A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| 2012 UCI World Tour, race 16 of 28 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 The route of the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | 3–10 June 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 7 + Prologue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 1,051.7 km (653.5 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 26h 40' 46" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné was the 64th running of the Critérium du Dauphiné cycling stage race; a race rated as a World Tour event on the UCI calendar, the highest classification such an event can have. The race consisted of eight stages, beginning with a prologue in Grenoble on 3 June, and concluded in Châtel on 10 June. The race was organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation, the same group that organises the Tour de France. It was viewed as a great preparation for July's Tour de France, hence why a majority of the contenders for the general classification of the major tour participated in the Dauphiné.[1] It featured mountainous stages as well as an individual time trial quite similar in length to those that awaited the riders in the Tour.
The race was won for the second successive year by Team Sky rider Bradley Wiggins,[2] who claimed the leader's yellow and blue jersey after the first stage, extending his race-leading advantage after winning the fourth stage individual time trial, and ultimately maintained that advantage. Wiggins became only the third rider to win the Dauphiné and Paris–Nice – a race that Wiggins had won in March – in the same year after Jacques Anquetil (1963 and 1965) and Eddy Merckx (1971) had previously done so.[3]
Wiggins' winning margin over his team-mate and runner-up Michael Rogers was one minute and seventeen seconds, and BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans completed the podium, nine seconds down on Rogers.[4] In the race's other classifications, Liquigas–Cannondale rider Cayetano Sarmiento won the King of the Mountains classification,[5] Evans won the green jersey for the points classification,[6] Rabobank's Wilco Kelderman won the young rider classification,[7] with Team Sky finishing at the head of the teams classification by over thirteen minutes, after placing four riders inside the final overall top ten placings.[8]
Participating teams
As the Critérium du Dauphiné was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Four other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 22-team peloton.[9] All twenty-two squads that competed in the Dauphiné contested the Tour de France later in the year.[10]
The twenty-two teams that competed in the race were:[11]
Schedule
The route for the race was announced on 27 March 2012.[12]
| Stage | Route | Distance | Type | Date | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Grenoble | 5.7 km (3.5 mi) | 
|
Individual time trial | 3 June |  Luke Durbridge (AUS)
|
| 1 | Seyssins to Saint-Vallier | 187 km (116.2 mi) | 
|
Intermediate stage | 4 June | Cadel Evans (AUS)
|
| 2 | Lamastre to Saint-Félicien | 160 km (99.4 mi) | 
|
Mountain stage | 5 June |  Daniel Moreno (ESP)
|
| 3 | Givors to La Clayette | 167 km (103.8 mi) |
|
Intermediate stage | 6 June |  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)
|
| 4 | Villié-Morgon to Bourg-en-Bresse | 53.5 km (33.2 mi) |
|
Individual time trial | 7 June |  Bradley Wiggins (GBR)
|
| 5 | Saint-Trivier-sur-Moignans to Rumilly | 186.5 km (115.9 mi) |
|
Mountain stage | 8 June |  Arthur Vichot (FRA)
|
| 6 | Saint-Alban-Leysse to Morzine | 167.5 km (104.1 mi) |
|
Mountain stage | 9 June |  Nairo Quintana (COL)
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| 7 | Morzine to Châtel | 124.5 km (77.4 mi) |
|
Mountain stage | 10 June | Daniel Moreno (ESP)
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Stages
Prologue
- 3 June 2012 — Grenoble, 5.7 km (3.5 mi), individual time trial (ITT)[13]
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The Dauphiné began with its traditional short individual time trial stage, with a near-flat course around the streets of Grenoble; the city was hosting the prologue of the race for the fourth time in fifteen years following prior starts in 1997, 2000 and 2007,[14] the last of which was won by the 2011 race winner Bradley Wiggins, then riding for the Cofidis team.[15] With rain expected to disrupt the stage, as it had done so in the 2011 prologue, teams decided to spread their time trial specialists across the field in order to maximise their potential of winning the stage.[16] For the first rider to depart the start in Grenoble, Vacansoleil–DCM's Lieuwe Westra, weather conditions were dry.[17] Westra ultimately recorded a time of 6' 46" for the stage,[18] which was good enough for a top-12 stage placing after all 175 riders had taken to the course.[19] Westra's time was beaten shortly afterwards by Rabobank rider Carlos Barredo, who went four seconds quicker around the course, 5.7 km (3.5 mi) in length.
