Tour of the Basque Country 2012

52nd Tour of the Basque Country 2012
Racing series	UCI WorldTour
Host country	Spain
Competition period	April 2 to 7, 2012
Stages	6th
overall length	855.6 km
Starting field	160 from 20 nations in 20 teams (114 of them arrived at the finish)
winner
Overall rating	1. Samuel Sánchez (EUS) 20:58:15 h 2. Joaquim Rodríguez (KAT) + 0:12 min 3. Bauke Mollema (RAB) + 0:42 min
Team evaluation	Katusha Team 63:00:18 h
Scoring jerseys
Overall rating	Samuel Sánchez (EUS)
Scoring	Samuel Sánchez (EUS)
Mountain scoring	Mads Christensen (SAX)
Sprint scoring	Marco Pinotti (BMC)
course
← 2011	2013 →

The 52nd Tour of the Basque Country (officially: Vuelta al País Vasco ) took place from April 2nd to 7th, 2012. The cycling - stage race is part of the UCI World Tour in 2012 and was in six stages held. The total distance was 855.6 kilometers. With his victory in the final time trial, the Spaniard Samuel Sánchez , who had already worn the overall leader's jersey for one day on the fourth stage, also won the tour. Joaquim Rodríguez and Bauke Mollema completed the podium.

Stages

The route map was presented on March 15, 2012 in Bilbao.

Stage overview

stage	Day	Start finish	km	Type	Stage winner
1.	2nd of April	Güeñes - Güeñes	153		José Joaquín Rojas Gil (MOV)
2.	3rd of April	Güeñes - Vitoria-Gasteiz	165.7		Daryl Impey (GEC)
3.	4. April	Vitoria-Gasteiz - Eibar-Arrate	164		Samuel Sánchez (EUS)
4th	April 5th	Eibar - Bera-Ibardin	151		Joaquim Rodríguez (KAT)
5.	April 6th	Bera-Ibardin - Oñati	183
6th	7th of April	Oñati - Oñati	018.9		Samuel Sánchez (EUS)

1st stage, Güeñes - Güeñes

Result 1st stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	José Joaquín Rojas Gil		(MOV)	3:57:44 h
2.	Wouter Poels		(VCD)	same time
3.	Fabian Wegmann		(GRM)	same time
4th	Daniele Ratto		(LIQ)	same time
5.	Arthur Vichot		(FDJ)	same time

Overall ranking after the 1st stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	José Joaquín Rojas Gil		Movistar	3:57:44 h
2.	Wouter Poels		Vacansoleil DCM	same time
3.	Fabian Wegmann		Garmin Barracuda	same time
4th	Daniele Ratto		Liquigas-Cannondale	same time
5.	Arthur Vichot		FDJ-Big Mat	same time

2nd stage, Güeñes - Vitoria-Gasteiz

Result 2nd stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Daryl Impey		GreenEdge Cycling Team	4:10:07 h
2.	Allan Davis		GreenEdge Cycling Team	same time
3.	Davide Appollonio		Sky ProCycling	same time
4th	José Joaquin Rojas Gil		Movistar	same time
5.	Michael Matthews		Rabobank Cycling Team	same time

Overall ranking after the 2nd stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	José Joaquin Rojas Gil		Movistar	8:07:51 h
2.	Daniele Ratto		Liquigas-Cannondale	same time
3.	Fabian Wegmann		Garmin Barracuda	same time
4th	Daryl Impey		GreenEdge Cycling Team	same time
5.	Francesco Gavazzi		Astana Pro Team	same time

3rd stage, Vitoria-Gasteiz - Eibar-Arrate

Result 3rd stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Samuel Sánchez		Euskaltel-Euskadi	3:58:15 h
2.	Joaquim Rodríguez		Katusha team	same time
3.	Christopher Horner		RadioShack Nissan	+ 0:12
4th	Bauke Mollema		Rabobank Cycling Team	same time
5.	Damiano Cunego		Lampre ISD	same time

Overall ranking after the 3rd stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Samuel Sánchez		Euskaltel-Euskadi	12:06:06 h
2.	Christopher Horner		RadioShack Nissan	same time
3.	Joaquim Rodríguez		Katusha team	same time
4th	Ryder Hesjedal		Garmin Barracuda	+ 0:12
5.	Wouter Poels		Vacansoleil DCM	same time

4th stage, Eibar - Bera-Ibardin

Result 4th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Joaquim Rodríguez		Katusha team	3:55:56 h
2.	Samuel Sánchez		Euskaltel-Euskadi	+ 0:09
3.	Sergio Henao		Sky ProCycling	+ 0:12
4th	Robert Kišerlovski		Astana Pro Team	same time
5.	Lars Petter Nordhaug		Sky ProCycling	same time

