2012 Volta ao Algarve

The 2012 Volta ao Algarve was the 38th edition of the Volta ao Algarve cycling stage race. It was held from 15 to 19 February 2012, and was rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour.^[1]

2012 Volta ao Algarve

Race details
Dates	15–19 February 2012
Stages	5
Distance	745.2 km (463.0 mi)
Winning time	19h 02' 43"
Results
Winner  Richie Porte (AUS) (Team Sky)   Second  Tony Martin (GER) (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step)   Third  Bradley Wiggins (GBR) (Team Sky) Points  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) (Team Sky) Mountains  Sérgio Sousa (POR) (Efapel–Glassdrive) Sprints  Raúl Alarcón (ESP) (Efapel–Glassdrive)   Team Team Sky
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The race was won by Australia's Richie Porte,^[2] of Team Sky, after taking the overall lead with victory on the third stage, and held the lead to the end of the race. Porte's winning margin over runner-up Tony Martin (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) – the defending race winner – was 37 seconds,^[2] and Porte's team-mate Bradley Wiggins completed the podium, seven seconds behind Martin and 44 seconds down on Porte.^[2] In the race's other classifications, Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen won the points classification, Efapel–Glassdrive pairing Sérgio Sousa and Raúl Alarcón won the mountains and sprints classifications respectively, and Team Sky finished at the head of the teams classification.^[2]

Teams and cyclists

20 teams competed in the 2012 Volta ao Algarve. Among them were 11 UCI ProTour teams, four UCI Professional Continental teams, and five Continental teams.

The teams competing were:^[3]

UCI ProTour Teams Ag2r–La Mondiale BMC Racing Team Garmin–Barracuda Lotto–Belisol Omega Pharma–Quick-Step Rabobank RadioShack–Nissan Team Saxo Bank Team Sky Vacansoleil–DCM Movistar Team

UCI Professional Continental Teams Caja Rural RusVelo Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator UnitedHealthcare

UCI Continental Teams An Post–Sean Kelly Efapel–Glassdrive LA–Antarte Carmim–Prio Onda

Stages

Stage 1

15 February 2012 — Dunas Douradas to Albufeira, 151.0 km (93.8 mi)^[4]

Stage 1 Result[5] Rider Team Time 1  Gianni Meersman (BEL) Lotto–Belisol 4h 02' 17" 2  Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) BMC Racing Team s.t. 3  Matti Breschel (DEN) Rabobank s.t. 4  Björn Leukemans (BEL) Vacansoleil–DCM s.t. 5  Nicolas Roche (IRL) Ag2r–La Mondiale s.t. 6  Anthony Ravard (FRA) Ag2r–La Mondiale s.t. 7  Rui Costa (POR) Movistar Team s.t. 8  Michael Van Staeyen (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator s.t. 9  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky s.t. 10  Jan Bakelants (BEL) RadioShack–Nissan s.t.

General Classification after Stage 1[6] Cyclist Team Time 1  Gianni Meersman (BEL) Lotto–Belisol 4h 02' 07" 2  Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) BMC Racing Team + 4" 3  Matti Breschel (DEN) Rabobank + 6" 4  Björn Leukemans (BEL) Vacansoleil–DCM + 10" 5  Nicolas Roche (IRL) Ag2r–La Mondiale + 10" 6  Anthony Ravard (FRA) Ag2r–La Mondiale + 10" 7  Rui Costa (POR) Movistar Team + 10" 8  Michael Van Staeyen (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator + 10" 9  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky + 10" 10  Jan Bakelants (BEL) RadioShack–Nissan + 10"

Stage 2

16 February 2012 — Faro to Lagoa, 187.5 km (116.5 mi)^[7]

Stage 2 Result[8] Rider Team Time 1  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky 4h 57' 23" 2  Kris Boeckmans (BEL) Vacansoleil–DCM s.t. 3  Gerald Ciolek (GER) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step s.t. 4  Matti Breschel (DEN) Rabobank s.t. 5  Anthony Ravard (FRA) Ag2r–La Mondiale s.t. 6  Lloyd Mondory (FRA) Ag2r–La Mondiale s.t. 7  Francesco Lasca (ITA) Caja Rural s.t. 8  Koldo Fernández (ESP) Garmin–Barracuda s.t. 9  Nikolas Maes (BEL) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step s.t. 10  Pieter Vanspeybrouck (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator s.t.