Barredo held the top spot for around quarter of an hour, as his time was marginally beaten by Andriy Hryvko, a four-time Ukrainian champion in the discipline, riding for the Astana team.[17] Soon after, the eventual stage-winning performance was recorded by the Australian national champion Luke Durbridge, for Orica–GreenEDGE. Durbridge set a time of 6' 38",[17] in the favourable conditions; he held on to his spot throughout the expected changeable weather that was a factor in the remainder of the running order. Following a rain shower that effected the racing during the middle portion of the stage, the later riders to take to the course did have dry roads to contend with but the wind had picked up and made conditions more difficult than what the earlier riders had for their passages through the parcours. Durbridge's time remained untroubled to the end, despite the best attempts of defending champion Wiggins, who finished just 1.35 seconds in arrears in second place, having started last of the 175 competitors.[18] Thus, Durbridge took his first stage victory at World Tour level, which gave him a clean sweep of the jerseys post-stage, for holding the lead of the overall, points and young rider classifications. Other overall contenders Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team), Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Tony Martin, Jérôme Coppel (Saur–Sojasun), as well as van Garderen's team-mate Cadel Evans and 2010 winner Janez Brajkovič (Astana) all lost time in comparison to Wiggins; Martin placed best in fifth position, although Evans also made the top ten, in ninth place.[18][20]
Prologue Result and General Classification after Prologue[17][18]
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Stage 1
- 4 June 2012 — Seyssins to Saint-Vallier, 187 km (116.2 mi)[21]
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With no fewer than six categorised climbs during the 187 km (116.2 mi) parcours,[21] the first mass-start stage was not ideally suited towards the sprinters, but was favourable towards puncheurs, as the final of the six climbs – the third-category Côte de la Sizeranne – came just 9 km (5.6 mi) from the stage's finish in Saint-Vallier.[22] Six riders – Giovanni Bernaudeau (Team Europcar), RadioShack–Nissan rider Markel Irizar, Rabobank's Maarten Tjallingii, Nicolas Edet of Cofidis, Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin–Barracuda) and Argos–Shimano rider Yukihiro Doi[23] – advanced clear of the main field in the early running of the stage; the sextet managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of over thirteen minutes around a quarter of the way through the stage.[24] Around the same point, a crash involving Pierrick Fédrigo (FDJ–BigMat) and Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel–Euskadi) brought both riders down. Neither rider returned to the main group, as Fédrigo lost over six minutes[23] and Sánchez almost four times that; losing almost 24 minutes, after reports that he had been suffering with broken ribs.[24] He was taken to hospital after the stage, where he was diagnosed with bruised ribs.[25]
The teams of several of the general classification contenders were prevalent on the front of the peloton as they set about reducing the advantage that the breakaway group of six riders were holding over them. The gap had been reduced to around the three-minute mark with 50 km (31.1 mi) left of the stage to cover. Another big crash happened some 20 km (12.4 mi) later with Orica–GreenEDGE's Simon Gerrans, Vacansoleil–DCM rider Pim Ligthart and Dan Martin of Garmin–Barracuda among those to hit the tarmac.[24] Omega Pharma–Quick-Step moved forward, and pulled the gap under two minutes and caused the breakaway to splinter through pressure.[23] Bernaudeau – who had figured at each of the mountain passes to the point – and Doi failed to stay with their companions as they approached the day's final climb, the Côte de la Sizeranne. Tjallingii was also dropped by the remaining members of the breakaway, while in the main field, Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) and Andy Schleck of RadioShack–Nissan – who had been criticised by team manager Johan Bruyneel for his poor opening half to the season[26][27] – were both struggling off the back of the group. Both riders lost over three minutes by the stage end.[28]