Overall ranking after the 4th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Joaquim Rodríguez		Katusha team	16:02:02 h
2.	Samuel Sánchez		Euskaltel-Euskadi	+ 0:09
3.	Christopher Horner		RadioShack Nissan	+ 0:21
4th	Robert Kišerlovski		Astana Pro Team	+ 0:24
5.	Sergio Henao		Sky ProCycling	same time

5th stage, Bera-Ibardin - Oñati

Result 5th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Joaquim Rodríguez		Katusha team	4:27:16 h
2.	Samuel Sánchez		Euskaltel-Euskadi	same time
3.	Robert Kišerlovski		Astana Pro Team	+ 0:02
4th	Vasili Kiryienka		Movistar	+ 0:05
5.	Lars Petter Nordhaug		Sky ProCycling	same time

Overall ranking after the 5th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Joaquim Rodríguez		Katusha team	20:29:18 h
2.	Samuel Sánchez		Euskaltel-Euskadi	+ 0:09
3.	Robert Kišerlovski		Astana Pro Team	+ 0:26
4th	Lars Petter Nordhaug		Sky ProCycling	+ 0:33
5.	Michele Scarponi		Lampre ISD	same time

6th stage, Oñati - Oñati

Result 6th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Samuel Sánchez		Euskaltel-Euskadi	28:48 min
2.	Bauke Mollema		Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 0:06
3.	Tony Martin		Omega Pharma-Quick Step	+ 0:07
4th	Marco Pinotti		BMC Racing Team	+ 0:15
5.	Damiano Cunego		Lampre ISD	+ 0:16

Overall ranking after the 6th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Samuel Sánchez		Euskaltel-Euskadi	20:58:15 h
2.	Joaquim Rodríguez		Katusha team	+ 0:12
3.	Bauke Mollema		Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 0:42
4th	Damiano Cunego		Lampre ISD	+ 0:47
5.	Tony Martin		Omega Pharma-Quick Step	+ 0:54

Ratings in the course of the race

stage	Overall rating	Scoring	Mountain scoring	Sprint scoring	Team evaluation
1.	José Joaquín Rojas (MOV)	José Joaquín Rojas (MOV)	David de la Fuente (CJR)	Davide Mucelli (UNA)	Vacansoleil DCM
2.				Julián Sánchez (CJR)	GreenEdge Cycling Team
3.	Samuel Sánchez (EUS)		Mads Christensen (SAX)	Mads Christensen (SAX)	Katusha team
4th	Joaquim Rodríguez (KAT)	Samuel Sánchez (EUS)
5.		Joaquim Rodríguez (KAT)		Marco Pinotti (BMC)	Sky ProCycling
6th	Samuel Sánchez (EUS)	Samuel Sánchez (EUS)			Katusha team

Attendees

Teams

The 18 ProTeams were entitled to start . The organizer also invited the two Professional Continental Teams Utensilnord Named from Ireland and, as in the previous year, Caja Rural from Spain .

ProTeams Ag2r Astana Pro Team BMC Racing Team Euskaltel-Euskadi FDJ-Big Mat Garmin Barracuda	GreenEdge Cycling Team Katusha team Lampre ISD Liquigas-Cannondale Lotto Belisol team Movistar	Omega Pharma-Quick Step Rabobank Cycling Team RadioShack Nissan Sky ProCycling Team Saxo Bank Vacansoleil DCM
Professional Continental Teams Caja Rural	Utensilnord Named

Driver field

The following drivers and teams took part in the 2012 Basque Country Tour:

RadioShack Nissan (RNT)

01: Andreas Klöden 02: Frank Schleck 03: Christopher Horner 04: Oliver Zaugg 05: Jens Voigt 06: Maxime Monfort 07: Matthew Busche 08: Ben King

Sky ProCycling (SKY)

11: Michael Rogers 12: Davide Appollonio 13: Sergio Henao 14: Thomas Lövkvist 15: Lars Petter Nordhaug 16: Salvatore Puccio 17: Luke Rowe 18: Xabier Zandio

Movistar (MOV)

21: David Arroyo 22: Rui Faria da Costa 23: José Joaquín Rojas Gil 24: Marzio Bruseghin 25: David López García 26: Wassil Kiryenka 27: José Herrada 28: Angel Madrazo

Vacansoleil-DCM (VCD)

