After the dream season Sky ended the year with a little less gloss than they would have hoped for. Canadian Michael Barry admitted to doping while riding for the US Postal team after the USADA Reasoned Decision was released and let loose a Pandora’s Box. Steven de Jongh and Bobby Julich were both let go in accordance with the zero tolerance anti-doping policy the team introduced in the light of USUDA’s findings. Sean Yates also left the team citing personal reasons for his departure leaving Sky depleted in its coaching and director roles.
The team had several changes over the off season with several signings and departures. Joining Cav from HTC-Highroad were Bernard Eisel, Danny Pate and Kanstantsin Sivtsov as well as Richie Porte from Saxo Bank and Sergio Henao from Gobernación de Antioquia-Indeportes Antioquia. Kurt Asle Aversen retired and moved into the team car after the 2011 season while Simon Gerrans, Greg Henderson, Steve Cummings, Russell Downing, Morris Possoni, Serge Pauwels and John-Lee Augustyn all left for different teams.
The team began the long list of victories with Boasson Hagen recording victory in the points classification at the Tour Down Under. The first stage victory was also Cav’s first in his Sky world champions jersey as he won Stage 3 of the Tour of Qatar in early February. On the same day Lars Petter Nordhaug took out the Trofeo Deià in Spain with his result sandwiched between another Cav win as repeated his feat on Stage 5 to make it two wins in three days. Over in Portugal one of the riders who would be a key domestique for Wiggins at the Tour was given his own opportunities. Porte won the overall at the Volta ao Agave after his stage win set up his biggest stage race win so far in his career. Wiggins won Stage 5 of the race while Boasson Hagen won Stage 2 and his second points classification of the season which along with the team classification set the template for how Sky would approach stage races in 2012.
Although 2012 was a season of stage race success that didn't exactly hinder Sky taking home a handful of one day races as well. Mark Cavendish notched up his first one day win in 2012 as he won Kurne-Brussels-Kurne but it wasn’t till late in the season until the team chased more one day success. Boasson Hagen made an impressive late surge at the GP Ouest-France in August to win over the field by five seconds. This was followed by Petter Nordhaug winning the biggest race of his career in Canada where he outsprinted Moreno Moser and Alexandr Kolobnev to win the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec by two seconds. In late September Urán won the Giro del Piemonte to cap off a successful season in a year that he won Olympic silver and finished inside a Grand Tour top ten for the first time.
With Wiggins building for the Tour the focus was back on building for July and ironing out any kinks by the time of the Grand Depart. At Tirreno-Adriatico Cav and Boasson Hagen won stages with no great GC performance as Wiggins was in southern France wrapping up the overall and points classification at Paris-Nice following victory in the Stage 8 ITT. To end March Urán won Stage 4 at the Volta a Catalunya and there was success at Critérium International with team classification victory. The Tour of Romandie started with a bang as Sky had three of the first rider in the Prologue and Wiggins made it another stage race win. In 2012 Geriant Thomas was focusing on the Olympic track meeting and his win at Romandie was his sole road victory in 2012 but with the first leaders jersey of the race this was good return for the Welshman. Sky led the team classification from start to finish and only lost the leaders jersey for one stage with Wiggins winning two stages in the race including a rare sprint victory.
With May rolling round, it was time to get pink. Cav won three stages at the first Grand Tour of the season and had two stints in the red points classification jersey. He lost the classification by one point as the world champion looks to add the Grand Tour sprinters jerseys to his wardrobe after his consolation victories in the combativity and Azzurri d'Italia classifications. He was the only Sky rider to win a stage but Urán wore the young rider’s jersey into Milan after two stints in white and biggest GC performance to date. The first Grand Tour of 2012 managed to accommodate a GC challenge and also Cav’s desire for sprint domination which was a healthy sign for Sky who were looking to fine tune the balance between Cav and Wiggins at the Tour.
While the Giro had the attention of the Italians, the Norwegian Boasson Hagen was entertaining his fellow country people. The young talent won Stage 4 which gave him the lead in the overall, points and young rider classifications which held until the finish at Hønefoss where he added the team classification to make it four out five classification wins for Sky and Boasson Hagen. This made it three GC winners by the end of May in a very impressive early season showing suggesting the Tour would be Wiggins’ to lose. But it just got better as in Germany Michael Rogers had made it four GC winners by the end of May. He won his first overall since the 2010 Tour of California as he was given the chance to ride for himself before supporting Wiggins in July. In winning the overall Rogers also won a road stage and his first ITT race since 2009 showing he was reaching top form on the run into the Tour and Sky once again wrapped up the team classification to go with the overall.
