The 2012 Tour of Beijing was the second running of the
Tour of Beijing stage race. It started on 9 October at
Tiananmen Square and ended on 13 October in Beijing's
Pinggu District after five stages. It was the 28th and final race of the
2012 UCI World Tour season.
The race was won for the second successive year by German rider
Tony Martin, riding for the
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team.[2] Martin won the second stage of the race with a solo attack 25 km (15.5 mi) from the end of the stage, and ultimately won the stage by 46 seconds from his nearest competitor. He held the overall lead of the race until its conclusion, eventually winning the race by 40 seconds from
Astana rider
Francesco Gavazzi,[3] who won the race's queen stage on the third day.
Team Sky's
Edvald Boasson Hagen completed the podium, 6 seconds behind Gavazzi and 46 down on Martin, and also won the points classification for the most consistent finisher on the stages over the race.[4]
As the Tour of Beijing was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen
UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Originally, the race organisers awarded a wildcard place in the race to the
Argos–Shimano team,[9] but they withdrew from the race following political tension between China and Japan,[10] which resulted in Japanese riders being asked to leave September's
Tour of China,[11] that was held as part of the
2011–2012 UCI Asia Tour. They were ultimately replaced by the
Champion System team,[12] and as such, formed the event's 19-team peloton.
The nineteen teams that competed in the race were:[13]
The race-opening stage was a circuit race around several of the venues that were part of the
2008 Summer Olympics, primarily between the Bird's Nest and the
Water Cube.[15] After starting at Tiananmen Square and following a 23.5 km (14.6 mi) run-in,[16] the peloton had to complete twelve full laps of a circuit measuring 7.8 km (4.8 mi) in length.[17] Prior to the end of the stage on the thirteenth passage through the finish line,[18] points – along with time bonuses – were on offer at a pair of intermediate sprint points, held on the fourth and eighth passages respectively. As a result, the stage was widely expected to finish in a bunch sprint, with very little undulation throughout the circuit.[19] with a maximum of around 10 metres (33 ft) in elevation changes.
A group of five riders –
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider
Marco Bandiera,
Mathieu Ladagnous of
FDJ–BigMat,
Adriano Malori (
Lampre–ISD),
Vacansoleil–DCM's
Bert-Jan Lindeman as well as
Craig Lewis for the
Champion System team[19] – was established prior to them entering the circuit, at around the 14 km (8.7 mi) point of the stage.[16] The quintet manage to form an advantage of around two minutes, with the main field keeping the gap in check for most of the day. The breakaway swept up the bonus seconds on offer at the sprint points, with Ladagnous gaining the most as he was first across the line at both for six bonus seconds. The group were swept up on the penultimate lap, setting up the ultimate sprint for the line;
Elia Viviani sprinted down the left-hand side of the road for
Liquigas–Cannondale, and managed to fend off his rivals for his seventh win of 2012,[19] and assumed the lead of all three classifications on offer on the day.[20]Andrew Fenn finished second for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, ahead of
Team Sky's
Edvald Boasson Hagen.[16][21]
10 October 2012 — Bird's Nest to
MenTouGou, 126 km (78.3 mi)[8]
Following flooding in
Beijing in July that caused the deaths of 79 people,[22] race organisers were forced to re-route part of the stage, but maintained the stage start at the Bird's Nest and the finish in MenTouGou. Ultimately, the stage was slightly shortened from its original itinerary of 134 km (83.3 mi) to 126 km (78.3 mi), maintaining three categorised climbs during the parcours.[8] Prior to the start of the stage, it emerged that one of the race's competitors –
Ag2r–La Mondiale rider
Steve Houanard – had tested positive for the glycoprotein hormone
erythropoietin (EPO), a performance-enhancing drug, in an out of competition doping test and was asked to leave the race after being suspended by the
Union Cycliste Internationale.[23]
On the stage itself, five riders –
Rabobank's
Juan Manuel Gárate,
David Tanner of
Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank,
Mathias Frank (
BMC Racing Team),
Team Katusha rider
Maxim Belkov and
Iván Gutiérrez for the
Movistar Team[24] – instigated the breakaway around a quarter of the way through the stage, gaining a maximum advantage of over three minutes at one point.[25][26] A small group of riders bridged up to the lead group after the peloton had nearly brought them back, and they remained out front until the end.[24] Defending race winner
Tony Martin (
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) attacked this lead group with 25 km (15.5 mi) remaining, on the climb of the Dong Gang Hong Tunnel,[27] and sped away to win by around 45 seconds to record his first road stage win since the
2009 Tour de Suisse.[26][28] His margin of victory allowed him to take the red leader's jersey, as well as the green jersey as points leader.
