The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 21 race stages, including the prologue, covered 3,496.9 km (2,173 mi), from the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June to the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. Bradley Wiggins (pictured) from Team Sky won the overall general classification, becoming the first British rider to win the Tour. Wiggins's teammate Chris Froome placed second, and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas–Cannondale) was third. Wiggins maintained leadership of the race after stage seven, the first mountainous stage. The points classification was won by Nibali's teammate Peter Sagan, who won three stages, as did André Greipel of Lotto–Belisol and Team Sky rider Mark Cavendish. Team Europcar's Thomas Voeckler won the mountains classification. BMC Racing Team's Tejay van Garderen, in fifth place overall, won the young rider classification. The team classification was won by RadioShack–Nissan, and Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank) was given the award for the most combative rider.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Tour_de_France
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1802:
Gia Long conquered Hanoi and unified modern-day Vietnam, which had experienced centuries of feudal warfare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gia_Long
1894:
Despite finishing in first place in the world's first auto race, Jules-Albert de Dion did not win, as his steam-powered car was against the rules. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules-Albert_de_Dion
1944:
In opposition to the Polish government-in-exile, the Soviet- sponsored Polish Committee of National Liberation published its manifesto, calling for radical reforms, a continuation of fighting in World War II against Nazi Germany, nationalisation of industry, and a "decent border in the West". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Committee_of_National_Liberation
1992:
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxurious private prison and spent the next 17 months on the run. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Escobar
2011:
Two sequential terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøya claimed the lives of 77 people in the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
pave the way: (idiomatic, often followed by for) To make future development easier. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pave_the_way
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on — series polygamy — until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimension to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter. --Tom Robbins https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Robbins