2012 Tour de Pologne


The 2012 Tour de Pologne was the 69th running of the Tour de Pologne cycling stage race. It started on 10 July in Karpacz and ended on 16 July in Kraków, after seven stages. It was the 19th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
The race was won by rider Moreno Moser, who claimed the leader's yellow jersey after winning the penultimate stage, and maintained the lead of the race until its conclusion; he also won the race's opening stage, his first wins at World Tour level. Moser's winning margin over runner-up Michał Kwiatkowski of – the highest-placed Polish rider – was five seconds, and 's Sergio Henao completed the podium, eleven seconds down on Kwiatkowski and sixteen behind Moser.
In the race's other classifications, rider Tomasz Marczyński won the King of the Mountains classification, 's Ben Swift won the white jersey for the points classification after winning two stages during the event, and Adrian Kurek of won the intermediate sprints classification, for the second year in succession. As well as their two-stage victories, finished at the head of the teams classification.

Schedule

Aside from entering the Czech Republic during the third stage, the race stages started and ended in Polish locations.

Participating teams

As the Tour de Pologne was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Along with Team Poland BGŻ – the Polish national team – six other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 25-team peloton.
The twenty-five teams that competed in the race were:

Stage 1

;10 July 2012 — Karpacz to Jelenia Góra,
The opening stage of the Tour began with of riding, prior to entering a loop around Karpacz and Jelenia Góra, where the riders would complete four laps before the finish. Included on each lap was a first-category climb at the Karpacz Orlinek, a site for ski jumping during the winter months, while on the third full lap of the circuit, there was an intermediate sprint in Karpacz offering bonus seconds towards the general classification. A five-rider breakaway was initiated in the early kilometres of the stage; the move consisted of 's Sylvain Georges, rider Jarosław Marycz, Daniel Teklehaymanot of, Federico Rocchetti and Bartłomiej Matysiak, riding for the representative Team Poland BGŻ.
The quintet opened up a maximum advantage of nine minutes over the rest of the field during the second circuit, as rain began to dampen the parcours, and it eventually resulted in a crash in the main field. Among the riders going down were teammates Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra, as well as 's Fabio Sabatini; of the riders, only Boonen was able to rejoin the peloton, as Terpstra abandoned after the crash due to injuries suffered, and Sabatini was taken off the parcours in an ambulance but suffered only heavy bruising in the incident. 's Sergio Henao tried to chase down the leaders from out of peloton, but could not bridge the gap to them. Marycz, Teklehaymanot and Georges dropped Rocchetti and Matysiak with around remaining of the stage, with bringing the advantage to beneath two minutes.
Georges looked to go clear on his own, on the fourth and final climb of the Karpacz Orlinek but could not hold off until the summit when the peloton, now led by Henao and his teammate Lars Petter Nordhaug, swept past him. The work carried out by and on the front of the peloton had reduced the main field to just 36 riders. Alexandr Kolobnev launched an attack on the descent of the climb for but was brought back to the peloton. Christophe Le Mével then went clear for but he was passed by a secondary move by Kolobnev inside of the final of the stage. However, Kolobnev faded on the false flat to the finish; from the reduced pack, 's Moreno Moser launched a late attack – akin to his victories in the Trofeo Laigueglia and the Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop earlier in the year – and managed to hold off the rest of the field for his first World Tour victory. Moser finished ahead of the best-placed Polish rider Michał Kwiatkowski and rider Lars Boom.
'''Stage 1 Result'''

Stage 2

;11 July 2012 — Wałbrzych to Opole,
With a parcours of, the second stage was the longest of the 2012 edition of the Tour de Pologne. On the route from Wałbrzych, there were three intermediate sprint points in the towns of Paczków, Prudnik and Krapkowice, as well as a third-category climb in the village of Chrząszczyce, from the end of the stage. The final of the stage was conducted in three laps of a circuit within Opole. The breakaway was almost entirely made up of home riders, as Polish trio Damian Walczak, Łukasz Bodnar and 's Adrian Kurek were joined at the head of proceedings by Italian Diego Caccia, riding for the team.
With Bodnar being best-placed of the quartet, at just 1' 13" behind overnight leader Moreno Moser of, the peloton did not allow for them to accumulate a substantial advantage on the road, but the leaders did acquire a ten-minute advantage at one point. Bodnar did however gain nine seconds during the stage, by taking first place at each of the three intermediate sprint points, and assumed the red jersey for that classification. Once he had done so, he returned to the peloton to allow for their advantage to grow once again. The leaders were three minutes clear with remaining, when Caccia made his move off the front. By the time he crossed the finish line in Opole for the first time, with left, the lead had been almost halved. Caccia held off until the final lap, when he was caught by the sprinters' teams. and were prominent at the front of the main field for Theo Bos and Ben Swift respectively, and it was Swift that out-sprinted everyone for his first road win of the year. Moser maintained his race lead, despite crashing late on.
'''Stage 2 Result'''

