Team Sky and Omega Pharma-Quick Step most successful teams
Image 1 of 8
Andre Greipel was a force to be reckoned with in 2012, pictured here winning his third stage at the Tour de France(Image credit: AFP)
Incredible Hulk: Peter Sagan set the Tour alight with three stage wins and the green jersey win(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mark Cavendish (Sky) would win three stages of the Giro d'Italia(Image credit: AFP)
Belgian champion Tom Boonen won Paris-Brussels.(Image credit: AFP)
Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) seals victory in the Tour de France with a commanding ride in the final time trial(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Joaquim Rodriguez loses his cool and howls for joy as he crosses the line to win his first ever Monument at Il Lombardia in a torrential downpour.(Image credit: Jered Gruber)
Gert Steegmans leads his Omega Pharma - Quickstep team through a corner(Image credit: Sirotti)
Chris Sutton drives the Team Sky train out of the home straight in Buninyong in the concluding laps of the race.(Image credit: Shane Goss/licoricegallery.com)
Andre Greipel was the most successful rider of 2012, winning 19 races during the season, while Team Sky and Omega Pharma-Quick Step both racked up 51 victories.
Greipel top the rider list ahead of Peter Sagan (16 wins) and Mark Cavendish (15). Tom Boonen and Marcel Kittel both won 13 races. Bradley Wiggins was the most successful stage race rider in terms of quality and quantity, winning 12 races in 2012, while Joaquim Rodriguez won 10 races on his way to becoming the world's number one ranked rider.
Sagan won his haul in the first half of the season, with his five stage wins at the Tour of California and four wins at the Tour de Suisse a clear sign of what was to come at the Tour de France: three stage wins and dominant victory in the green jersey points competition.
Cavendish wore the rainbow jersey with pride while at Team Sky but his tally was hit by the British team's decision to target stage races with Wiggins. Cavendish claimed he could have won more and the lack of support lead to his move to Omega Pharma-QuickStep.
His arrival at the Belgian team should mean they win even more in 2013. Omega Pharma-Quick Step dropped Levi Leipheimer after he confessed to doping earlier in his career but won races with 19 different riders in 2012.
Tom Boonen won the most, taking a Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix double after one of his best ever spring campaigns that also included wins a Ghent-Wevelgem and E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke. Tony Martin won the Tour of Belgium and the Tour of Beijing, and ended the year as world time trial champion. The team won nine different national titles and also celebrated becoming the first ever world champion team time trial champions.
Team Sky focused much more on stage races, with Wiggins winning Paris-Nice, the Tour of Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné and of course the Tour de France. Richie Porte won the Volta ao Algarve, Michael Rogers won the Bayern-Rundfahrt, while Edvald Boasson Hagen won the Tour of Norway and the GP Ouest France – Plouay classic, and Lars Petter Nordhaug won the GP de Montréal in Canada. 12 different riders won races for Team Sky in 2012.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
