| 2012 UCI World Tour, race 6 of 28 | |||||||||||||
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| Race details | |||||||||||||
| Dates | 23 March 2012 | ||||||||||||
| Stages | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 203 km (126.1 mi) | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 4h 51' 59" | ||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||
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The 2012 E3 Harelbeke was the 55th running of the E3 Harelbeke single-day cycling race. [1] It was held on 23 March over a distance of 203 kilometres (126.1 miles) and was the sixth race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season. E3 Harelbeke was held as a UCI World Tour event for the first time, [2] after previously being held as a 1.HC race on the UCI Europe Tour. [3] As well as its promotion to the World Tour, the race moved to a Friday running from a Saturday; the move was in order to give riders a day's break prior to the following World Tour event, Gent–Wevelgem. [4]
Contents
In a mass sprint finish, the race was won by Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Tom Boonen, [5] who in the process, became the most successful rider in the history of the race; his fifth victory – after four previous victories in succession between 2004 and 2007 – in Harelbeke took him beyond the record tally of four victories that he had been sharing with fellow Belgian rider Rik Van Looy. [6] Boonen finished ahead of Team Katusha's Óscar Freire and Team Sky's Bernhard Eisel, who completed the podium. [7]
