page_title: 2012 Tour de France
section_title: Pre-race favourites
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Tour de France / Pre-race favourites
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Bradley Wiggins, vainqueur du Critérium du Dauphiné 2011
context_page_description: The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, including an opening prologue, and covered a total distance of 3,496.9 km. As well as the prologue, the first two stages took place in Belgium, and one stage finished in Switzerland. Bradley Wiggins won the overall general classification, and became the first British rider to win the Tour. Wiggins's teammate Chris Froome placed second, and Vincenzo Nibali was third.
  The general classification leader's yellow jersey was worn for the first week by Fabian Cancellara, who won the prologue. Wiggins, second in the prologue, took the leadership of the race on stage seven, the first mountainous stage, which was won by Froome, and maintained his lead for the remainder of the race, winning the two longest time trials, and not losing time to his main challengers for the overall title in the mountains.
  The points classification was won by Nibali's teammate Peter Sagan, who won three stages.
context_section_description: According to many observers before the race the favourite for the general classification was Bradley Wiggins. His closest rivals were thought to be Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas–Cannondale). Alberto Contador, the winner of both the 2007 Tour and 2009 Tour, was serving a doping suspension and did not race in the 2012 Tour. Andy Schleck, who finished second in the 2010 Tour (later promoted to the winner after Contador's result was annulled in February 2012) and 2011 Tour, was not able to recover from an injury suffered in the Critérium du Dauphiné. The other riders considered contenders for the general classification were Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin–Sharp), Fränk Schleck (RadioShack–Nissan), Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel–Euskadi), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto–Belisol), Tony Martin (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step), Denis Menchov (Team Katusha), Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank).
  Prior to the 2012 Tour, Wiggins's highest finishes in a Grand Tour were third in the 2011 Vuelta a España and fourth in the 2009 Tour (later promoted to third after Lance Armstrong's result was annulled in October 2012). Wiggins had shown his form in the lead-up to the Tour by winning the general classifications in three stage races in the 2012 season: the Paris–Nice, the Tour de Romandie and the Dauphiné. As a time trialist, Wiggins was thought to be the rider most suited to the race's course. The 2011 Tour winner Evans came back from an illness earlier in the season to win the two-day Critérium International and place third at the Dauphiné. The 2010 Vuelta a España winner Nibali had shown his form in the lead-up to the Tour by winning the Tirreno–Adriatico stage race.
  The sprinters considered favourites for the points classification and wins in bunch sprint finishes were Mark Cavendish (Team Sky), André Greipel (Lotto–Belisol), Matthew Goss (Orica–GreenEDGE), Peter Sagan (Liquigas–Cannondale) and Marcel Kittel (Argos–Shimano). Cavendish, the world road race champion and defending points classification winner, did not have the full support of Team Sky as he did in the 2011 Tour with the HTC–Highroad team; Team Sky's focus was on Wiggins' general classification ambitions. He had won the four-stage race Ster ZLM Toer thirteen days before the start of the Tour. Greipel, who had the full backing of his team, had shown his form in the season with thirteen victories up to the Tour. Goss was second to Cavendish at the world championships and was the new sprint leader of his team, although he had only one win in the year up to the Tour. Sagan was equal in wins with Greipel with thirteen, of which five came in the Tour of California and four in the Tour de Suisse. Kittel won two stages in both the Tour of Oman and Ster ZLM Toer.
caption: Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins was widely considered as favourite for the general classification.
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