The queen stage[30][31] of the Tour of Beijing saw the riders negotiate four categorised climbs during the stage's 162.5 km (101.0 mi) itinerary, ending in the first summit finish in the Tour's short history.[6] The final climb to the
Great Wall of China in Badaling was another venue part of the
2008 Summer Olympics – as part of the
Urban Road Cycling Course – and the climb itself was a short, punchy climb of around 1 km (0.62 mi) in length and at an average gradient of 6.3%.[32] Smog would also play a part in the stage's proceedings; after two previously clear days during the race, hazy conditions greeted the riders ahead of the start. Prior to the race, air quality levels were at a "severely polluted" level according to figures released by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.[33]
With
Tony Martin in the overall lead for the
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team,[34] they played a prominent part at closing down attacks in the early stages, before a seven-rider breakaway was allowed to be formed, just before the quarter-way point of the stage. Best-placed of the riders was
Mathieu Ladagnous of
FDJ–BigMat, who had featured in the opening day's breakaway, at around three minutes behind Martin.[30] The group gained a maximum advantage of about four-and-a-half minutes before the likes of
Liquigas–Cannondale and
Garmin–Sharp sent riders to the front of the peloton to bring the gap down.[34] The group was eventually caught with around 9 km (5.6 mi) remaining, with several counter-attacks occurring from then on.
Sylvain Georges (
Ag2r–La Mondiale) launched an attack to try to get clear,[35] but
Team Sky – aiding with the pace at the front of the main group – closed him down before he could establish a sizable advantage. Defending mountains classification winner
Igor Antón (
Euskaltel–Euskadi) was the next rider to try but he too was thwarted before the attack could fully materialise.[35] Instead, Team Sky's all-rounder
Edvald Boasson Hagen attacked with 3.5 km (2.2 mi) remaining,[36] and held a near 20-second lead into the final kilometre,[34] but was closed down in the final metres, with
Astana's
Francesco Gavazzi taking his first victory for the team and his first since winning a stage of the
2011 Vuelta a España. Boasson Hagen finished third on the stage as he was also beaten to the line by Garmin–Sharp rider
Dan Martin; Tony Martin held on to his race lead, with a reduced advantage of 40 seconds over Gavazzi,[30] following the stage-winning time bonus – introduced for the 2012 edition[37] – for Gavazzi.[38]
12 October 2012 — YanQing Gui Chuan Square to
Chang Ping, 165.5 km (102.8 mi)[39]
The penultimate stage of the Tour of Beijing consisted of a long loop around YanQing – making up most of the itinerary for the first half of the stage, 165.5 km (102.8 mi) in length – before the riders had to negotiate three categorised climbs (within 25 km (15.5 mi) of racing) in the
Jundu Mountains,[40] in the second half of the stage. Each of the three climbs were third-category and equally measured 2.3 km (1.4 mi) in length, with average gradients for the climbs ranging from 4.2% to 5.2% respectively. From the top of the final climb – just outside Xiezishi[41] – it was all downhill for the remaining 31.5 km (19.6 mi) of the parcours into the finish in Chang Ping,[42] with the stage finishing near to the district's gymnastics stadium.[41]
A group of five riders – made up of
Garmin–Sharp's
Alex Howes,
Team Katusha rider Timofey Kritskiy,
Mitchell Docker of
Orica–GreenEDGE,
Alex Dowsett (
Team Sky) and
Jérémy Roy, riding for the
FDJ–BigMat team[43] – were allowed to create a breakaway inside the opening 20 km (12.4 mi) of the stage, with none of the quintet threatening overall leader
Tony Martin (
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) in the general classification. The leaders had gained an advantage of around six-and-a-half minutes towards halfway through the stage,[44] before Omega Pharma–Quick-Step along with the sprinters' teams started to cut into the advantage. Roy attacked his breakaway companions towards the summit of the final climb; he held almost three minutes over the field at the summit,[40] but he was caught with 5 km (3.1 mi) to go.[43] As a result, this eventually set up a bunch sprint that was won by Kritskiy's team-mate
Marco Haller, a neo-pro, who achieved his first professional victory on the line.[45]
13 October 2012 — Chang Ping to
Ping Gu, 182.5 km (113.4 mi)[46]