The Critérium de Dauphiné looked like being a dress rehearsal for the Tour GC and Sky didn't wasn’t to disappoint. With Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador both going to be missing the race looked like being a battle between Wiggins and 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans. The Australian won Stage 2 but it was Wiggo who pulled on the leaders jersey and went to finish stronger to win back to back titles. He won the Stage 4 ITT after Boasson Hagen had won the stage a day before with victory over Evans by more than 1:30’ which allowed Evans to marginally claw back time on Stage 6 & 7 but still finished third behind Wiggins and Rogers gave Sky another overall and team classification clean sweep. While Wiggins win was no surprise, Cavendish won his first overall by taking out the Ster ZLM Toer.
Wiggins entered the Tour as the favourite with many expecting three weeks of dominance by Sky in every classification. The first yellow jersey eluded Wiggo by just seven seconds but he and his teammates wore yellow helmets as the fastest team. In what was one of the most unsightly outfits of 2012 was Wiggins in his yellow helmet and the maillot vert by virtue of his second place in the prologue. The clash of yellow, green and black bibs is one that hopefully won’t be repeated. There were two leaders in the overall and team classifications and this occurred with a nice piece of synchronicity as Fabian Cancellara’s RadioShack-Nissan team and Sky swapped over the yellow jersey for yellow helmets after Chris Froome’s victory on Stage 7. Froome raced into the lead of the mountain classification after his win as Sky celebrated yellow, polka dots and a stage win. Cav earlier had won the first of six stages for Sky as he sprinted to victory on Stage 3 for his first Tour stage in the rainbow jersey.
Wiggins never relinquished his yellow jersey as he put on a master class in the ITT’s. He won the first ITT by 35 seconds over Froome with the nearest GC challenger over one minute behind. Froome’s performance was the beginning of speculation that has not yet ended regarding his performances. At times Froome was the strongest rider in the race and if give the opportunity could possibly have put enough time into Wiggins on the climbs to win a maiden Tour. Instead Froome played the role of a super domestique finished second behind his team leader with a stage win and a stint in red and white. Wiggins ITT victory on Stage 9 was his first Tour stage win and second Grand Tour win after an ITT victory in the 2010 Giro. The British rider has now worn the leaders jerseys in all three Grand Tours but a victory at the Vuelta de España has so far eluded him.
After the very clinical and sometimes repetitive and boring race tactics by Sky, Wiggins finally let down his and Sky’s guard on Stage 19. Sky ruled the roads with Wiggins in yellow and in the final ITT of the race Wiggins crossed the line after an empathic ride putting 1:16 into Froome and over three minutes into third place Vincenzo Nibali. As he crossed the line Wiggins pumped the air knowing full well that the Tour was his and all he had to do was roll into Paris to collect the first British Tour title after 99 editions. On the stage previously Cav made it two wins after his nemesis André Greipel had racked up three stage wins, the same number as green jersey victor Peter Sagan. This was the first time that Cav wasn’t the leading stage race winner at a Tour in which he participated but saved his best till last. Sky finished off the race by winning the last three stages of the Tour. Wiggins ITT victory was sandwiched between Cav’s 22 and 23 stage wins which included a record fourth straight stage win on the Champs-Élysées after being led out by Wiggins and delivered to the line by Boasson Hagen. The Tour was built up as the Sky show and they duly delivered exceeded many people’s expectations.
Wiggins Tour win made him the first rider to have won Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie, Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour in one season. Wiggins didn't win another overall in 2012 but capped off an amazing 2012 as he won the Gold medal in the ITT around the streets of his home town London. No rider had previously won the Tour and a Gold medal in the same year as he once again wrote new records and reached the highest echelon he could after his switch from a decorated Olympic and world champion career on the track where he won numerous Olympic and world champion gold medal.
While nine of the team were tearing the peloton apart in France, Ben Swift was cleaning up in Poland. At the Tour de Pologne Swift won Stage 2 and 5, won the points classification and was part of the team classification victory as well. Although the Tour was the jewel in the crown there were still some big wins to come. In August at the Danmark Rundt Lars Petter Nordhaug begun a good month as he won Stage 3 before Cav once again crossed the line first on Stage 6 and there was more team classification success for Sky. In the home tour for Sky Luke Rowe ensured things got off to the best possible start as he won Stage 1 of the Tour of Britain. This was the young riders first professional win and he was rewarded with the first leaders jersey of the 2012 edition. Cav took three stage wins and had one day in the lead after his Stage 4 success but it was Jonathan Tiernan-Locke who won the race. The rising star will be joining Sky in 2012 and is tipped to dominate every event in which he participates.
