The 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné, was the 63rd running of the

Critérium du Dauphiné The Critérium du Dauphiné, before 2010 known as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, is an annual cycle sport, cycling road bicycle racing, road race in the Dauphiné region in the southeast of France. The race is run over eight days during ...

(formerly ''Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré'') cycling stage race. It started on 5 June in

Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne (; or ''Sant-Jian-de-Môrièna''; ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department, in the regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (formerly Rhône-Alpes), in south ...

and ended on 12 June in La Toussuire and consisted of eight stages, including a race-commencing prologue stage and an individual time trial, held as the third stage. It was the 15th race 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. The race was won by rider

Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional Road bicycle racing, road and track cycling, track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but ...

, who claimed the leader's yellow and blue jersey after a strong finish on the individual time trial stage, and maintained his advantage to the end of the race. Wiggins' winning margin over runner-up Cadel Evans of was 1 minute and 26 seconds, and 's Alexander Vinokourov completed the podium, 23 seconds down on Evans. In the race's other classifications, rider Joaquim Rodríguez won both the King of the Mountains classification, and the green jersey for the points classification, 's

Jérôme Coppel Jérôme Coppel (born 6 August 1986) is a French former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2016 for the , , and teams. Career Born in Annemasse, Haute-Savoie, Coppel and compatriot Romain Sicard were the focus of a fo ...

won the young rider classification, with finishing at the head of the teams classification.

Teams

Twenty-two teams, each containing up to eight riders, started the race:

Pre-race favourites

The winner of the 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné, Janez Brajkovič, was looking to defend last year's victory, while other pre-race favourites like

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian Sea, Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of th ...

and

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. It ...

winner, Cadel Evans, as well as

Ivan Basso Ivan Basso (born 26 November 1977) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1999 and 2015 for seven different teams. Basso, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, was considered among the best mountain riders in ...

, Robert Gesink,

Samuel Sánchez Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González (born 5 February 1978) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for the and squads. He was the gold medal winner in the Cycling at the 2008 ...

, Alexander Vinokourov and

used the race as a trial-run for the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

Route

Stages

Prologue

;5 June 2011 –

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

(ITT)

Stage 1

;6 June 2011 –

Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

to Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse,

Stage 2

;7 June 2011 –

Voiron Voiron (; ) is a commune (French municipality) in the Isère department in southeastern France. It is the capital of the canton of Voiron and has been part of the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole since 2010. Voiron is located northwest of Grenoble ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Stage 3

;8 June 2011 –

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

(ITT)

Stage 4

;9 June 2011 – La Motte-Servolex to

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...

Teams

Pre-race favourites

Route

Stages

Prologue

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 7

Classification leadership

References

Further reading