The final stage of the race was also its longest stage, with an itinerary consisting of 182.5 km (113.4 mi) of racing. Two of the day's four categorised climbs were negotiated inside the first 30 km (18.6 mi),[47] with the peloton having a relatively flat ride for 100 km (62.1 mi) beyond that. Two further categorised climbs – a second-category climb to Tai Hou Village,[48] followed by the first-category ascent of Si Zuo Lou, averaging gradients of 6.7% and 5.9% respectively[46] – featured on the parcours before a long descent towards Ping Gu's Century Square,[49] and the end of the race. The race remained together for the first hour of racing, with mountains classification leader
Dan Martin (
Garmin–Sharp) gaining the most, claiming maximum points at each of the first two climbs.[48]
After that, a twelve-rider move got clear of the main field but the peloton failed to let them gain a substantial advantage over them; the maximum gap that the group acquired was around two minutes. The group started to break apart on the climb to Tai Hou Village, while Martin's team-mate
Ryder Hesjedal made a solo move from the main field,[50] and soon joined up with the lead group; on the final climb, the group was reduced to a trio as only Hesjedal,
RadioShack–Nissan rider
Jan Bakelants and
BMC Racing Team's
Steve Cummings remained. Bakelants lost contact before the summit, and Hesjedal and Cummings remained clear of the field for the rest of the day.[51] Cummings followed Hesjedal into Ping Gu, and out-sprinted him for his second victory of the season.[52]Edvald Boasson Hagen led the main field home seventeen seconds later,[51] to confirm himself as the points classification winner and third in the general classification – down to bonus seconds – behind
Astana's
Francesco Gavazzi, and the repeat victor
Tony Martin of
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step.[53]
^"Wide open Tour of Beijing set for second edition in Chinese Capital". Tour of Beijing. Global Cycling Promotion. 7 October 2012. Archived from
the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2012. New this year, the time bonuses will provide a fantastic fight between the sprinters and escape artists, like the guest team Champion System. Two intermediate sprints will indeed offer three, two and one seconds to the first three riders crossing the line, while the finish gives ten, six and four second bonuses, which may well decide the overall Tour winner.
The 2012 Tour of Beijing was the second running of the
Tour of Beijing stage race. It started on 9 October at
Tiananmen Square and ended on 13 October in Beijing's
Pinggu District after five stages. It was the 28th and final race of the
2012 UCI World Tour season.
The race was won for the second successive year by German rider
Tony Martin, riding for the
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team.[2] Martin won the second stage of the race with a solo attack 25 km (15.5 mi) from the end of the stage, and ultimately won the stage by 46 seconds from his nearest competitor. He held the overall lead of the race until its conclusion, eventually winning the race by 40 seconds from
Astana rider
Francesco Gavazzi,[3] who won the race's queen stage on the third day.
Team Sky's
Edvald Boasson Hagen completed the podium, 6 seconds behind Gavazzi and 46 down on Martin, and also won the points classification for the most consistent finisher on the stages over the race.[4]
As the Tour of Beijing was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen
UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Originally, the race organisers awarded a wildcard place in the race to the
Argos–Shimano team,[9] but they withdrew from the race following political tension between China and Japan,[10] which resulted in Japanese riders being asked to leave September's
Tour of China,[11] that was held as part of the
2011–2012 UCI Asia Tour. They were ultimately replaced by the
Champion System team,[12] and as such, formed the event's 19-team peloton.
The nineteen teams that competed in the race were:[13]
The race-opening stage was a circuit race around several of the venues that were part of the
2008 Summer Olympics, primarily between the Bird's Nest and the
Water Cube.[15] After starting at Tiananmen Square and following a 23.5 km (14.6 mi) run-in,[16] the peloton had to complete twelve full laps of a circuit measuring 7.8 km (4.8 mi) in length.[17] Prior to the end of the stage on the thirteenth passage through the finish line,[18] points – along with time bonuses – were on offer at a pair of intermediate sprint points, held on the fourth and eighth passages respectively. As a result, the stage was widely expected to finish in a bunch sprint, with very little undulation throughout the circuit.[19] with a maximum of around 10 metres (33 ft) in elevation changes.
