The first win of the season was the team classification at the Tour Down Under which set the scene for January and February. Of the first four wins, three were team classification victories with Tony Gallopin’s Tour of Oman young riders classification the odd one out. After the Australian team victory there was also success in Oman and Vuelta a Andalucía before Cancellara won Strade-Bianchi and Stage 7 of Tirreno-Adriatico and it was back to team wins. The next team classifications came at Circuit de la Sarthe and Tour of California before other classification wins broke up the sequence again.
Cancellara’s move across to leopard a year before his contract was up affected the domestiques he would have at hand in the classics. The ‘superman’ came close in 2011 with podiums at Milan-San Remo, Flanders and Paris-Roubaix but a lack of support proved to be a missing ingredient. In 2012 Cancellara was again going at it largely without any strong support from his team. The solo win at Strade-Bianchi on the road into Sienna in March was a sign the Swiss was back to his best and ready to add another monument to his palmares. However the season was largely forgettable with the stint in yellow at the Tour the only real highlight. The crash at de Ronde ended the spring campaign focused Cancellara on the Tour prologue and the chance to once again wear yellow.
It wasn’t until July that a rider besides Cancellara won a road stage as classification win were the order of the day. Gallopin won a second young rider’s classification at Bayern-Rundfahrt but that was to be his only individual wins of 2012. Jakob Fuglsang had a very public falling out with Bruyneel after injuring his knee on the eve of the Giro d’Italia and was forced to withdraw. With Andy Schleck injured and his brother showing indifferent form at the Giro, Fuglsang was keen for a third consecutive Tour. His criticism of the team management excluded from participation in the French race and after he publically stated he wished to ride for another team, he rode no other World Tour races as punishment.
Fuglsang let the bike do the talking by winning two overall victories in June and July. First up was the overall at the Tour of Luxembourg where he took the leaders jersey after Stage 3 with F Schleck and him finishing at the same time as winner Wout Poels. At the Tour of Austria Fuglsang won Stage 4 to take the lead in the overall and mountains classifications holding the lead all the way to Vienna for his second overall in 2012. With the team classification also RadioShack’s it was a success beginning to July that culminated in the team victory in Paris.
Andy Schleck was to once again attack the Tour as his one season objective. Indifferent form in the lead up races to the Grand Tour lead to Bruyneel openly criticising the Schleck’s which Andy took offence at the claims being aired publically. The Critérium du Dauphiné was the undoing for Andy as he crashed out on Stage 4 and in the process fractured his sacrum, ruling him out of the Tour. He adjusted his season goals and had focused on returning at the Vuelta but only made his comeback at the Tour of Beijing. With a potential Tour winner sidelined, RadioShack still had a strong GC line and had its best Grand Tour performance of the season in July.
Cancellara announced his return to form at the prologue as he won by seven seconds and was the only other rider to hold yellow besides Wiggins. Cancellara was expecting his second child and appeared very weary in the nightly maillot jaune press conferences before his abandonment to be at the birth. There were no other stage wins or stints in jerseys but after Cancellara gave up yellow on the climb to La Planche des Belles Filles RadioShack took over the team classification and wore their yellow tinged helmets. The lowlight of the Tour was the positive test by Fränk to Xipamide on the second rest day. He protested his innocence but the affair overshadowed the team victory and Haimar Zubeldia’s sixth place overall, Klöden’s 11th place and Chris Horner’s 13th overall.
The day after the Tour concluded on the Champs-Élysées Giacomo Nizzolo won his first race of the year and set in motion a successful lend to 2012. Nizzolo won Stage 3 and 5 at the race which ensured he won his first overall and young rider classifications. The new Luxembourg road race champion Laurent Didier racked up his sole victory at the race as he won the mountains classification to add some gloss to Nizzolo’s feats. After the Belgian achievements came the Tour of Utah team classification and Nizzolo’s points classification victory at Eneco Tour. Nizzolo capped off his season with Stage 3 victory at Tour de Poitou-Charentes on the same day Jens Voigt won his only road stage on the year.
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge yielded another team classification victory and late season glory for Voigt. The German veteran also won the mountains classification as he wound back the clock with two big rides to ensure the classification victory. Daniele Bennati won the sprint on Stage 18 at the Vuelta for one final World Tour victory and who saved an otherwise anonymous appearance in Spain with his top end speed. The team ended the season ranked as the 12th team but its second highest ranked rider was Chris Horner who didn't win a race in 2012 while the top ranked rider Cancellara was out for some time with his collarbone injury. The team victories were more than welcome in 2012 but more riders need to step up and record individual victories in 2013.
Top Five Results
Strade-Bianchi Fabian Cancellara
Tour de France Team Classification
Vuelta de España Stage 18 Daniele Bennati
Tour de France Prologue Fabian Cancellara
Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 7 Fabian Cancellara
Breakthrough Riders: Tony Gallopin and Giacomo Nizzolo were two standout young riders for the team this year and are exciting prospects for 2013. With numerous veteran riders in the squad these two should benefit from the older heads around the team set up and continue improving in smaller stage races. With Gallopin having ridden two Tour’s and a Vuelta he is more experienced in Grand Tour’s than his Italian teammate but 2013 could be pivotal for the futures of both riders. With only seven riders winning in 2012 these two are the standout breakthrough riders.
Disappointing Riders: The amount of riders who underperformed or appeared to ride in a state of abject apathy was startling. Chris Horner had four top ten GC results but not a single win as his age is catching up with him. Both him and Voigt will be into their 40’s in 2013 and if anything, Horner is best utilised as a super domestique. Klöden has a distinguished Grand Tour record and palmares but he also is nearing the end of the his career and would be better off serving the younger riders than chasing personal glory. The team has several older riders in the squad and will need to improve in 2013 to justify another year in the professional ranks.
Andy had a disappointing 2012 before his crash but the year can be seen as an injury plagued write off than due to poor form. His brother’s positive test has disappointing and leaves a cloud lingering over Andy’s future at RadioShack. Cancellara also had a disappointing season as his collarbone clearly affected his form and he never regained the early season legs he showed in Siena.
2013? With Fränk Schleck and Johan Bruyneel on the outer there will be changes on the team that will play out over the season. Ten team victories were impressive but there needs to be more riders recording wins. Danilo Hondo will join as lead-out man but the additions of Stijn Devolder and Robert Kiserlovski will hopefully reinvigorate the two and see them return to their best, particularly the two time Flanders winner Devolder. Bennati is out the door as is Fuglsang and their absence will be felt with the big holes they leave maybe too big the current riders in the squad. Matthew Busche and Ben King are two Americans who will be looking to California for wins and abroad to bolster their palmares. The older riders will still pull the strings in 2013 but a fit Cancellara and A Schleck will be important in turning around the team.
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