As the lead group approached the top of the Côte de la Sizeranne, Irizar attacked from the group of the remaining three breakaway riders, while Vanmarcke and Edet were joined by Team Europcar rider Pierre Rolland, who had escaped the confines of the main group itself. Another three-rider move went forwards from the peloton as Rolland's team-mate Cyril Gautier, Rabobank's Luis León Sánchez and BMC Racing Team rider Philippe Gilbert got clear by several seconds.[24] Irizar held a slim advantage, but overshot a corner and was eventually caught with around 5 km (3.1 mi) to go. As Irizar was caught,[23] Jérôme Coppel of Saur–Sojasun counter-attacked, and was eventually joined by Cadel Evans – a team-mate of Gilbert at BMC Racing Team – and Astana's Andrey Kashechkin, who finished third in the race in 2007. The trio managed to hold off the closing peloton into the finish, where Evans managed to fend off the advances of Coppel and Kashechkin to take the stage win.[29] FDJ–BigMat rider Nacer Bouhanni led home the peloton just four seconds in arrears, and with race leader Luke Durbridge (Orica–GreenEDGE) not featuring in the split peloton,[30] Bradley Wiggins assumed the race lead for Team Sky; Evans moved up to second, one second behind Wiggins.[31]
Stage 1 result[24]
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General Classification after Stage 1[23]
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Stage 2
- 5 June 2012 — Lamastre to Saint-Félicien, 160 km (99.4 mi)[32]
Just like the previous day's stage, the second stage of the race also comprised six categorised climbs, packed into the 160 km (99.4 mi) route through the Ardèche region, with the highest point coming at the summit of the second-category Col de Montivernoux.[32] The finish in Saint-Félicien came at the end of a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) climb, which would more or less rule out the sprinters more obviously than the first stage parcours.[33] FDJ–BigMat rider Rémi Pauriol and Saur–Sojasun's Maxime Méderel broke clear of the peloton in the opening stages, and they were subsequently joined by a group which contained a number of overall race contenders including maillot jaune et bleu wearer Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas–Cannondale and Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Sylvain Chavanel.[34] The group was eventually reabsorbed back into the main group after around 20 km (12.4 mi) of racing.[35]
After a period of stability within the main group, a four-rider move consisting of three French riders – David Moncoutié representing Cofidis, Blel Kadri of Ag2r–La Mondiale and Team Europcar's Christophe Kern, who won a stage during the 2011 race – as well as Colombia's Cayetano Sarmiento, riding for the Liquigas–Cannondale team, advanced clear of the field and quickly established an advantage over them; of those, Kadri was best-placed at just eleven seconds behind Wiggins prior to the stage.[34] Team Sky marshalled the front of the peloton as a result, not letting the gap over four minutes at any point. Behind, there were several moves in order for riders to bridge a gap between the main field and the leaders; at the Col de Lalouvesc with 40 km (24.9 mi) to go, the leaders only held a gap of around half a minute over their chasers.[35] Five riders tried to do so, but only one was able to stay in between the breakaway and the peloton.
FDJ–BigMat's Anthony Roux was the rider in question,[36] and he set off after the quartet up front, and was able to reach them with around 7 km (4.3 mi) remaining of the stage. However, the peloton was not far behind, and the breakaway did not last much longer after that. With the field back together, several riders attempted solo moves off the front of the peloton, including Kadri's team-mate Mikaël Cherel,[35] but all were unsuccessful. The group remained together into the climb towards the finish; Liquigas–Cannondale and BMC Racing Team headed the group, protecting their main riders Nibali and Cadel Evans from any potential trouble. World time trial champion Tony Martin tried to get clear within the final kilometre for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step but could not sustain a gap over everyone else, and Team Katusha rider Daniel Moreno timed his sprint perfectly,[37] to take his third win of the season, ahead of French pair Julien Simon (Saur–Sojasun) and RadioShack–Nissan's Tony Gallopin.[38] Wiggins finished ninth to maintain his one-second overall lead over Evans, who was seventh.[34][39]
