The 2012 Tour of the Basque Country was the 52nd running of the Tour of the Basque Country cycling stage race. It started on 2 April in Güeñes and ended on 7 April in Oñati, and consisted of six stages, including a race-concluding individual time trial. It was the ninth race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
The race was won by Spain's Samuel Sánchez of the team, after winning two stages including the final stage time trial, to take the general classification on the final day. Sánchez won the general classification by 12 seconds over runner-up Joaquim Rodríguez of , who had led into the final stage; Sánchez also beat Rodríguez to the points classification title. Third place was taken by 's Bauke Mollema after he finished second to Sánchez in the time trial, and gained sufficient time to move up from eleventh overnight. In the race's other classifications, Marco Pinotti of the won the green jersey for the most points gained in intermediate sprints, while rider Mads Christensen won the King of the Mountains classification, and finished at the head of the teams classification.
Schedule After the race was bailed out by Spanish bank Banco Sabadell on 5 March, race organisers announced the itinerary ten days later.
StageRouteDistanceDateWinner1Güeñes to Güeñes2 April2Güeñes to Vitoria-Gasteiz3 April3Vitoria-Gasteiz to Eibar4 April4Eibar to Bera-Ibardin5 April5Bera-Ibardin to Oñati6 April6 (ITT)Oñati to Oñati7 April
Participating teams As the Tour of the Basque Country was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Two other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 20-team peloton.
The 20 teams that competed in the race were:
Stages
Stage 1 2 April 2012 — Güeñes to Güeñes,
Two riders – 's Davide Mucelli and David de la Fuente of – advanced clear of the main field at the mark of the stage, as they reached the race's first categorised climb, the third-category Alto Humaran; they managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of over five minutes at one point during the early running of the stage. and came to the front of the peloton towards the midpoint of the stage; making their move on the Alto del Suceso, another categorised climb with de la Fuente taking the maximum points on offer. Mucelli and de la Fuente's advantage had dropped to around two-and-a-half minutes, before spanning back out to the four-minute mark with remaining.
then established themselves on the front of the pack; protecting their main sprinter for the race, Michael Matthews. As such, by the time the race had advanced another of the parcours, the duo out front only held a lead of around a minute over the advancing peloton. The catch was inevitable, and just shy of remaining, Mucelli and de la Fuente were brought back by the field with on the front. On the final climb of the day, the Alto de San Comse, a crash in the pack delayed several riders, with the peloton momentarily stalling the pace in the mayhem. This delay allowed Wesley Sulzberger () to sneak off the front; the first of several mini-attacks that were ultimately unsuccessful on the run in to Güeñes. looked to set up the sprint finish for their rider Daniele Ratto, but he faded in the closing stages; 's Wout Poels launched his attack for the line, but he was usurped by the Spanish national champion, 's José Joaquín Rojas, who earned his first victory of 2012 at the finish.
Stage 1 Result RiderTeamTime 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General Classification after Stage 1 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 0" 5 + 0" 6 + 0" 7 + 0" 8 + 0" 9 + 0" 10 + 0"
Stage 2 3 April 2012 — Güeñes to Vitoria-Gasteiz,
Heavy rain greeted the riders at the start of the stage, with an early climb of the third-category Alto de San Cosme coming after just of the parcours. It was on the descent from the climb that the primary breakaway of the stage began to form; Jérôme Pineau of went clear with 's Thibaut Pinot and rider Mads Christensen. The trio were later joined by another pair of riders – representing the wildcard teams in the race, and – as Gabriele Bosisio and Julián Sánchez both ventured off the front of the peloton, eventually catching up with the breakaway after . Of the five members of the breakaway, only two – Pinot and Pineau – had finished in the same time as stage one winner, 's José Joaquín Rojas.
As such, were driving the pace on the front of the main pack, in order to keep within a suitable distance of the five leaders; the gap at that point was around the seven-minute mark. Pinot continued to close in on David de la Fuente () and the mountains classification lead, as he claimed maximum points on offer at the Alto de La Barrerilla and the Alto de Zaldiaran. , and all placed riders towards the front of the peloton, to help close the gap between the leaders and themselves. The gap had been cut to just over five minutes by the time the race reached the next categorised climb, the Alto de Vitoria, with Pinot again leading the breakaway across the summit. More teams sent riders forward to help with the work to bring back the leaders, taking back four minutes from the next ; the lead quintet held an advantage of just 1' 22" at the summit of the Alto de San Martin.
Alas, the breakaway was not to succeed; with remaining of the stage, and on the second climb of the Alto de Zaldiaran – the final climb of the stage – the peloton brought back the lead quintet, allowing more riders to try an attacking move in the closing stages, on the run-in to Vitoria-Gasteiz. With leading the main pack, another five-man move tried to get clear on the climb itself, including one of the team's riders, Wesley Sulzberger. Also part of the move were Pinot's team-mate Anthony Roux, 's Alexsandr Dyachenko, rider Eduard Vorganov and Dominik Nerz of . Nerz then attacked his companions, but all five were caught before the summit of the climb. , and all had riders towards the front of the pack, many expecting a bunch sprint for the stage honours. As it transpired, an opportune move by Daryl Impey at the flamme rouge proved fruitful, and he managed to stay clear of the ever-closing pack to take his first victory for , and the team's seventh of the year. Team-mate Allan Davis, like Impey, crossed the line arms aloft in second place ahead of 's Davide Appollonio and Rojas, who maintained his overall lead.
