The 2012 UCI Road World Championships took place in the southern part of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

, also known as

South Limburg South Limburg (Dutch: ''Zuid-Limburg'', Limburgish: ''Zuud-Limburg'') is both a COROP (statistical) region as well as a '' landstreek'' (area) of the Netherlands located in the province of Limburg. The Dutch term ''landstreek'', literally transla ...

, between September 15 and 23. The event consisted of a road race and a time trial for men, women and men under 23, and team time trials for elite men and women. It was the 79th Road World Championships.

Castelfidardo Castelfidardo (Marchigiano: ''Castello'') is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Ancona, in the Marche region of central-eastern Italy. It is remembered for a Piedmontese victory over an army composed of foreign volunteers defending th ...

near Loreto in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

was also a candidate, but Italy had held the UCI Road World Championships in

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label=Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the ca ...

in 2008. The Netherlands had last hosted the Road World Championships in 1998, in

Valkenburg aan de Geul Valkenburg aan de Geul (; li, Valkeberg ) is a municipality situated in the southeastern Dutch province of Limburg. The name refers to the central town in the municipality, Valkenburg, and the small river Geul. History Sieges and conquests ha ...

, and 2012 was the seventh time that the country hosted the championships. The 2012 championships had a number of changes compared to the former editions. A team time trial was reintroduced. This was last competed as a world championship event in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

between nations. The reintroduction will see trade teams compete, similar to the

Eindhoven Team Time Trial The UCI ProTour Eindhoven Team Time Trial was an annual road bicycle race held in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It was approximately . Each team had six riders. In 2006, team size expanded to eight. Conceived as part of the UCI ProTour in 2005, it was o ...

held between 2005 and 2007. The Junior championships will also be on the programme. With the extra events, the championships will be held over two weekends (nine days) and will also include an opening ceremony and a

cyclosportive A cyclosportive, or often simply sportive, is a short to long distance, organised, mass-participation cycling event, typically held annually. The Italian term '' Gran Fondo'' is commonly used for these events in the United States, Australia and so ...

event. The start and finish for the events was in Vilt, a commune of

on top of the

Cauberg The Cauberg is a hill in Valkenburg aan de Geul, a town in the South Limburg region of the Netherlands. The hill played an important role in the early development of tourism in Valkenburg. Today, several major tourist attractions are situated on o ...

Schedule

Ellen van Dijk en Niki Terpstra vieren hun wereldtitel ploegentijdrit 2012

;September 21 *14:00–16:10 – Road race – Junior Women, 80 km, 5 x Circuit (5 x 16.125 km) ;September 22 *09:00–13:15 – Road race – Under 23 Men, 177 km, 11 x Circuit (11 x 16.125 km) *14:30–17:45 – Road race – Elite Women, 129 km, 8 x Circuit (8 x 16.125 km) ;September 23 *09:00–12:10 – Road race – Junior Men, 129 km, 8 x Circuit (8 x 16.125 km) *10:45–17:00 – Road race – Elite Men, 267 km, Start in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

, then, after 106 km through the southern part of the province of

, 10 x Circuit (10 x 16.125 km) Circuit = west on Rijksweg in Vilt, continuing through

Berg en Terblijt Berg en Terblijt (; li, Berg or ) is the official Dutch name of a village in the municipality of Valkenburg aan de Geul in the province of Limburg in the Southern part of the Netherlands. History The area now known as Berg en Terblijt has b ...

onto Bergerstraat, turning left grazing

on the east by going south on Molenweg, then turning left and continuing east on Bemelerweg, continuing onto Oude Akerstraat and Bemelerberg through

Bemelen Bemelen (; li, Bieëmele ) is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is part of the municipality of Eijsden-Margraten, and lies about 5 km east of Maastricht. The village was first mentioned in 1096 as Bemele. The etymology is unkn ...

, continuing onto Gasthuis, turning left and continuing northeast On Smitserweg, which turns into Bemelerweg grazing Sibbe on the west and into Daalhemerweg curving to north all the way into

, at the end turning left onto

, back to Vilt.

Participating nations

Cyclists from 74 national federations participated. The number of cyclists per nation that competed, excluding riders in the team time trials, is shown in parentheses.

Events summary

Medal table

Team time trials are included under the UCI registration country of the team.

References

External links

* {{2012 UCI World Championships UCI Road World Championships by year

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

International cycle races hosted by the Netherlands Cycling in Limburg (Netherlands) Cycling in Valkenburg aan de Geul