The

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Danmark Rundt Danmark Rundt is a Danish multi-day professional road cycling race. It is currently sponsored by the Danish national postal agency, PostNord, and the race is therefore also known as PostNord Danmark Rundt. The race is sometimes called the Tou ...

was a men's

road bicycle race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

held from 22 to 26 August 2012. It was the 22nd edition of the men's stage race, which was established in 1985. The race was rated as a 2.HC event and formed part of the

2012 UCI Europe Tour The 2012 UCI Europe Tour was the eighth season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2012 season began on 29 January 2012 with the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise, formerly known as the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La ...

.2012 Post Danmark Rundt - Tour of Denmark
''Velowire''. Retrieved 2012-08-25. The race was won by Dutch rider

Lieuwe Westra Lieuwe Westra (11 September 1982 – 14 January 2023) was a Dutch professional racing cyclist who rode professionally between 2006 and 2016 for the KrolStonE Continental Team, and teams. Life and career Born in Mûnein, Westra finished second ...

of the

Vacansoleil–DCM Vacansoleil–DCM Pro Cycling Team was a Dutch professional road bicycle racing, road race cycling team. They were a UCI ProTeam and competed in the 2013 UCI World Tour, UCI World Tour. The team was established in 2005, as the successor of P3 Tran ...

team, with

Ramūnas Navardauskas Ramūnas Navardauskas (born 30 January 1988) is a Lithuanian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2022 for , , and the . Following his retirement as a rider, Navardauskas worked as a directeur sportif ...

of Garmin–Sharp second and

Manuele Boaro Manuele Boaro (born 12 March 1987) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Born in Bassano del Grappa, Boaro competed for U.C. Giorgione Aliseo as a junior, and and as an amateur. Boaro joined pro ...

Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank Tinkoff () was a Russian-registered professional cycling team from Russia and previously Denmark. It competed in the UCI World Tour. The team was owned by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis from 2000 until 2013 and Russian banker Oleg Tink ...

third.Resultater, 6. étape Post Danmark Rundt 2012
Danmarks Cykle Union, 2012-08-26. Retrieved 2012-08-27. The 2012 race was moved to the end of August from its usual start date at the beginning of the month because of a clash with the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Organisers believe that this led to less spectators viewing the race than in the past and plan for the 2013 edition to start following the

2013 Tour de France The 2013 Tour de France was the 100th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It started on the island of Corsica on 29 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 July. The Tour consisted ...

.Post DK Rundt rykker tilbage til Touren
''Jyllands Posten'', 2012-08-27. Retrieved 2012-08-27.

Schedule

Teams

17 teams were invited to the 2012 Danmark Rundt: 8 teams from the UCI ProTeams, 4 UCI Professional Continental Teams, 4 UCI Continental Teams along with a Danish national team under the Team Post Danmark name.

Stages

Stage 1

22 August 2012 –

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is List of cities and towns in Denmark, Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 64,511 ().Djursland Djursland () is a 1,417 km2 hilly lowland peninsula in Denmark at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, between Denmark and Sweden in Northern Europe. Djursland protrudes into the Kattegat sea, as part of the larger peninsula of Jutland, which its ...

peninsula and passing through the town of

Grenaa Grenaa (or Grenå) is a Danish town and seaport on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula. Tourism, education and commerce are important sectors in the economy of Grenaa. It is the only larger town on Djursland. Grenaa is the municipal seat, a ...

.1. etape Post Danmark Rundt 2012, Randers-Randers, 191 km
Danmarks Cykle Union. Retrieved 2012-08-23. A crash involving around half of the field occurred 3½km before the finish before being won by German rider

André Greipel André Greipel (born 16 July 1982) is a German cyclist, who rode professionally in road bicycle racing between 2005 and 2021. Since his retirement from road racing, Greipel has worked as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental teams and , and in ...

of the

Lotto–Belisol Lotto () is a Belgian professional cycling team at UCI ProTeam level sponsored by the Belgian lottery. The same organisations also sponsor a women's cycling team, . History Sponsorship Lotto has a long history of cycling sponsorship, they began ...

team.Greipel forbavsede sig selv med Randers-sejr
''Jyllands Posten'', 2012-08-22. Retrieved 2012-08-23.Greipel vandt i Randers efter massestyrt
''Jyllands Posten'', 2012-08-22. Retrieved 2012-08-23.

Alexander Kristoff Alexander Kristoff (born 5 July 1987) is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . A sprinter and classics rider, Kristoff is the most successful Norwegian cyclist by number of wins, having taken alm ...