Stage 2 Result RiderTeamTime 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General Classification after Stage 2 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 0" 5 + 0" 6 + 0" 7 + 0" 8 + 0" 9 + 0" 10 + 0"
Stage 3 4 April 2012 — Vitoria-Gasteiz to Eibar,
The race's queen stage consisted of seven categorised climbs over the parcours, including two first-category climbs; the Alto de Ixua and also the climb of the Alto de Usartza, a climb with gradient in places at over 11%, cresting out with remaining of the stage. The Usartza featured for the third successive year; Samuel Sánchez () was the rider in which most observers deemed to be the favourite for the stage, as he had won each of the previous two finishes to be held in Eibar. Mini-attacks set the course for the stage as the field remained as one, for much of the first half-hour of racing; it was not until after that the stage's primary breakaway had been formed.
Five riders went clear; two of whom had previously been in the breakaway in the race, Davide Mucelli of and 's Mads Christensen. The pair were joined by 's Jussi Veikkanen, rider José Herrada and Antonio Piedra of , eventually gaining an overall advantage of five-and-a-half minutes over the peloton. By this time, the lead quintet had split into two; Herrada and Christensen had accelerated away from their companions and were later joined by Veikkanen, who had been dropped in the initial move along with Piedra and Mucelli. Christensen led over the next two categorised climbs, before Herrada accelerated his pace and attacked off the front on the first of the first-category climb of Alto de Ixua.
were prominent in attempting to break away from the main field, utilising Alberto Losada, Giampaolo Caruso and Ángel Vicioso in a bid to get clear ahead of the finish. Caruso and Vicioso closed in on the leaders out front, passing Christensen on the road before eventually catching Herrada with remaining of the parcours; however their advantage over the main pack had dwindled considerably as the trio were less than a minute clear of the peloton, led by for their captain, Sánchez. The gap was eighteen seconds at the final intermediate sprint point in Eibar, with helping out with the chase, and the trio were caught at the base of the Alto de Usartza. Chris Horner () then attacked with 's Robert Kišerlovski, and were joined by another rider, Joaquim Rodríguez and 's Michele Scarponi. Sánchez bridged up to the leaders, and as Kišerlovski and Scarponi struggled, it was left to Sánchez, Rodríguez and Horner to contest for the stage honours. Sánchez attacked in the closing stages and did enough to beat Rodríguez and Horner – to win for the third successive year – with Bauke Mollema () leading the chasers over the line, 12 seconds in arrears of Sánchez, who took the race lead from 's José Joaquín Rojas as Rojas lost over 16 minutes on the stage.
Stage 3 Result RiderTeamTime 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 + 12" 5 + 12" 6 + 12" 7 + 12" 8 + 12" 9 + 12" 10 + 12"General Classification after Stage 3 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 12" 5 + 12" 6 + 12" 7 + 12" 8 + 12" 9 + 12" 10 + 12"
Stage 4 5 April 2012 — Eibar to Bera-Ibardin,
Mini-attacks were again key to the first hour of racing on the fourth stage; with cool and damp conditions again for the riders, it was almost a carbon-copy to what had occurred on the previous stage. Evgeni Petrov was the most active rider in that first hour; after an earlier unsuccessful attempt to get clear on the first of the stage's five categorised climbs – the Alto de Itziar – at the mark, Petrov did manage to clip clear of the peloton almost later to initiate the breakaway move. Over the next few kilometres, Petrov was joined by four other riders; Maciej Paterski () moved forward first at , with 's Ángel Madrazo, Diego Ulissi of , and rider Marcos García joining Petrov and Paterski later. were keeping their riders towards the front of the field in support of their team captain, and the overall race leader Samuel Sánchez; in effect, stopping the breakaway from getting too far clear on the stage, and were less than two minutes behind at the second climb of the day, the Alto de Aritxulegi.
Wesley Sulzberger made his third attack of the race from the break for , and was joined by team-mate Simon Clarke as they looked to bridge up to the breakaway; the pair caught García on the descent, after he had been dropped by his four companions. With the climb of the Alto de Agiña coming several kilometres later on the parcours, fresher legs for Sulzberger and Clarke told as they brought themselves, and Garciá, up to the breakaway and reforming the move as a seven-man group. Four riders attacked on the descent, although only one – Patxi Vila () – was there for a move to catch the breakaway as 's Giampaolo Caruso and pair Igor Antón and Gorka Verdugo were there to protect their respective team leaders Joaquim Rodríguez and Sánchez. Vila caught the breakaway on the first ascent of the finishing climb, sans the steep finish reserved for the second and finishing ascent, while two other riders attacked on the Alto de Ibardin; Volta a Catalunya winner Michael Albasini () and 's Nicki Sørensen had crossed the summit marginally ahead of the peloton, before catching the lead octet with to go.