| 2012 UCI Europe Tour | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | 9–16 September 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 1,347.4 km (837.2 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 33h 11' 22" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 Endura Racing 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 won the 1993 Milk Race.[1][2] Tiernan-Locke assumed the race lead with a second-place finish on the sixth stage and maintained the lead until the end of the race. He won by eighteen seconds ahead of Australia's Nathan Haas, who rode for the Garmin–Sharp squad, and the podium was rounded out by Liquigas–Cannondale's Damiano Caruso, who finished five seconds behind Haas and twenty-three seconds in arrears of Tiernan-Locke.[3] In 2014 however, following investigation for biological passport irregularities, Tiernan-Locke was banned for two years and stripped of his 2012 victory.[4]
In the race's other classifications, UnitedHealthcare rider Boy Van Poppel won the points classification[5] 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 Rapha Condor–Sharp rider for the second year in succession, as Kristian House[5] succeeded Tiernan-Locke as the winner; the sprints classification was won by Peter Williams of the Node 4–Giordana Racing team,[5] while Saur–Sojasun won the teams classification.[5]
- ^ "Jonathan Tiernan-Locke wins race". BBC Sport. 16 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ "Tiernan-Locke takes the overall win in the Tour of Britain". British Cycling. British Cycling Federation. 16 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ Wynn, Nigel (16 September 2012). "Tiernan-Locke wins 2012 Tour of Britain as Cavendish takes stage". Cycling Weekly. IPC Media Limited. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b c d "Jonathan Tiernan-Locke wins The Tour of Britain". Tour of Britain. SweetSpot. 16 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.