Vuelta a Espana 2012

The 2012 Vuelta a España started on 18 August 2012 and was the 67th edition of the race. The race began in Pamplona with a team time trial and ended on 9 September, as traditional, in Madrid. The 2012 edition saw the return of the Bola del Mundo mountain top finish. It was the venue of an exciting battle between winner Vincenzo Nibali and runner-up Ezequiel Mosquera in the 2010 edition. It was the first time since 1994 that the race visited the region of Navarre. The previous time that Pamplona was visited by a Grand Tour in 1996, when the city hosted the finish of a memorable stage of the 1996 Tour de France. On that occasion, the race paid homage to Miguel Indurain by passing through his home village of Villava en route.

The race was won for the second time by Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank, taking his first overall victory since returning from a doping suspension. Contador, who won the seventeenth stage of the race after a solo attack, won the general classification by 1′ 16″” over runner-up Alejandro Valverde of the Movistar Team team. Two-time stage winner Valverde also won two sub-classifications on the final day; by taking a sixth-place finish on the stage into Madrid, he overhauled the points tally of Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) in that classification, and their resultant switch of positions, allowed Valverde to take the combination classification – where the lowest cumulative score across the general, points and mountains classifications wins – as well.

Completing an all-Spanish podium, Rodríguez finished the race third overall, 21 seconds behind Valverde and 1′ 37″” behind Contador, having led the race for 13 days between the fourth and sixteenth stages. Rodríguez also achieved three stage victories, a tally second only to Argos–Shimano sprinter John Degenkolb who won five stages, the most by a German at the Vuelta. Orica–GreenEDGE’s Simon Clarke became the second Australian to win the mountains classification in a Grand Tour, while the Movistar Team comfortably won the teams classification.

2012 Vuelta a España

2012 UCI World Tour, race 22 of 28
Race details
Dates	18 August – 9 September
Stages	21
Distance	3,360.2 km (2,088 mi)
Winning time	84h 59′ 49″
Results
Winner  Alberto Contador (ESP) (Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank) Second  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) (Movistar Team) Third  Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP) (Team Katusha) Points  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) (Movistar Team) Mountains  Simon Clarke (AUS) (Orica–GreenEDGE) Combination  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) (Movistar Team) Team Movistar Team
← 2011 2013 →

Teams

Stages

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	18 August	Pamplona	16.5 km (10.3 mi)		Team Time Trial	Movistar Team
2	19 August	Pamplona – Viana	181.4 km (112.7 mi)		Flat Stage	John Degenkolb (GER)
3	20 August	Oion – Arrate (Eibar)	155.3 km (96.5 mi)		Medium Mountain Stage	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
4	21 August	Barakaldo – Valdezcaray	160.6 km (99.8 mi)		Medium Mountain Stage	Simon Clarke (AUS)
5	22 August	Logroño – Logroño	168 km (104 mi)		Flat Stage	John Degenkolb (GER)
6	23 August	Tarazona – El Fuerte del Rapitán (Jaca)	175.4 km (109.0 mi)		Medium Mountain Stage	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)
7	24 August	Huesca – Motorland Aragon (Alcañiz)	164.2 km (102.0 mi)		Flat Stage	John Degenkolb (GER)
8	25 August	Lleida – Coll de la Gallina	174.7 km (108.6 mi)		Mountain Stage	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
9	26 August	Andorra – Barcelona	196.3 km (122.0 mi)		Flat Stage	Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
	27 August	Rest day
10	28 August	Ponteareas – Sanxenxo	190 km (120 mi)		Flat Stage	John Degenkolb (GER)
11	29 August	Cambados – Pontevedra	39.4 km (24.5 mi)		Individual Time Trial	Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE)
12	30 August	Vilagarcía – Mirador de Ézaro (Dumbría)	190.5 km (118.4 mi)		Medium Mountain Stage	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)
13	31 August	Santiago de Compostela – Ferrol	172.8 km (107.4 mi)		Flat Stage	Steve Cummings (GBR)
14	1 September	Palas de Rei – Los Ancares	149.2 km (92.7 mi)		Mountain Stage	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)
15	2 September	La Robla – Lagos de Covadonga	186.5 km (115.9 mi)		Mountain Stage	Antonio Piedra (ESP)
16	3 September	Gijón – Cuitu Negro	183.5 km (114.0 mi)		Mountain Stage	Dario Cataldo (ITA)
	4 September	Rest day
17	5 September	Santander – Fuente Dé	187.3 km (116.4 mi)		Medium Mountain Stage	Alberto Contador (ESP)
18	6 September	Aguilar de Campoo – Valladolid	204.5 km (127.1 mi)		Flat Stage	Daniele Bennati (ITA)
19	7 September	Peñafiel – La Lastrilla	178.4 km (110.9 mi)		Flat Stage	Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
20	8 September	Palazuelos de Eresma – Bola del Mundo	170.7 km (106.1 mi)		Mountain Stage	Denis Menchov (RUS)
21	9 September	Cercedilla – Madrid	115 km (71 mi)		Flat Stage	John Degenkolb (GER)

