Gent – ​​Wevelgem 2012

Gent – ​​Wevelgem 2012
Host country	Belgium
Competition period	March 25, 2012
overall length	235.4 kilometers
Starting field	200 in 25 teams (158 of them arrived at the finish)
winner
Overall rating	1. Tom Boonen 5:32:44 h 2. Peter Sagan same time 3. Matti Breschel same time
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The 74th semi-classic Gent – ​​Wevelgem took place on March 25, 2012. The one-day race was part of the UCI WorldTour 2012 and the seventh race within it. The distance of the race was 235.4 kilometers.

Attendees

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 Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator Landbouwkrediet-Euphony	Accent Jobs-Willems Veranda's Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne	Farnese Vini-Selle Italia Project 1t4i	Team Europcar

One of the big favorites to win was Belgian Tom Boonen , who had won the E3 Prize a week earlier . In addition to the defending champion, Francesco Chicchi and Gerald Ciolek from the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team also expect good chances. The Sky ProCycling team started with three aces : With world champion Mark Cavendish , the winner of 2009, Edvald Boasson Hagen , and the winner of 2010, Bernhard Eisel , there were three contenders for victory in their ranks. Three former winners started for Team BMC : George Hincapie (2001), Thor Hushovd (2006) and Marcus Burghardt (2007) wanted to win again this year. BMC also had a strong sprinter in its ranks in Greg Van Avermaet . Another contender for the win was the Belgian one-day specialist Philippe Gilbert , who had to give up the E3 Flanders Prize a week earlier due to a toothache. The RadioShack Nissan team sent the two top drivers Fabian Cancellara and Daniele Bennati into the race. Other favorites were: André Greipel ( Lotto Belisol ), Matthew Goss ( GreenEdge ), Óscar Freire ( Katjuscha ), Tyler Farrar ( Garmin-Barracuda ), Matti Breschel ( Rabobank ), and Filippo Pozzato ( Farnese Vini ).

route

The start was not in Ghent , but in Deinze , a city 24 km southwest of Ghent. The route led first on a flat course in a westerly direction to the coast and then to the south. The French border was passed 113.5 km from the destination. The race led through France for 45 km . There were also the first four hills with cobblestone pavement, the so-called Hellinge. After the 5th slipway 62.7 km from the finish, the first in Belgium, it went on a loop. There were the Baneberg and the Kemmelberg . The last slipway , Monteberg , reached the field 32.8 km from the finish. After that, the course was mostly flat, as was the home straight in Wevelgem .

Final score

Result

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Tom Boonen		Omega Pharma-Quick Step	5:32:44 h
2.	Peter Sagan		Liquigas-Cannondale	same time
3.	Matti Breschel		Rabobank Cycling Team	same time
4th	Óscar Freire		Katusha team	same time
5.	Edvald Boasson Hagen		Sky ProCycling	same time
6th	Daniele Bennati		RadioShack Nissan	same time
7th	Marco Marcato		Vacansoleil DCM	same time
8th.	Steve Chainel		FDJ-Big Mat	same time
9.	Filippo Pozzato		Farnese Vini-Selle Italia	same time
10.	Giovanni Visconti		Movistar	same time

Web links

• Official website
• Gent – ​​Wevelgem 2012 in the Radsportseiten.net database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ radsport-news.de: preliminary report
2. ↑ live-radsport.ch: preview and map of the race