Stage Races Classics

Tour of Beijing 2012 Live Dashboard
Race Info, Preview, Live Video, Results, Photos and Highlights

Like the inaugural Tour of Beijing, the Bird's Nest (now known as The National Stadium) will be featured on two stages. It was the site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies

2012 Tour of Beijing Teams

Team Rosters and ~~Withdrawals~~
Group riders by: or Printable Startlist

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News and Updates for Tour of Beijing 2012

Stage 5 Full Official Results — tourofbeijing.net
Full Final General Classification — tourofbeijing.net
Steve Cummings closes injury hit season in style with final Beijing stage victory — velonation
Tony Martin wins second consecutive Tour of Beijing — cyclingnews
October 13/14 update: A hilly stage with a 5.4 km @ 5.9 km "cat 1" climb 30 km from the flat finish. The final stage. — Steve

Or see the race summary table (right) for the stage profile, map and timetable.

Stage 4 Full Official Results — tourofbeijing.net
Full General Classification After Stage 4 — tourofbeijing.net
Tour of Beijing stage 4: Haller takes surprise win — cyclingnews
Tour of Beijing: Marco Haller takes first professional win on stage four to Chang Ping — velonation
October 12/13 update: Stage 4 starts at the Great Wall of China, does a loop of the area then returns south for a gradual descent finish in Chang Ping. — Steve

Or see the race summary table (right) for the stage profile, map and timetable.

Stage 3 Full Official Results — tourofbeijing.net
Full General Classification After Stage 3 — tourofbeijing.net
Tour of Beijing stage 3: Gavazzi snatches victory — cyclingnews
Gavazzi outsprints the favourites to take stage three on the Great Wall — velonation

October 11/12 update: A hilly stage with an uphill finish at the Great Wall of China — Steve

Or see the race summary table (right) for the stage profile, map and timetable.

Stage 2 Full Official Results — tourofbeijing.net
Full General Classification After Stage 2 — tourofbeijing.net
Tour of Beijing stage 2: Tony Martin wins alone — cyclingnews
October 10/11 update: Stage 2 features several categorized climbs northwest of Beijing including at category 1 at the halfway point. The finish in Men Tou Gou, at the west end of Beijing, is flat. — Steve

Or see the race summary table (right) for the stage profile, map and timetable.

Stage 1 Full Official Results — tourofbeijing.net
Tour of Beijing stage 1: Viviani victorious — cyclingnews
Viviani powers in to grab stage one and leader’s jersey in Tour of Beijing — velonation
Craig Lewis flies the flag for Champion System in Tour of Beijing opener — velonation
Viviani Wins Fast And Furious Opening Stage — tourofbeijing.net

October 9/10 update: Stage 1 is basically a repeat of last year's final stage, a flat course through Beijing starting at historic Tian An Men Square and finishing with 10 circuits around the relatively new National Stadium (Bird's Nest, photos above) . — Steve

Or see the race summary table (right) for the stage profile, map and timetable.

2012 Race Preview

October 8 update:
Press Conference Highlights/Quotes — tourofbeijing.net
Tony Martin, Samuel Sanchez and Andy Schleck rate chances before Tour of Beijing — velonation

October 7 update:
Wide Open Tour Of Beijing Set For Second Edition In Chinese Capital — tourofbeijing.net
Giro Champion Hesjedal Leads Team Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda In Beijing — tourofbeijing.net

October 5 update: Coming — Steve
Boasson Hagen heads depleted Sky Procycling team at Tour of Beijing — velonation
Hesjedal seeking to add Tour of Beijing to Giro d’Italia success — velonation
Lotto Belisol hoping Henderson can shine in Beijing — cyclingnews

About Beijing — en.wikipedia.org
Tour of Beijing Official Site — tourofbeijing.net

Cycling in Beijing

Sept 2011 report: Unlike most Western cities, Beijing has an excellent cycling infrastructure due to its long tradition of using bicycles for transportation. (Most of the many bike lanes have barriers that separate bikes from motor traffic.) When I visited Beijing last year. I saw only one cyclist in road cycling attire with helmet and cycling shoes among the many thousands of cyclists I saw on the roads and I only counted a couple of helmets in total. There is lots of car traffic to contend with when crossing streets so cycling in Beijing isn't for the faint-hearted yet it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. The many bike lanes and cool old narrow side streets (hutongs) proved to be a fun way to visit some of the landmarks and get a feel for this ancient city which is perfectly flat.

This brings us to one of the main reasons why this event is being hosted in Beijing. The local organizing committee wants to use this event to promote cycling's modern appeal to get more people to use their bikes for transportation and sport/leisure. Beijing is notorious for poor air quality and indeed during the first few days of my visit, the air pollution was bad. But, when I left six days later, the sky was almost perfectly blue. So, poor air quality isn't always prevalent.

Since the lead up to the 2008 Olympics, Beijing has taken dramatic steps to improve the air quality of their city which have been somewhat successful. They halved the motor traffic by limiting drivers to odd or even days (based on their license plate numbers) and new car licenses are issued via a lottery. For the Olympics, five new branches of their impressive subway system were build in just five years. (Communism can have its benefits in getting things done!) Still the number of cars in Beijing continues to grow at a rapid rate.

We'll have to wait and see if this event generates long-term staying power. — Steve

Live Video Streaming, Text Updates and TV Coverage

Also follow steephill on Twitter for the latest race info and video updates.

October 5 update: A work in progress for Tour of Beijing 2012 worldwide tv coverage and online video streaming. Most live feeds will be country restricted, but unrestricted links will appear in bold. Check back at race time for more links. Feel free to send in additional sources for live video, tv coverage or text updates/tickers as they become known. — Steve

media source	tv or internet	comments/restrictions
	live video (english) live video (english) live video (english) live video (english) live video (english) live video (dutch) live video (dutch) tv schedule (british) tv schedule (int'l/cet)	Europe; live daily coverage and rebroadcasts on Eurosport 2.
	live video (english) tv schedule	Australia only; SBS live tv and online coverage
	live video (english) tv schedule	Canada; Rogers Sportsnetwork One
	live video (english) tv schedule	United States; Online streaming only for those that subscribe to a cable, satellite or telco video tier, or package, that includes Universal Sports Network
	live video (english) tv schedule	South Africa; Super Sport live tv and online coverage
	live video (english) tv schedule	New Zealand; SkySport live or dealyed each day; highlights
	steephill text updates	updates on results, photos and video
check back at race time for more and updated links; send a comment or a new live link