The 2011 Clásica de San Sebastián was the 31st edition of the

Clásica de San Sebastián The Donostia-Donostia Klasikoa — Clásica San Sebastián-San Sebastián (San Sebastián Classic) is a one-day professional men's bicycle road race in northern Spain that has been held every summer since 1981 in San Sebastián. It is the m ...

, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 30 July 2011, over a distance of , starting and finishing in

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

, in the Basque Country,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It was the eighteenth event of the

2011 UCI World Tour The 2011 UCI World Tour was the third edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The series started with the 2011 Tour Down Under, Tour Down Under's opening stage on 18 January, and consisted of 14 ...

season. Similar to his late race attacks to win the

Ardennes classics The Ardennes classics are three cycling classics held in mid-April in the Belgian Ardennes and southern Limburg in the Netherlands: Liège–Bastogne–Liège, La Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race. First held in 1892, 1936 and 1966 respec ...

earlier in the year, 's

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the 2012 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two rid ...

accelerated away from the pack with remaining in the race and caught and passed 's

Carlos Barredo Carlos Barredo Llamazales (born 5 June 1981, in Oviedo, Asturias) is a Spanish former road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional between 2004 and 2012. He was issued a suspension for the first two months of the 2011 season in response to ...

on the road. Barredo could not hold Gilbert's pace and thus Gilbert opened up a gap of over ten seconds that he held to the finish, to secure his fourteenth victory of the season. Barredo, the

2009 Clásica de San Sebastián The 2009 Clásica de San Sebastián was the 29th edition of the Clásica de San Sebastián road cycling race. It took place on 1 August 2009, and was the tenth event of the 2009 UCI ProTour, and the eighteenth in the inaugural UCI World Ranking s ...

winner, finished second just ahead of a sprint finish for third place, won by

Greg Van Avermaet Greg Van Avermaet (born 17 May 1985) is a retired Belgian professional cyclist. Considered one of the most versatile riders of modern cycling, Van Avermaet was a specialist of the classic cycle races, but has also won stages and the general cla ...

for .

Teams and riders

As the race was held under the auspices of the

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

, all eighteen ProTour teams were invited automatically. Three additional wildcard invitations were given – , and – to form the event's 21-team peloton. The 21 teams invited to the race were: Teams consisted of up to eight riders, and 168 riders started the event. The event took place less than a week after the conclusion of the

2011 Tour de France The 2011 Tour de France was the 98th edition of Tour de France, the race. It started on 2 July at the Passage du Gois and ended on the Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France, Champs-Élysées in Paris on 24 July. The cyclists competed in 2 ...

, and many of the riders who took part in that event, contested the race.

Results

References

Clásica de San Sebastián San Sebastian Classica de San Sebastian {{Spain-cycling-race-stub