Stage 3

;12 July 2012 — Kędzierzyn-Koźle to Cieszyn,
The stage started in Kędzierzyn-Koźle, moving south-west towards the finish including a short distance covered in the Czech Republic around Český Těšín, before returning to Poland for the finish in Cieszyn. There were three categorised climbs, with two ascents of the Kubalonka climb – one during each lap of a -long intermediary circuit around the towns of Wisła and Czarne – and the other being a third of the way around a closing circuit in Cieszyn. As well as the climbs, there were also three intermediate sprint points during the parcours, held in Skoczów, Ustroń and in Český Těšín, prior to entering the finishing circuit which was to be completed three times. Three riders – rider Fumiyuki Beppu, 's Gabriele Bosisio and Mateusz Taciak representing the national Team Poland BGŻ – went clear in the early kilometres of the stage, and quickly established a substantial lead on the road, reaching a maximum of seventeen minutes. However, this advantage was still not enough to last all the way to the finish; indeed, the trio were caught at the start of the first of three finishing circuits in Cieszyn.
A counter-attack of three more riders – Taciak's teammate Marek Rutkiewicz, Matteo Trentin of and rider Jussi Veikkanen – went clear on the opening lap, but the peloton were closing in on them. Rutkiewicz went alone from the lead group, and was eventually caught by 's Sergio Henao, who had attacked from the main field; Henao had been placed seventh in the general classification overnight, trailing leader Moreno Moser by just ten seconds, with ten bonus seconds on offer at the stage finish for the winner. Henao and Rutkiewicz resisted off the front until the final cobbled climb to the finish; Moser was in contention for the stage win, but it was Zdeněk Štybar who finished strongest for, taking victory – his first at World Tour level, and second win of the season – ahead of 's Francesco Gavazzi and Sacha Modolo of. Moser's overall lead was reduced to one second, after Štybar's teammate Michał Kwiatkowski gained three seconds at one of the sprint points.
'''Stage 3 Result'''

Stage 4

;13 July 2012 — Będzin to Katowice,
The fourth stage was seen as the best chance for the sprinters to take a stage victory out of the entire Tour de Pologne. At, the parcours was the shortest of the Tour, with circuits in both the start town of Będzin – three laps of a circuit – and in the finishing location of Katowice, where six laps of an circuit were completed. There were two categorised climbs during the stage – both third-category – at Syberka and on the penultimate finishing circuit, as well as three intermediate sprint points at Dąbrowa Górnicza, Siemianowice Śląskie and on the fourth Katowice circuit. Michał Kwiatkowski of was first across the line at the first sprint point in Dąbrowa Górnicza, picking up three seconds on race leader Moreno Moser thanks to help from teammate Tom Boonen, and became the virtual race leader on the route.
The breakaway was formed thereafter, with four riders making up the move; rider Adrian Kurek was joined in the group by 's Rafael Andriato, Martijn Verschoor of and Ángel Madrazo, representing the and the quartet managed to get clear by around three minutes at one point during the stage. However, they were not to be successful as they were brought back by the peloton on the final circuit in Katowice. Polish national champion Michał Gołaś looked to go clear, but he could not gain sufficient ground on the peloton in the closing stages. Thus, it was down to the sprinters' teams to sort out the order and tempo at the front of the main field. looked to get Ben Swift into play for the sprint, but Aidis Kruopis launched his sprint off Swift's wheel, and took his first win at World Tour level. Kwiatkowski held his two-second lead to the end of the stage, to take the yellow jersey from Moser. Kurek moved into the red jersey, thanks to points achieved in the day's breakaway.
'''Stage 4 Result'''