| 2012 UCI World Tour, race 18 of 29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Route of the 2012 Tour de France | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | 30 June – 22 July 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 20 + Prologue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 3,496.9 km (2,173 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 87h 34′ 47" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 stages, including an opening prologue, and covered a total distance of 3,496.9 km (2,173 mi). As well as the prologue, the first two stages took place in Belgium, and one stage finished in Switzerland. Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) won the overall general classification, and became the first British rider to win the Tour. Wiggins's teammate Chris Froome placed second, and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas–Cannondale) was third.
The general classification leader's yellow jersey was worn for the first week by Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack–Nissan), who won the prologue. Wiggins, second in the prologue, took the leadership of the race on stage seven, the first mountainous stage, which was won by Froome, and maintained his lead for the remainder of the race, winning the two longest time trials, and not losing time to his main challengers for the overall title in the mountains.
The points classification was won by Nibali's teammate Peter Sagan, who won three stages. André Greipel of Lotto–Belisol and Team Sky rider Mark Cavendish also won three stages. Team Europcar's Thomas Voeckler, winner of two mountain stages, won the mountains classification. BMC Racing Team's Tejay van Garderen, in fifth place overall, won the young rider classification. The team classification was won by RadioShack–Nissan, and Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank) was given the award for the most combative rider.