Classification leadership table

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Combination classification	Team classification	Combativity award
1	Movistar Team	Jonathan Castroviejo	not awarded	not awarded	not awarded	Movistar Team	Imanol Erviti
2	John Degenkolb		John Degenkolb	Javier Chacón	Javier Chacón		Javier Aramendia
3	Alejandro Valverde	Alejandro Valverde	Alejandro Valverde	Pim Ligthart	Alejandro Valverde		Philippe Gilbert
4	Simon Clarke	Joaquim Rodríguez	Simon Clarke	Simon Clarke	Joaquim Rodríguez	Rabobank	Luis Ángel Maté
5	John Degenkolb		John Degenkolb				Javier Chacón
6	Joaquim Rodríguez					Team Sky	Thomas De Gendt
7	John Degenkolb						Javier Aramendia
8	Alejandro Valverde			Alejandro Valverde		Rabobank	Javier Aramendia
9	Philippe Gilbert		Joaquim Rodríguez				Javier Chacón
10	John Degenkolb		John Degenkolb				Javier Aramendia
11	Fredrik Kessiakoff						Fredrik Kessiakoff
12	Joaquim Rodríguez		Joaquim Rodríguez				Mikel Astarloza
13	Steve Cummings						Juan Antonio Flecha
14	Joaquim Rodríguez			Simon Clarke			Juan Manuel Gárate
15	Antonio Piedra					Movistar Team	Antonio Piedra
16	Dario Cataldo						Dario Cataldo
17	Alberto Contador	Alberto Contador					Alberto Contador
18	Daniele Bennati						Gatis Smukulis
19	Philippe Gilbert						Ji Cheng
20	Denis Menchov						Simon Clarke
21	John Degenkolb		Alejandro Valverde		Alejandro Valverde		not awarded
Final		Alberto Contador	Alejandro Valverde	Simon Clarke	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	Alberto Contador

General classification

	Rider	Team	Time
1	Alberto Contador (ESP)	Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank	84h 59′ 49″
2	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	Movistar Team	+ 1′ 16″
3	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Team Katusha	+ 1′ 37″
4	Chris Froome (GBR)	Team Sky	+ 10′ 16″
5	Daniel Moreno (ESP)	Team Katusha	+ 11′ 29″
6	Robert Gesink (NED)	Rabobank	+ 12′ 23″
7	Andrew Talansky (USA)	Garmin–Sharp	+ 13′ 28″
8	Laurens ten Dam (NED)	Rabobank	+ 13′ 41″
9	Igor Antón (ESP)	Euskaltel–Euskadi	+ 14′ 01″
10	Beñat Intxausti (ESP)	Movistar Team	+ 16′ 13″

Points classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	Movistar Team	199
2	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Team Katusha	193
3	Alberto Contador (ESP)	Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank	161
4	John Degenkolb (GER)	Argos–Shimano	149
5	Daniele Bennati (ITA)	RadioShack–Nissan	107
6	Chris Froome (GBR)	Team Sky	93
7	Allan Davis (AUS)	Orica–GreenEDGE	84
8	Elia Viviani (ITA)	Liquigas–Cannondale	79
9	Lloyd Mondory (FRA)	Ag2r–La Mondiale	74
10	Daniel Moreno (ESP)	Team Katusha	72

King of the Mountains classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1	Simon Clarke (AUS)	Orica–GreenEDGE	63
2	David de la Fuente (ESP)	Caja Rural	40
3	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Team Katusha	36
4	Thomas De Gendt (BEL)	Vacansoleil–DCM	33
5	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	Movistar Team	31
6	Alberto Contador (ESP)	Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank	28
7	Dario Cataldo (ITA)	Omega Pharma–Quick-Step	27
8	Richie Porte (AUS)	Team Sky	21
9	Denis Menchov (RUS)	Team Katusha	20
10	David Moncoutié (FRA)	Cofidis	18

Combination classification

	Rider	Team	Total
1	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	Movistar Team	8
2	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Team Katusha	8
3	Alberto Contador (ESP)	Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank	10
4	Chris Froome (GBR)	Team Sky	30
5	Daniel Moreno (ESP)	Team Katusha	48
6	Nicolas Roche (IRL)	Ag2r–La Mondiale	65
7	Eros Capecchi (ITA)	Liquigas–Cannondale	79
8	Thomas De Gendt (BEL)	Vacansoleil–DCM	80
9	Dario Cataldo (ITA)	Omega Pharma–Quick-Step	85
10	Sergio Henao (COL)	Team Sky	88

Team classification

External links

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