A group of five riders –
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider
Marco Bandiera,
Mathieu Ladagnous of
FDJ–BigMat,
Adriano Malori (
Lampre–ISD),
Vacansoleil–DCM's
Bert-Jan Lindeman as well as
Craig Lewis for the
Champion System team[19] – was established prior to them entering the circuit, at around the 14 km (8.7 mi) point of the stage.[16] The quintet manage to form an advantage of around two minutes, with the main field keeping the gap in check for most of the day. The breakaway swept up the bonus seconds on offer at the sprint points, with Ladagnous gaining the most as he was first across the line at both for six bonus seconds. The group were swept up on the penultimate lap, setting up the ultimate sprint for the line;
Elia Viviani sprinted down the left-hand side of the road for
Liquigas–Cannondale, and managed to fend off his rivals for his seventh win of 2012,[19] and assumed the lead of all three classifications on offer on the day.[20]Andrew Fenn finished second for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, ahead of
Team Sky's
Edvald Boasson Hagen.[16][21]
10 October 2012 — Bird's Nest to
MenTouGou, 126 km (78.3 mi)[8]
Following flooding in
Beijing in July that caused the deaths of 79 people,[22] race organisers were forced to re-route part of the stage, but maintained the stage start at the Bird's Nest and the finish in MenTouGou. Ultimately, the stage was slightly shortened from its original itinerary of 134 km (83.3 mi) to 126 km (78.3 mi), maintaining three categorised climbs during the parcours.[8] Prior to the start of the stage, it emerged that one of the race's competitors –
Ag2r–La Mondiale rider
Steve Houanard – had tested positive for the glycoprotein hormone
erythropoietin (EPO), a performance-enhancing drug, in an out of competition doping test and was asked to leave the race after being suspended by the
Union Cycliste Internationale.[23]
On the stage itself, five riders –
Rabobank's
Juan Manuel Gárate,
David Tanner of
Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank,
Mathias Frank (
BMC Racing Team),
Team Katusha rider
Maxim Belkov and
Iván Gutiérrez for the
Movistar Team[24] – instigated the breakaway around a quarter of the way through the stage, gaining a maximum advantage of over three minutes at one point.[25][26] A small group of riders bridged up to the lead group after the peloton had nearly brought them back, and they remained out front until the end.[24] Defending race winner
Tony Martin (
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) attacked this lead group with 25 km (15.5 mi) remaining, on the climb of the Dong Gang Hong Tunnel,[27] and sped away to win by around 45 seconds to record his first road stage win since the
2009 Tour de Suisse.[26][28] His margin of victory allowed him to take the red leader's jersey, as well as the green jersey as points leader.
The queen stage[30][31] of the Tour of Beijing saw the riders negotiate four categorised climbs during the stage's 162.5 km (101.0 mi) itinerary, ending in the first summit finish in the Tour's short history.[6] The final climb to the
Great Wall of China in Badaling was another venue part of the
2008 Summer Olympics – as part of the
Urban Road Cycling Course – and the climb itself was a short, punchy climb of around 1 km (0.62 mi) in length and at an average gradient of 6.3%.[32] Smog would also play a part in the stage's proceedings; after two previously clear days during the race, hazy conditions greeted the riders ahead of the start. Prior to the race, air quality levels were at a "severely polluted" level according to figures released by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.[33]
With
Tony Martin in the overall lead for the
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team,[34] they played a prominent part at closing down attacks in the early stages, before a seven-rider breakaway was allowed to be formed, just before the quarter-way point of the stage. Best-placed of the riders was
Mathieu Ladagnous of
FDJ–BigMat, who had featured in the opening day's breakaway, at around three minutes behind Martin.[30] The group gained a maximum advantage of about four-and-a-half minutes before the likes of
Liquigas–Cannondale and
Garmin–Sharp sent riders to the front of the peloton to bring the gap down.[34] The group was eventually caught with around 9 km (5.6 mi) remaining, with several counter-attacks occurring from then on.
