Dates 25 March Distance 234.6 km (145.8 mi) Winner Tom Boonen (Belgium) | Stages 1 Winning time 5h 32' 44" Second Peter Sagan (Slovakia) | |
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), and was the seventh race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
Contents
In a mass sprint finish, the race was won by Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Tom Boonen, 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.
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, 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.
The 25 teams that competed in the race were:
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).