2012 Cycling Thread

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Javi Moreno won the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in dramatic style after overtaking leader Luis Leon Sanchez near the end of the third and final stage in Segovia.

Enrico Gasparotto was a surprise winner of the Amstel Gold – the biggest annual race on the Dutch cycling calendar.
The former Italian champion, riding for Astana, edged Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) to the line at the end of the undulating 256.5km route in the Limburg region.

 

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Taylor Phinney took the leader's jersey at the 36th Giro del Trentino after his BMC team won the opening flat team time trial around the Riva del Garda area.

 

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Damiano Cunego claimed the second stage of the 36th Giro del Trentino after winning stage two in Sant'Orsola Terme.

 

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Rodriguez takes Fleche Wallonne

Pre-race favourite Joaquin Rodriguez won the 76th edition of the Fleche-Wallonne.
The Spaniard, runner-up in 2010 and 2011 in the second of the Ardennes Classics, rode away from all his rivals on the infamous final climb of the Mur de Huy.

 

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Domenico Pozzovivo won the third stage of the 36th Giro del Trentino in Brenzone.
Pozzovivo takes Trentino stage and GC lead

 

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Darwin Atapuma claimed victory in the final stage of the Giro Del Trentino, but Domenico Pozzovivo won the GC, finishing third on the day.

 

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Theo Bos leads the Tour of Turkey after a first stage which was marred by a huge crash shortly before the finish line.


Iglinskiy wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Maxim Iglinskiy won the 2012 running of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, passing lone breakaway rider Vincenzo Nibali near the end of the race.

 

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Evgeni Shalunov won the Vuelta a la Rioja in convincing style, crossing the finish line of the one-day race in northern Spain 28 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

Andre Greipel won the second stage of the Tour of Turkey with a devastating sprint to the finish.

 

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Ivaïlo Gabrovski won the third stage of the Tour of Turkey in Elmali to earn a first ever win on home soil for his team, Konya Torku Seker Spor.

Geraint Thomas stormed to victory in the time trial prologue of the Tour de Romandie in Lausanne.

 

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Mark Renshaw edged fellow Australian Matt Goss in a sprint to the line to win stage four of the Tour of Turkey.

Bradley Wiggins stormed to a superb sprint victory in the first stage of the Tour de Romandie in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

 

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Di Corrado takes maiden win in Turkey
Andrea Di Corrado won stage five of the Tour of Turkey in Turgutreis.

McEwen confirms retirement
Robbie McEwen has confirmed he will bring down the curtain on his professional cycling career at this season's Tour of California.

 

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Jonathan Hivert won stage two of the Tour de Romandie in a sprint finish in Moutier.

The Frenchman from Saur-Sojasun edged out Rui Costa (Movistar) on the long uphill drag to the finish

 

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Sacha Modolo won the sixth stage of the Tour of Turkey in a bunch sprint finish in Kusadasi.

Luis Leon Sanchez took the victory in stage three of the Tour de Romandie as Bradley Wiggins retained the overall lead by a slender one second.

Alejandro Marque wins Asturias opener.

 

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Marque in control in Asturias
Spaniard Alejandro Marque will head into the final day of the Vuelta a Asturias confident of overall victory after he strengthened his lead on the second stage.
Marque held out in the 14km time trial finale in Piedras Blancas, despite heavy rain, finishing in a time of 18 minutes and 36 seconds, just 25 seconds slower than the winner of the second sector of the second stage, compatriot Ion Izaguirre.
The winner of the first sector of the second stage was Jesús Herrada.

Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) won the GP Industria & Artigianato in Laricano, Italy.

Heroic Keisse wins dramatic stage in Turkey
Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won the seventh stage of the Tour of Turkey after an astonishing finish in Izmir.
Keisse looked all set to win comfortably as he had a 30 second lead going into the final corner of the race.
However, he then incredibly crashed on that bend and also broke his chain, but he still managed to get back on the bike and finish just ahead of the peloton for a famous win.

Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) won his second straight stage of the Tour de Romandie and took the leaders' jersey from Britain's Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).

 

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Britain's Bradley Wiggins clinched the Tour de Romandie title after producing a stunning time trial to win Sunday's 16.5km stage in Crans-Montana.

Alessandro Ballan claimed the Giro di Toscana in his native Italy on Sunday, his first victory in three years.

Benat Intxausti won the 56th edition of the Vuelta a Asturias after finishing second in the final stage, won by Remi Dei Gregorio.

Theo Bos claimed his second stage victory in the Tour of Turkey on the final day's racing, with Ivailo Gabrovski taking the overall title.

 

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UCI WorldTour Ranking - 2012 update

Nation

1st Spain 881 pt, 2nd Italy 765 pt and 3rd Belgium 674 pt.

Team

1st OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP 547 pt, 2nd LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 546 pt and 3rd SKY PROCYCLING 531 pt.

Individual

1st Tom Boonen 366 pt, 2nd Vincenzo Nibali 272 pt and 3rd Samuel Sanchez 252 pt.

 

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John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) won the opening stage of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque, between Dunkerque and Coquelles.

 

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Degenkolb doubles up in Dunkerque
John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) added the second stage, finishing in Montreuil-sur-Mer, to his first stage win at the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque.


Giro d'Italia - Phinney in pink after expert ITT win

American Taylor Phinney of BMC Racing won the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia, an 8.7km time trial in the Danish town of Herning.
The 21-year-old time trial specialist set a blistering time of 10:26 over a flat but technical course to beat Britain’s Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and Denmark's Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Barracuda). Welshman Thomas finished nine seconds slower than Phinney, with Rasmussen a further four seconds in arrears.

 

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Giro d'Italia - Cavendish wins stage two of Giro

Britain's Mark Cavendish won stage two of the Giro d'Italia in the Danish town of Herning ahead of Australian Matthew Goss.


Jimmy Engoulvent won the third stage of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque to assume the lead of the five-day race.

 

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Giro d'Italia - Cavendish crashes as Goss takes win
Mark Cavendish suffered a nasty crash in the final sprint as Matthew Goss gave Orica GreenEdge their first win in a Grand Tour with victory on stage three of the Giro d'Italia in the Danish town of Horsens.

Stybar shows road class in Cassel
Two-time Cyclo-cross world champion Zdenek Stybar showed he can do it on the road too with a fine victory in stage four of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque.