2012 Giro d'Italia

2012 Giro d'Italia

2012 UCI World Tour, race 15 of 28
Race details
Dates	5–27 May 2012
Stages	21
Distance	3,502.1 km (2,176 mi)
Winning time	91h 39' 02"
Results
Winner  Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) (Garmin–Barracuda)   Second  Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP) (Team Katusha)   Third  Thomas De Gendt (BEL) (Vacansoleil–DCM) Points  Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP) (Team Katusha) Mountains  Matteo Rabottini (ITA) (Farnese Vini–Selle Italia) Youth  Rigoberto Urán (COL) (Team Sky)   Team Lampre–ISD   Team points Garmin–Barracuda
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The 2012 Giro d'Italia was the 95th edition of Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Danish city of Herning,^[1] and ended in Milan. The complete route of the 2012 Giro d'Italia was announced in mid October. For the first time since the 2007 edition no climbing time trial was included in the route. The colour of the jersey for the mountains classification was changed for this year's edition from green to blue. The move came at the behest of sponsor Banca Mediolanum, who renewed its support of the mountains classification for a further four years.^[2]

The race was won by Canada's Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin–Barracuda,^[3] becoming the first Canadian rider to win a Grand Tour event and the second non-European rider to win the Giro (the first being Andrew Hampsten in 1988); he also became only the second rider to take the leader's jersey from another rider on the final day, after Francesco Moser did so in 1984.^[4] Hesjedal won the general classification by 16 seconds over runner-up Joaquim Rodríguez of Spain, representing Team Katusha – the closest race-winning margin since Eddy Merckx beat Gianbattista Baronchelli by 12 seconds in the 1974 edition^[5] – who also won two stages and the points classification title,^[6] edging out Team Sky sprinter Mark Cavendish by one point. Third place was taken by Vacansoleil–DCM's Thomas De Gendt of Belgium, after he put in strong performances on the final two stages of the race; he won the race's queen stage, finishing at the high-point of the itinerary, at the Stelvio Pass and also finished in the top five of the time trial.^[7] As such, he gained sufficient time to move up from ninth to third over those stages, becoming the first Belgian rider to take a Grand Tour podium since Johan Bruyneel finished third at the 1995 Vuelta a España.^[8]

In the race's other classifications, Team Sky rider Rigoberto Urán of Colombia finished as the best rider aged 25 or under in the general classification,^[9] finishing in seventh place overall; the mountains competition was won by Italy's Matteo Rabottini of the Farnese Vini–Selle Italia team, scoring almost double the number of points that his nearest rival in the standings accrued. Rabottini was the only Italian to feature on the podium, as for the first time since 1995,^[10] no Italian riders finished in the top three overall, as Lampre–ISD's Michele Scarponi – the defending champion – could only finish fourth overall.