigh Bicycle Company, and by 1913, Raleigh was the biggest bicycle manufacturing company in the world. The Raleigh Chopper was named in the list of British design icons. In 1965 Tom Simpson became the first British world road race champion, and in 2012 Bradley Wiggins became the first British Tour de France winner. Chris Froome has subsequently won the Tour de France four times (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017). Welsh cyclist Geraint Thomas won in 2018. Sprint specialist Mark Cavendish has won thirty Tour de France stages, putting him second on the all-time"
"Jurgen Van den Broeck (), Thibaut Pinot (), Ryder Hesjedal (), Robert Gesink (), and riders Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana. The 2012 Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins of , had focused on the Giro d'Italia, but retired early due to illness, subsequently pulling out because illness and injury had left him insufficient time to train for the Tour de France and chose not to ride. This left Froome, runner-up in 2012, the undisputed leader of . He had shown his form so far in 2013 season by winning four of the five stage races he had rode: Tour"
"the first time since 2005, the shortest distance in individual time trials since 1967, and the first penultimate-day mountain stage in the Tour's history. 2007 winner Alberto Contador won the race by a margin of 4′11″, having won both a mountain and time trial stage. His team also took the team classification. and supplied the initial third-place finisher, Lance Armstrong. Armstrong's achievement was later voided by the UCI in October 2012 following his non-dispute of a doping accusation by USADA, and fourth place Bradley Wiggins was promoted to the podium. Andy Schleck, second overall, won the young riders' competition as"
"2012 Tour of Oman The 2012 Tour of Oman was the third edition of the Tour of Oman cycling stage race. It was rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Asia Tour, and was held from 14 to 19 February 2012, in Oman. The race was won by Slovakia's Peter Velits, of the team, taking the race lead on the penultimate day and holding it to the finish. Velits' winning margin over runner-up Vincenzo Nibali () – winner of the race's queen stage to Jabal al Akhdar – was just one second, after Nibali tried to gain bonus seconds"
"in London. In December Cavendish became the winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award with 169,152 (49.47%) of the votes cast, ahead of Mo Farah and Darren Clarke. Cavendish began his 2012 season at the Tour of Qatar, where after struggling with illness, he won stage three to take his first victory for Team Sky. He also won stage five later in the week, moving back into the top ten of the overall classification. He finished the race in sixth place, despite crashing on the final stage. Although he did not win any stages at the Tour"
"from the summit, finishing in tenth place and kept fourth overall, three seconds ahead of Fränk Schleck; he held that position in the final stage, equalling Robert Millar's highest ever finish by a British rider in the Tour. In October 2012, following the disqualification of Armstrong, who had originally placed third in the general classification, Wiggins was promoted to third place overall. This decision retroactively gave him the first podium finish by a British rider in Tour de France history. In September Wiggins won the national time trial championship in Buckinghamshire, and in September at the road world championships in"
"2012 Volta ao Algarve The 2012 Volta ao Algarve was the 38th edition of the Volta ao Algarve cycling stage race. It was held from 15–19 February 2012, and was rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was won by Australia's Richie Porte, of , after taking the overall lead with victory on the third stage, and held the lead to the end of the race. Porte's winning margin over runner-up Tony Martin () – the defending race winner – was 37 seconds, and Porte's team-mate Bradley Wiggins completed the podium, seven seconds behind Martin"
"2012 Tour of Qatar The 2012 Tour of Qatar was the eleventh edition of the Tour of Qatar cycling stage race. It was rated as a 2.HC event on the UCI Asia Tour, and was held between 5 and 10 February 2012, in Qatar. The race was won for the fourth time by Belgium's Tom Boonen, of the team, leading the race from start to finish and taking two stage victories along the way. Boonen's winning margin over runner-up Tyler Farrar () – the winners of the team time trial stage near the Losail International Circuit – was 28 seconds,"
"for the most consistent finisher in each of the stages; despite not winning any stages, Van Poppel placed four times inside the top three placings of a stage. The mountains classification was won by a rider for the second year in succession, as Kristian House succeeded Tiernan-Locke as the winner; the sprints classification was won by Peter Williams of the team, while won the teams classification. The winner of the 2012 Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins, participated in the race, alongside 2011 World Champion Mark Cavendish for . Two-time Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso also contested the race for –"
"de France and a number of the contenders for the general classification of the Tour participated in the Dauphiné. It featured mountainous stages as well as an individual time trial similar in length to the Tour. The race was won by Great Britain's Chris Froome of – the third successive year that the squad had won the race, after Bradley Wiggins' victories in 2011 and 2012. Froome took the overall lead of the race after winning the fifth stage, and maintained his advantage to the end of the race to win his fourth stage race of the 2013 season. Ultimately,"