Team Katusha A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...

finished second, with

Theo Bos Theo Bos (born 22 August 1983) is a Dutch former professional road and track cyclist. An Olympic silver medalist and five-time world champion, he is the brother of Olympic medalist in speed skating Jan Bos. On 29 November 2021, he announced ...

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

finishing third. Organisers decided to award every rider the same time following the mass crash as the riders involved were part of the

peloton In a road Cycle sport, bicycle race, the peloton (, originally meaning ) is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close (drafting (racing), drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The ...

at the time. This is usually only done if riders are within the 3 km mark at the end of the stage, a decision which attracted some criticism from Michael Rasmussen.Michael Rasmussen: En skandalebeslutning
''Jyllands Posten'', 2012-08-23. Retrieved 2012-08-23.

Stage 2

23 August 2012 –

Løgstør Løgstør is a town in Denmark with a population of 3,969 (1 January 2025) It is located 47 km west of Aalborg and 64 km north of Viborg. Løgstør's city centre consists of old streets with small houses built in the 19th century for fishermen an ...

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, Stage two was the longest stage of the 2012 race, starting in Løgstør on the

Limfjord The Limfjord ( common Danish: ''Limfjorden'' , in northwest Jutlandish dialect: ''Æ Limfjord'') is a shallow part of the sea, located in Denmark where it has been regarded as an inlet ever since Viking times. However, it now has entries both ...

and travelling generally south through

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

. It passed through the town of Viborg before ending in Aarhus. It was described as a key stage with a possibly critical impact on the overall standings.2. etape Post Danmark Rundt 2012, Løgstør-Aarhus, 211 km
Danmarks Cykle Union. Retrieved 2012-08-23. The stage was won by

following a bunch sprint at the finish.Ny etapesejr til André Greipel
Danmarks Cykle Union, 2012-08-23. Retrieved 2012-08-23. Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator rider

Michael Van Staeyen Michael Van Staeyen (born 13 August 1988 in Ekeren) is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2008 until 2022. In March 2022, Van Staeyen announced that he would retire from professional cycling af ...

finished second with

Steele Von Hoff Steele Von Hoff (born 31 December 1987) is an Australian road racing cyclist, who most recently rode for Australian amateur team InForm TMX MAKE. In 2018, Von Hoff won the gold medal in the road race at the Commonwealth Games. Career In 2011 ...

of Garmin–Sharp third.

Stage 3

24 August 2012 –

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025).Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality (''Municipalities of De ...

, Stage three has been described as the toughest stage in the race and contained the most climbs.3. etape Post Danmark Rundt 2012, Silkeborg-Vejle, 185 km
Danmarks Cykle Union. Retrieved 2012-08-23. The route initially ran north from Silkeborg through

Kjellerup Kjellerup is a Danish town with a population of 5,247 (1 January 2025). It finished after the traditional climb of Kiddesvej, a 350-metre climb with an average gradient of 12.5% and a maximum gradient of 21%. This climb has been included in the Danmark Rundt each year since 2004.Kiddesvej i Post Danmark Rundt
Danmarks Cykle Union. Retrieved 2012-08-23. After a breakaway, which at one point reached eight minutes, most riders rejoined the peloton before the final climb of Kiddesvej led to a small group being able to complete the stage ahead of the main bunch.Nordhaug nappede kongeetape-sejr
''Jyllands Posten'', 2012-08-24. Retrieved 2012-08-25.Norsk etapesejr og gul trøje i Vejle
Danmarks Cykle Union, 2012-08-24. Retrieved 2012-08-25. The stage winner was

Lars Petter Nordhaug Lars Petter Nordhaug (born 14 May 1984) is a Norwegian former road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2005 and 2017 for the , , and teams. Career Early career Nordhaug started his career as a mountain biker, but after finishin ...

Team Sky Ineos Grenadiers () (stylised as INEOS Grenadiers) (formerly Team Sky from 2010 to 2019, and Team Ineos from 2019 to 2020) is a British professional cycling team that competes at the UCI WorldTeam level. The team is based at the National Cyclin ...

who took over the general classification lead from

Wilco Kelderman Wilco Kelderman (born 25 March 1991) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Professional career Rabobank teams (2010–2016) Born in Amersfoort, Kelderman finished in seventh position in the general classificati ...

came second with

of Garmin–Sharp third.

Stage 4

25 August 2012 – Ringe to

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...