Sylvain Georges (
Ag2r–La Mondiale) launched an attack to try to get clear,[35] but
Team Sky – aiding with the pace at the front of the main group – closed him down before he could establish a sizable advantage. Defending mountains classification winner
Igor Antón (
Euskaltel–Euskadi) was the next rider to try but he too was thwarted before the attack could fully materialise.[35] Instead, Team Sky's all-rounder
Edvald Boasson Hagen attacked with 3.5 km (2.2 mi) remaining,[36] and held a near 20-second lead into the final kilometre,[34] but was closed down in the final metres, with
Astana's
Francesco Gavazzi taking his first victory for the team and his first since winning a stage of the
2011 Vuelta a España. Boasson Hagen finished third on the stage as he was also beaten to the line by Garmin–Sharp rider
Dan Martin; Tony Martin held on to his race lead, with a reduced advantage of 40 seconds over Gavazzi,[30] following the stage-winning time bonus – introduced for the 2012 edition[37] – for Gavazzi.[38]
12 October 2012 — YanQing Gui Chuan Square to
Chang Ping, 165.5 km (102.8 mi)[39]
The penultimate stage of the Tour of Beijing consisted of a long loop around YanQing – making up most of the itinerary for the first half of the stage, 165.5 km (102.8 mi) in length – before the riders had to negotiate three categorised climbs (within 25 km (15.5 mi) of racing) in the
Jundu Mountains,[40] in the second half of the stage. Each of the three climbs were third-category and equally measured 2.3 km (1.4 mi) in length, with average gradients for the climbs ranging from 4.2% to 5.2% respectively. From the top of the final climb – just outside Xiezishi[41] – it was all downhill for the remaining 31.5 km (19.6 mi) of the parcours into the finish in Chang Ping,[42] with the stage finishing near to the district's gymnastics stadium.[41]
A group of five riders – made up of
Garmin–Sharp's
Alex Howes,
Team Katusha rider Timofey Kritskiy,
Mitchell Docker of
Orica–GreenEDGE,
Alex Dowsett (
Team Sky) and
Jérémy Roy, riding for the
FDJ–BigMat team[43] – were allowed to create a breakaway inside the opening 20 km (12.4 mi) of the stage, with none of the quintet threatening overall leader
Tony Martin (
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) in the general classification. The leaders had gained an advantage of around six-and-a-half minutes towards halfway through the stage,[44] before Omega Pharma–Quick-Step along with the sprinters' teams started to cut into the advantage. Roy attacked his breakaway companions towards the summit of the final climb; he held almost three minutes over the field at the summit,[40] but he was caught with 5 km (3.1 mi) to go.[43] As a result, this eventually set up a bunch sprint that was won by Kritskiy's team-mate
Marco Haller, a neo-pro, who achieved his first professional victory on the line.[45]
13 October 2012 — Chang Ping to
Ping Gu, 182.5 km (113.4 mi)[46]
The final stage of the race was also its longest stage, with an itinerary consisting of 182.5 km (113.4 mi) of racing. Two of the day's four categorised climbs were negotiated inside the first 30 km (18.6 mi),[47] with the peloton having a relatively flat ride for 100 km (62.1 mi) beyond that. Two further categorised climbs – a second-category climb to Tai Hou Village,[48] followed by the first-category ascent of Si Zuo Lou, averaging gradients of 6.7% and 5.9% respectively[46] – featured on the parcours before a long descent towards Ping Gu's Century Square,[49] and the end of the race. The race remained together for the first hour of racing, with mountains classification leader
Dan Martin (
Garmin–Sharp) gaining the most, claiming maximum points at each of the first two climbs.[48]
After that, a twelve-rider move got clear of the main field but the peloton failed to let them gain a substantial advantage over them; the maximum gap that the group acquired was around two minutes. The group started to break apart on the climb to Tai Hou Village, while Martin's team-mate
Ryder Hesjedal made a solo move from the main field,[50] and soon joined up with the lead group; on the final climb, the group was reduced to a trio as only Hesjedal,
RadioShack–Nissan rider
Jan Bakelants and
BMC Racing Team's
Steve Cummings remained. Bakelants lost contact before the summit, and Hesjedal and Cummings remained clear of the field for the rest of the day.[51] Cummings followed Hesjedal into Ping Gu, and out-sprinted him for his second victory of the season.[52]Edvald Boasson Hagen led the main field home seventeen seconds later,[51] to confirm himself as the points classification winner and third in the general classification – down to bonus seconds – behind
Astana's
Francesco Gavazzi, and the repeat victor
Tony Martin of
Omega Pharma–Quick-Step.[53]
^"Wide open Tour of Beijing set for second edition in Chinese Capital". Tour of Beijing. Global Cycling Promotion. 7 October 2012. Archived from
the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2012. New this year, the time bonuses will provide a fantastic fight between the sprinters and escape artists, like the guest team Champion System. Two intermediate sprints will indeed offer three, two and one seconds to the first three riders crossing the line, while the finish gives ten, six and four second bonuses, which may well decide the overall Tour winner.