31: Johnny Hoogerland 32: Wout Poels 33: Matteo Carrara 34: Thomas De Gendt 35: Sergey Lagutin 36: Tomasz Marczyński 37: Nikita Novikov 38: Pim Ligthart

Katusha Team (KAT)

41: Joaquim Rodríguez 42: Daniel Moreno 43: Simon Špilak 44: Giampaolo Caruso 45: Eduard Vorganov 46: Yuri Trofimov 47: Angel Vicioso 48: Alberto Losada

Liquigas-Cannondale (LIQ)

51: Cayetano Sarmiento 52: Daniele Ratto 53: Damiano Caruso 54: Moreno Moser 55: Stefano Agostini 56: Timothy Duggan 57: Dominik Nerz 58: Maciej Paterski

GreenEdge Cycling Team (GEC)

61: Simon Gerrans 62: Allan Davis 63: Michael Albasini 64: Simon Clarke 65: Daryl Impey 66: Christian Meier 67: Wesley Sulzberger 68: Travis Meyer

Astana Pro Team (AST)

71: Janez Brajkovič 72: Robert Kišerlovski 73: Yevgeny Petrov 74: Enrico Gasparotto 75: Tanel Kangert 76: Francesco Gavazzi 77: Yegor Silin 78: Alexander Dyachenko

Ag2r (ALM)

81: Rinaldo Nocentini 82: Jean-Christophe Péraud 83: Maxime Bouet 84: Guillaume Bonnafond 85: Hubert Dupont 86: John Gadret 87: Ben Gastauer 88: Christophe Riblon

BMC Racing Team (BMC)

91: Martin Kohler 92: Marco Pinotti 93: Timothy Roe 94: Ivan Santaromita 95: Mauro Santambrogio 96: Steve Cummings 97: Yannick Eijssen 98: Amaël Moinard

FDJ-Big Mat (FDJ)

101: Sandy Casar 102: Arnold Jeannesson 103: Cédric Pineau 104: Thibaut Pinot 105: Anthony Roux 106: Jussi Veikkanen 107: Arthur Vichot 108: Benoît Vaugrenard

Lampre ISD (LAM)

111: Damiano Cunego 112: Michele Scarponi 113: Morris Possoni 114: Daniele Pietropolli 115: Adriano Malori 116: Przemysław Niemiec 117: Simone Stortoni 118: Diego Ulissi

Omega Pharma-Quick Step (OPQ)

121: Tony Martin 122: Martin Velits 123: Jérôme Pineau 124: Kristof Vandewalle 125: Peter Velits 126: Julien Vermote 127: Kevin De Weert 128: Michał Gołaś

Lotto Belisol Team (LTB)

131: Jurgen Van Den Broeck 132: Olivier Kaisen 133: Jurgen Van De Walle 134: Francis De Greef 135: Jelle Vanendert 136: Bart De Clercq 137: Brian Bulgaç 138: Gianni Meersman

Rabobank Cycling Team (RAB)

141: Robert Gesink 142: Juan Manuel Gárate 143: Bauke Mollema 144: Steven Kruijswijk 145: Paul Martens 146: Stef Clement 147: Michael Matthews 148: Grischa Niermann

Garmin Barracuda (GRM)

151: Heinrich Haussler 152: Daniel Martin 153: Tom Danielson 154: Ryder Hesjedal 155: Nathan Haas 156: Thomas Peterson 157: Peter Stetina 158: Fabian Wegmann

Team Saxo Bank (SAX)

161: Sérgio Paulinho 162: Daniel Navarro 163: Nicki Sørensen 164: Chris Anker Sørensen 165: Troels Vinther 166: Jesús Hernández 167: Mads Christensen 168: Bruno Pires

Euskaltel-Euskadi (EUS)

171: Samuel Sánchez 172: Igor Antón 173: Gorka Izagirre 174: Mikel Astarloza 175: Egoi Martínez 176: Gorka Verdugo 177: Jorge Azanza 178: Juan José Oroz

Caja Rural (CJR)

181: Garikoitz Bravo 182: Hernâni Broco 183: Marcos García Fernández 184: Andre Cardoso 185: Julián Sánchez 186: Aitor Galdós 187: Antonio Piedra 188: David de la Fuente

Utensilnord Named (UNA)

191: Francisco Vila 192: Filippo Baggio 193: Paolo Bailetti 194: Gabriele Bosisio 195: Oleg Berdos 196: Federico Rocchetti 197: Davide Mucelli 198: Edoardo Girardi

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stage presentation ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ participant

Web links

• Organizer website
• Tour of the Basque Country 2012 in the ProCyclingStats.com database