, A short stage to allow for an individual time trial later in the same day, stage four saw the race move to

Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

. Starting in Ringe, the route traveled south to

Faaborg Faaborg or Fåborg () is an old port town located on Faaborg Fjord in Faaborg-Midtfyn municipality on the island of Funen in Denmark. By road, Faaborg is located southwest of Odense, west-northwest of Svendborg, and roughly southeast of Midde ...

on the south coast, before passing north to Odense.4. etape Post Danmark Rundt 2012, Ringe-Odense, 90 km
Danmarks Cykle Union. Retrieved 2012-08-23. Much of the route was wet and, again, produced a sprint finish which was won by

ahead of

Andrew Fenn Andrew James Fenn (born 1 July 1990) is a British former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2018 for four different teams. Fenn took four individual victories in elite road racing events and represented Scotland at t ...

Omega Pharma–Quick-Step Soudal–Quick-Step () is a Belgian UCI WorldTeam cycling team led by team manager Jurgen Foré. The directeurs sportifs are Davide Bramati, Iljo Keisse, Klaas Lodewyck, Wilfried Peeters, Tom Steels, Geert Van Bondt, Dries Devenyns and Kev ...

and

.Norske Alexander Kristoff vinder i Odense
Danmarks Cykle Union, 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2012-08-25.Norsk jubel i Post DK: Det er fantastisk
''Jyllands Posten'', 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2012-08-25.

retained the yellow jersey with just a one-second lead over Kristoff ahead of the evening

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

around

Kerteminde Kerteminde (nickname: ''Min Amandas by'', i.e. ''My Amanda's town''), is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality on the island of Funen. The town has a population of 6,128 (1 January 2025).

.Resultater fra 4. etape af Post Danmark Rundt 2012
Danmarks Cykle Union, 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2012-08-25.

Stage 5

25 August 2012 –

to Kerteminde,

(ITT) Stage five was a 14½km individual time trial around Kerteminde on

. The stage was identical to the time trial used in the 2002 and 2008 races.5. etape Post Danmark Rundt 2012, Kerteminde (enkeltstart), 14,5 km
Danmarks Cykle Union. Retrieved 2012-08-23. It was won by

of the

team who took the yellow jersey, leading the race by ten seconds from Ramūnas Navardauskas.Resultater, 5. étape Post Danmark Rundt 2012
Danmarks Cykle Union, 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2012-08-27.

Stage 6

26 August 2012 –

Slagelse Slagelse () is a town on Zealand (Denmark), Zealand, Denmark. The town is the seat of Slagelse Municipality, and is the biggest town of the municipality. It is located 15 km east of Korsør, 16 km north-east of Skælskør, 33 km south-east of Ka ...

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

, Stage six started in Slagelse on

Sjælland Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020, comprising ...

and passed through

Sorø Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand in east Denmark with a population of 8,433 (2025).

and

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

before arriving in Frederiksberg. Ten laps of 6 km each led to the traditional race finish on Frederiksberg Allé.6. etape Post Danmark Rundt 2012, Slagelse-Frederiksberg, 165 km
Danmarks Cykle Union. Retrieved 2012-08-23. The stage was won by

rider

Mark Cavendish Sir Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx people, Manx retired professional cyclist. As a Track cycling, track cyclist he specialised in the Madison (cycling), madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he ...

in a bunch sprint, with

retaining the overall lead.Cavendish vandt på Frederiksberg Allé
''Jyllands Posten'', 2012-08-26. Retrieved 2012-08-27.Mark Cavendish wins final stage of Tour of Denmark
''BBC Sport'', 2012-08-26. Retrieved 2012-08-27.

Classification leadership

Final standings

The general classification was won by

by ten seconds from

of Garmin–Sharp with

another four seconds back in third place.Cavendish wins final stage at Tour of Denmark
''Cycling News'', 2012-08-26. Retrieved 2012-08-27.

rider

won the points trophy by one point from

rider

. The mountain classification was won by Danish rider

Nikola Aistrup Nikola Aistrup (born 22 August 1987 in Ballerup) is a Danish former professional racing cyclist. Major results ;2008 : 3rd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships ;2009 : 2nd Paris–Roubaix Espoirs : 3rd Fyen Rundt : 6th Road race, ...

Team Concordia Forsikring–Himmerland Riwal Cycling Team was a Danish UCI Continental cycling team based in Himmerland. Riwal participated in races in many countries around Europe. The team's most popular achievements have been the Danmark Rundt, the Olympia's Tour in the Netherlands ...

with Dutch rider

of Team Rabobank winning the young riders award. Glud & Marstrand–LRØ rider Sebastian Lander won the fighters award. The team race was won by

References

External links

Official site (Danish)
{{Danmark Rundt Danmark Rundt

2012 in Danish sport