The 2012 Tour de France was contested by 22 teams. The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the race, 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 number of riders allowed per squad was nine, resulting in a start list total of 198 riders. From the riders that began the race, 153 crossed the finish line in Paris. The average rider age was 30.17, with 22-year-old Thibaut Pinot (FDJ–BigMat) as the youngest rider, and 40-year-old Jens Voigt (RadioShack–Nissan) the oldest. The riders came from 31 countries; France, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Australia all had 12 or more riders in the race. Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack–Nissan) won the prologue and held the general classification leader's yellow jersey for the first week. Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins (pictured), second in the prologue, took the leadership of the race on stage seven, the first mountainous stage. He 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. (Full list...)