"since his ban after testing positive for a banned substance at the 2010 Tour de France, and was considered by many the top favourite for overall victory. Another favourite was Chris Froome, who finished second in the 2011 Vuelta and 2012 Tour de France, and he started the 2012 Vuelta as team leader of , having previously worked for Bradley Wiggins. The winner of the 2011 edition, Juan José Cobo, was looking to replicate his previous year's form after a disappointing 2012 season, and he was co-leader of the alongside Alejandro Valverde. Other contenders for the podium included Joaquim Rodríguez"
"the fourth different British rider to take a stage win at the 2012 Tour. The peloton was led across the line almost eight minutes down by the top two in the points classification, 's Matthew Goss and 's Peter Sagan. Sagan protested the sprint finish of Goss, feeling that he had impeded him in the closing metres. Race officials agreed with Sagan and demoted Goss to seventh – helped in part by a one-second time gap between them and the rest of the field – and penalised him 30 points in the classification, and 30 seconds overall. 14 July 2012"
"won the overall race, Mark Cavendish won the Points competition and Ben Swift won the Mountains competition. The tour started with a 2.5 km prologue time trial at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. The leader's yellow jersey was claimed by Britain's Mark Cavendish in a time of two minutes 27.6 seconds, ahead of two Russian riders. As a result, Cavendish was the first British rider to take yellow since the Tour of Britain resumed in 2004. The result was debated as the electronic timing system did not turn up and the timing was thus completed with basic stopwatches. Prologue"
"2012 Tour de France riders; Vincenzo Nibali (3rd), Tejay van Garderen (5th), Cadel Evans (7th), Janez Brajkovic (9th), Andreas Klöden (11th), Chris Horner (13th), Levi Leipheimer (32nd), and Christian Vande Velde (60th). The USA Pro Cycling Challenge invited six UCI ProTeams, and UCI Professional Continental Teams; as well as five UCI Continental Teams. August 20, 2012 — Durango, to Telluride, The opening road race for the pro challenge began in Durango. August 21, 2012 — Montrose to Crested Butte, August 22, 2012 — Gunnison to Aspen, August 23, 2012 — Aspen to Beaver Creek, August 24, 2012 — Breckenridge to"
"in three stage races in the 2012 season: the Paris–Nice, the Tour de Romandie and the Dauphiné. As a time trialist, Wiggins was thought to be the rider most suited to the race's course. The 2011 Tour winner Evans came back from an illness earlier in the season to win the two-day Critérium International and place third at the Dauphiné. The 2010 Vuelta a España winner Nibali had shown his form in the lead-up to the Tour by winning the Tirreno–Adriatico stage race. The sprinters considered favourites for the points classification and wins in bunch sprint finishes were Mark Cavendish"
"providing Britain's first Tour de France winner. Yates spent three years as the team's lead Director Sportif and, in 2012, presided over Bradley Wiggins victories in Paris–Nice, Tour de Romandie, Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour de France and the Olympic Time Trial. However, his race support during the 2012 Tour de France was heavily criticised by Mark Cavendish who described Yates as ""cold, uninspiring and miserly in praise."" In October 2012, he left the employment of Team Sky and retired from cycling, with the ""Daily Telegraph"" reporting that Yates had been forced to quit after admitting involvement in doping, meaning he"
"2012 Tour of Flanders The 2012 Tour of Flanders was the 96th edition of the Tour of Flanders single-day ""Monument"" cycling race. It was held on 1 April 2012 over a distance of – between Brugge and Oudenaarde – and was the eighth race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season. In a three-man sprint finish, the race was won by Belgian Tom Boonen, who in the process, became the fifth different rider to win the race three times, and took the lead of the overall World Tour standings. Boonen finished ahead of 's Filippo Pozzato and 2007 winner Alessandro"
"road racing cyclists in the world, breaking through with runner-up finishes at the 2011 Vuelta a Espana and 2012 Tour de France before winning a bronze medal in the time trial at the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 Tour de France, becoming the first African-born rider to win the race. Froome rode as a Kenyan before switching his nationality to represent the United Kingdom before the 2008 Tour de France. He took his second Tour win in 2015 and a third the following year, followed by another time trial bronze at the 2016 Olympics. Froome was mentored by Kenyan professional"
"2012 Tour de Romandie The 2012 Tour de Romandie was the 66th running of the Tour de Romandie cycling stage race. It started on 24 April in Lausanne and ended on 29 April in Crans-Montana and consisted of six stages, including a race-commencing prologue stage and a race-concluding individual time trial. It was the 14th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season. The race was won by Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins of , after winning two stages including the final stage time trial, to take the general classification on the final day. Wiggins won the general classification by 12"