General Classification after Stage 2[9] Cyclist Team Time 1  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky 8h 59' 30" 2  Gianni Meersman (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 0" 3  Kris Boeckmans (BEL) Vacansoleil–DCM + 4" 4  Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) BMC Racing Team + 4" 5  Matti Breschel (DEN) Rabobank + 6" 6  Anthony Ravard (FRA) Ag2r–La Mondiale + 10" 7  Björn Leukemans (BEL) Vacansoleil–DCM + 10" 8  Fabian Wegmann (GER) Garmin–Barracuda + 10" 9  Rui Costa (POR) Movistar Team + 10" 10  Jan Bakelants (BEL) RadioShack–Nissan + 10"

Stage 3

17 February 2012 — Castro Marim to Alto do Malhão, 194.6 km (120.9 mi)^[10]

Stage 3 Result[11] Rider Team Time 1  Richie Porte (AUS) Team Sky 4h 55' 11" 2  Tiago Machado (POR) RadioShack–Nissan + 8" 3  Rui Costa (POR) Movistar Team + 8" 4  Johnny Hoogerland (NED) Vacansoleil–DCM + 24" 5  Wout Poels (NED) Vacansoleil–DCM + 24" 6  Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 24" 7  Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin–Barracuda + 31" 8  José Mendes (POR) LA–Antarte + 35" 9  Tony Martin (GER) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step + 40" 10  Bradley Wiggins (GBR) Team Sky + 40"

General Classification after Stage 3[12] Cyclist Team Time 1  Richie Porte (AUS) Team Sky 13h 54' 41" 2  Tiago Machado (POR) RadioShack–Nissan + 12" 3  Rui Costa (POR) Movistar Team + 14" 4  Johnny Hoogerland (NED) Vacansoleil–DCM + 34" 5  Wout Poels (NED) Vacansoleil–DCM + 34" 6  Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 34" 7  José Mendes (POR) LA–Antarte + 45" 8  Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin–Barracuda + 48" 9  Gianni Meersman (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 49" 10  Tony Martin (GER) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step + 50"

Stage 4

18 February 2012 — Vilamoura to Tavira, 186.3 km (115.8 mi)

Stage 4 Result[13] Rider Team Time 1  Gerald Ciolek (GER) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step 4h 35' 01" 2  Matteo Trentin (ITA) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step s.t. 3  Heinrich Haussler (AUS) Garmin–Barracuda s.t. 4  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky s.t. 5  Francesco Lasca (ITA) Caja Rural s.t. 6  Koldo Fernández (ESP) Garmin–Barracuda s.t. 7  Kris Boeckmans (BEL) Vacansoleil–DCM s.t. 8  Anthony Ravard (FRA) Ag2r–La Mondiale s.t. 9  Gianni Meersman (BEL) Lotto–Belisol s.t. 10  Michael Van Staeyen (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator s.t.

General Classification after Stage 4[14] Cyclist Team Time 1  Richie Porte (AUS) Team Sky 18h 29' 42" 2  Rui Costa (POR) Movistar Team + 12" 3  Tiago Machado (POR) RadioShack–Nissan + 12" 4  Johnny Hoogerland (NED) Vacansoleil–DCM + 34" 5  Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 34" 6  Wout Poels (NED) Vacansoleil–DCM + 34" 7  José Mendes (POR) LA–Antarte + 45" 8  Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin–Barracuda + 48" 9  Gianni Meersman (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 49" 10  Tony Martin (GER) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step + 50"

Stage 5

19 February 2012 — Lagoa to Portimão, 25.8 km (16.0 mi), individual time trial (ITT)

Stage 5 Result[15] Rider Team Time 1  Bradley Wiggins (GBR) Team Sky 32' 48" 2  Tony Martin (GER) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step + 0" 3  Richie Porte (AUS) Team Sky + 13" 4  Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team + 14" 5  Jesse Sergent (NZL) RadioShack–Nissan + 14" 6  Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 29" 7  Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin–Barracuda + 39" 8  Michał Kwiatkowski (POL) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step + 53" 9  Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky + 56" 10  Luis León Sánchez (ESP) Rabobank + 56"

Final General Classification[16] Cyclist Team Time 1  Richie Porte (AUS) Team Sky 19h 02' 43" 2  Tony Martin (GER) Omega Pharma–Quick-Step + 37" 3  Bradley Wiggins (GBR) Team Sky + 44" 4  Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 50" 5  Rui Costa (POR) Movistar Team + 58" 6  Tiago Machado (POR) RadioShack–Nissan + 1' 02" 7  Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team + 1' 13" 8  Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin–Barracuda + 1' 14" 9  Johnny Hoogerland (NED) Vacansoleil–DCM + 1' 33" 10  Gianni Meersman (BEL) Lotto–Belisol + 1' 39"

Classification leadership

Stage	Winner	General Classification	Mountains Classification	Sprints Classification	Points Classification	Teams Classification
1	Gianni Meersman	Gianni Meersman	Karsten Kroon	Karsten Kroon	Gianni Meersman	Ag2r–La Mondiale
2	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Edvald Boasson Hagen		Raúl Alarcón	Matti Breschel	Vacansoleil–DCM
3	Richie Porte	Richie Porte	Sérgio Sousa			Movistar Team
4	Gerald Ciolek				Edvald Boasson Hagen
5	Bradley Wiggins					Team Sky
Final		Richie Porte	Sérgio Sousa	Raúl Alarcón	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team Sky