Cav’s win on Stage 8 at the Tour of Britain was the last stage race success of 2012. Urán had the last win on the road in 2012 when he won the Giro del Piemonte but Boasson Hagen had the last say with his points classification victory at the Tour of Beijing. The victory was his fourth points classification victory in 2012 which capped off a purple patch lasting the entirety of the season. After five victories in the Norwegian ITT national championships, 2012 brought his first road race victory and also his first world championships medal as he finished behind Philippe Gilbert on the Valkenburg course. Fittingly after eight teams classification victories, Sky won its first UCI World Tour title for the top ranked team. With six rider inside the top 20 Sky was 494 points ahead of second placed Katusha who had the number one ranked rider Joaquim Rodriguez on its books.
Top Five Results
UCI World Tour Team Classification
Tour de France Overall Bradley Wiggins
Critérium du Dauphiné Bradley Wiggins
GP Ouest-France Edvald Boasson Hagen
Giro d’Italia young rider classification Rigoberto Urán
Beside the Sky leader there were several breakthrough rides and riders in 2012. Luke Rowe, Rigoberto Urán and Sergio Henao all announced themselves this season, Urán the loudest of the three. The Colombian duo on Sky are expected to do big things in 2013 and should be given the opportunity to do so but will also need to adjust their style to that of a leader and not domestique. Luke Rowe showed his top end speed in the Tour of Britain and his numerous national championship wins attest to this. With Cav off to Omega Pharma-Quick Step in 2013 Rowe should be given greater opportunities alongside Swift and should continue to learn off of his Madison partner Thomas.
Richie Porte impressed in his debut season on Sky with his overall victory in Portugal and support for Wiggins in the mountains during July. Michael Rogers is off to Saxo Bank in 2013 and with Froome elevated to almost equal footing with Wiggins, Porte will be key to both leaders Grand Tour ambitions. He will be given his own opportunities but it is a possibility with so many GC rider on Sky that one or two pursue their own opportunities on other trade teams.
Boasson Hagen was a dual stage winner at the 2011 edition of the Tour but in 2011 he showcased his skill in one day races. As well as putting in endless kilometres on the front of the peloton at the Tour the Norwegian looks like being the rider many forecasted him to be five years ago. A Monument or Classic could be his in 2013 as his ride on the Valkenburg World course highlighted his turn of speed on short sharp climbs.
Disappointing Riders: The most disappointing rider of 2013 didn't win a race in 2012 but it was what happened off the bike that has disappointing. Canadian Michael Barry joined Sky in 2010 and rode his first Tour de France that year serving as a domestique not only in July but for his two years on the team. Barry had announced his intentions to retire at the end of the 2012 season but just over a month after this announcement he was caught up the in the USADA Lance Armstrong saga and confessed to extensive doping practices throughout his time with US Postal. This doping confession was a smear upon a glorious season and led to Sky implementing a zero tolerance anti-doping policy. So far no other rider has confessed or been ousted for doping but there has been criticism with the manner in which Sky have gone about creating and applying this policy. Although Wiggins had several outbursts regarding doping during his yellow jersey press conferences there is scepticism that Sky are a clean team who success only due to sports science methodology and in fact they are involved in systematic doping. This is partly a reaction to the disbelief of US Postal and its extensive doping practices, if a team can dominate as Sky does then they must be as doped as Postal the argument goes.
2013? Its goodbye to two world champions with Cavendish and Rogers off to Omega Pharma and Saxo Banks teams respectively in 2013 but Sky still look to dominate again. Froome was defiantly exhausted as he attempted to improve upon his 2011 second placing at the Vuelta but fourth place was still an impressive finish and other Grand Tour podium placings look a certainty in 2013. The arrival of Jonathan Tiernan-Locke has been heralded as the missing piece for complete domination but it could be a case of too many cooks for Sky. JTL is untested at World Tour level and although he has ridden for the national team riding for a season at this level will be testing. He will learn immensely from Froome, Wiggins and the GC crew and may even gain a Tour berth in 2013.
After three seasons with Addidas as the clothing sponsor, Rapha are now making the outfits for the team and for a very aesthetically focused team this has been almost as newsworthy as the departure of Cav. The blue strip which runs across the riders chests has been moved to the right arm as the team embraces a stealth almost all black look. The change in clothing manufacture has been a big taking point in a quite off season but once the racing begins in earnest the talk will turn to how Sky can manage their team effectively without the tensions of the 2012 Tour returning. The schedule for Wiggins and Froome has not yet been decided upon but with Wiggins suggesting that the Giro is his season objective, Froome may just get the opportunity to go after yellow in July.
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