Liquigas-Cannondale 2012 Season in Review

The 2012 Liquigas-Cannondale season saw Peter Sagan, the terminator, come to the fore as superstar of the sport while Vincenzo Nibali finished third in the Tour with Moreno Moser and Elia Viviani highlighted the depth of the Italian squad in a year of great success. Nibali moves onto Astana in 2013 and his loss will be felt but with Sagan remaining on the team’s books, there will be no lack of wins in 2013. Nibali has moved on as wanted a team which could guarantee total support in a tilt for Grand Tour success. Although Nibali finished third at the Tour this season the team had split loyalties with Sagan taking three stages and the points classification as well as team resources away from Nibali. Ivan Basso’s season objective was another Giro d’Italia win and would ride in support of Nibali at the Tour where he finished 25th riding as a super domestique but his season was largely disappointing with only one win. Besides the Nibali and Sagan show, Liquigas notched up wins with Viviani and Moser impressively winning stage races overall for the first time.