The 2012 Giro di Lombardia or 2012 Il Lombardia was the 106th edition of the

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia ( en, Tour of Lombardy), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cy ...

single-day cycling race, often known as the ''Race of the Falling Leaves''. It was held on 29 September 2012, over a distance of , starting in

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

and ending in

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label=Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

. It was the penultimate event of the season in the

2012 UCI World Tour The 2012 UCI World Tour was the fourth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The series started with the Tour Down Under's opening stage on 17 January, and consisted of 14 stage races, 14 one-da ...

. The very steep climb Muro di Sormano returned to the route during the 2012 edition after an absence of fifty years and was situated before the

Madonna del Ghisallo Madonna del Ghisallo is a hill in Magreglio, close to Lake Como in Italy. It is named after an alleged Marian apparition. According to the legend, the Medieval count Ghisallo was travelling by the hamlet of Magréglio when he was attacked by ba ...

climb.

Joaquim Rodríguez Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver (born 12 May 1979) is a former Spanish professional road racing cyclist, who competed between 2001 and 2016 for the , , and teams. Rodríguez recorded notable results included fourteen Grand Tour stage victories, an ...

() won the race after a solo breakaway initiated on the final climb of the day. He became the first Spaniard to win this

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

Teams

As the race was held under the auspices of the

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ...

, all eighteen ProTour teams were invited automatically. Seven additional wildcard invitations were given – , , , , , and – to form the event's 25-team peloton. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Race summary

The race got underway in

under rain and fog with temperatures oscillating around . The weather conditions discouraged a lot of participants, since of the 197 riders who started the race, only 54 crossed the line as 143 competitors withdrew. The newly crowned World champion

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three ...

of was among those who abandoned, as he crashed while trying to reel in the leading group on the descent after the Muro di Sormano. He later rated his crash as a "9.5 out of 10" and posted a picture of his bloodied jersey on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Romain Bardet Romain Bardet (born 9 November 1990) is a French professional racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Bardet is known for his climbing and descending abilities, which make him one of the top general classification contenders in Gra ...

() was the sole survivor of an early breakaway to crest atop the Muro di Sormano in front of the favorites, shaking off

Alberto Losada Alberto Losada Alguacil (born 28 February 1982) is a Spanish former road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2006 and 2017 for the Kaiku, and squads. Major results ;2004 : 3rd Vuelta a Cantabria ;2005 : 4th Overall Vuelta a Nav ...

() near the top. With Bardet still hanging on to a minute lead,

Ryder Hesjedal Eric Ryder Hesjedal (; born December 9, 1980) is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who competed in both mountain biking and road racing between 1998 and 2016. Hesjedal won a silver medal at the 1998 Junior, 2001 Under-23, and Elite ...

() attacked with to go, but the attempt failed. Bardet was caught and 's

Kevin De Weert Kevin De Weert (born 27 May 1982 in Duffel) is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. In October 2014 it was announced would join on a two-year deal from 2015, with the team's directeur sportif Nico Verhoeven describing his role as a ...

broke free only to take a spill in a downhill turn. A couple more short-lived breaks ensued, including one by Portuguese

Rui Costa Rui Manuel César Costa (; born 29 March 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who is the 34th president of sports club S.L. Benfica. He also succeeded Luís Filipe Vieira as president of the club's SAD board of directors. ...

().

attacked on the final difficulty of the day, the Villa Vergano climb. He arrived at the top of the difficulty alone and descended to

as the rain was pouring down heavily. Nobody could reach him and he crossed the line in joy, throwing a water bottle in the air. Rodriguez stated after the victory: "I was fighting for a double goal today, to win this prestigious competition and to take the lead in the UCI World Tour Ranking, and I managed both. So I'm really happy."

Results

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2012 Giro Di Lombardia Giro Di Lombardia, 2012 Giro di Lombardia