2012 Team Sky season
They were joined by Uran's fellow Colombian Sergio Henao, who made his Grand Tour debut in the event, Bernhard Eisel, Juan Antonio Flecha, Ian Stannard, Jeremy Hunt, Geraint Thomas and Peter Kennaugh, the latter two using the event as preparation for the Olympic Team Pursuit.
The race began in Herning, Denmark with an 8.7 km individual time trial, in which Thomas finished second behind Taylor Phinney.
On the following stage however, Henao proved the stronger of the two Colombians, finishing fourth and taking the White Jersey from his teammate.
On Stage 17, Uran finished fourth with the same time as winner Joaquim Rodríguez, and rose to fifth overall, re-claiming the white jersey from Henao, who now sat in 10th overall.
He would be supported in the mountains by Chris Froome, Michael Rogers, Richie Porte, Konstantin Sivtsov, Christian Knees and Edvald Boasson Hagen, whilst World Champion Mark Cavendish and Bernhard Eisel were also selected to challenge in the sprints.
Stage 2 saw the first bunch sprint of the race, and Cavendish took a thrilling victory, edging out André Greipel, despite the lack of a lead out train.
Sky were avoided disaster on Stage 6, with most of the team not being caught up in a crash which delayed most of the field, although Cavendish and Boasson Hagen lost time.
The crash effectively removed Fränk Schleck, Alejandro Valverde, Pierre Rolland, and the entire Rabobank and Garmin teams from contention for overall victory.
The pair rejoined Nibali and Jurgen Van Den Broeck, only for Froome to immediately attack, putting Wiggins in difficulty.
He subsequently received the order from his team manager to hold back and wait for yellow jersey Wiggins, and the group remained together for the rest of the climb, with the exception of Evans who cracked and lost time, meaning Froome moved up to second overall, two minutes and five seconds behind Wiggins.
Believing that a puncture resulting from an unfortunate incident should not determine the fate of a competitor, Wiggins then had his teammates and the rest of the peloton slow down to allow Evans and other affected cyclists to catch up.
On Stage 16, Wiggins and Froome were the only riders able to respond to an attack by Nibali on the final climb, and the three stayed together on the descent to finish with the same time.
On the final summit finish on Stage 19, Wiggins and Froome dropped all of their rivals and attempted to catch Valverde, who was out in front.
Ultimately, they came up short due to Froome having to wait three times for Wiggins as the race leader was several metres behind his domestique on certain parts of the climb, although they took second and third to extend their advantage over Nibali.
The Tour concluded with the now-customary stage finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where Sky chased down a late breakaway before Wiggins and Boasson Hagen led out Cavendish, winning the final stage for the fourth successive year, becoming the first incumbent world champion to win on the Champs-Élysées.
Juan Antonio Flecha, Chris Froome, Sergio Henao, Danny Pate, Richie Porte, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Rigoberto Urán and Xabier Zandio lined up to start the Vuelta a España.
