2012 Gent–Wevelgem

The 2012 Gent–Wevelgem was the 74th running of the Gent–Wevelgem single-day cycling race. It was held on 25 March 2012 over a distance of 234.6 kilometres (145.8 miles),^[1] and was the seventh race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.

2012 Gent–Wevelgem

2012 UCI World Tour, race 7 of 28
Event poster with previous winner Tom Boonen
Race details
Dates	25 March
Stages	1
Distance	234.6 km (145.8 mi)
Winning time	5h 32' 44"
Results
Winner  Tom Boonen (Belgium) (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step)   Second  Peter Sagan (Slovakia) (Liquigas–Cannondale)   Third  Matti Breschel (Denmark) (Rabobank)
← 2011 2013 →

In a mass sprint finish, the race was won by Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Tom Boonen,^[2] who in the process, became the fifth different rider to win the race three times. Boonen finished ahead of Liquigas–Cannondale's Peter Sagan and Rabobank's Matti Breschel, who completed the podium.^[3]

Teams

As Gent–Wevelgem was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Seven other squads were given wildcard places into the race,^[4] and as such, formed the event's 25-team peloton. Each team could enter up to eight riders, with the starting peloton being 195 riders.^[5]

The 25 teams that competed in the race were:^[5]

• Accent.jobs–Willems Veranda's
• Ag2r–La Mondiale
• Astana
• BMC Racing Team
• Cofidis
• Team Europcar
• Euskaltel–Euskadi
• Farnese Vini–Selle Italia
• FDJ–BigMat
• Garmin–Barracuda
• GreenEDGE
• Team Katusha
• Lampre–ISD
• Landbouwkrediet–Euphony
• Liquigas–Cannondale
• Lotto–Belisol
• Movistar Team
• Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
• Project 1t4i
• Rabobank
• RadioShack–Nissan
• Team Saxo Bank
• Team Sky
• Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator
• Vacansoleil–DCM

Results

^[6]

	Cyclist	Team	Time	UCI World Tour Points
1	Tom Boonen (BEL)	Omega Pharma–Quick-Step	5h 32' 44"	80
2	Peter Sagan (SVK)	Liquigas–Cannondale	s.t.	60
3	Matti Breschel (DEN)	Rabobank	s.t.	50
4	Óscar Freire (ESP)	Team Katusha	s.t.	40
5	Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)	Team Sky	s.t.	30
6	Daniele Bennati (ITA)	RadioShack–Nissan	s.t.	22
7	Marco Marcato (ITA)	Vacansoleil–DCM	s.t.	14
8	Steve Chainel (FRA)	FDJ–BigMat	s.t.	10
9	Filippo Pozzato (ITA)	Farnese Vini–Selle Italia	s.t.	–
10	Giovanni Visconti (ITA)	Movistar Team	s.t.	2

Women's race

A women's race was held for the first time in 2012, on the same day as the men's race but over a shorter course of 114 km (70.8 mi). AA Drink–leontien.nl rider Lizzie Armitstead won after a solo breakaway of nearly 40 km (24.9 mi).^[7]

	Cyclist	Team	Time
1	Lizzie Armitstead (UK)	AA Drink–leontien.nl	2h 49' 46"
2	Iris Slappendel (NED)	Stichting Rabo Women Cycling Team	+ 51"
3	Jessie Daams (BEL)	AA Drink–leontien.nl	+ 51"
4	Lise Nøstvold (NOR)	Hitec Products–Mistral Home Cycling Team	+ 51"
5	Kirsten Wild (NED)	AA Drink–leontien.nl	+ 55"