The 2011 Vuelta a España was held from 20 August to 11 September. The bicycle race began in
Benidorm
Benidorm ( , , ) is a municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
Known as the “New York City, New York of the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean”, Benidorm has been a tourist destinatio ...
with a team time trial and ended, as is traditional, in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. The 2011 Vuelta was the 66th edition of
the race and was the first Vuelta in 33 years that visited the
Basque Country. The 33-year absence from the region was due to fear of
political protests.
Commentators claimed that it was a race well suited for climbers due to the short time trials and the large number of climbing kilometres. Nine of the twenty-one stages were ranked as Mountain stages, and six of them had a mountain-top finish (including the very steep uphill finish on the
Alto de L'Angliru
Alto de L'Angliru (; ) is a steep mountain road in Asturias, near La Vega-Riosa, in northern Spain. It is considered one of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing and is often used in the Vuelta a España stage race.
Origin ...
). Two other stages had steep uphill finishes, both of which were won by
Katusha leader
Joaquim Rodríguez.
This Vuelta saw the introduction of a combativity award, much like that in 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 ...
. The most combative rider in each stage was awarded a red back number which he wore for the next stage.
The victory was originally awarded to
Juan José Cobo who had a race-winning margin of just 13 seconds over Briton
Chris Froome. Neither rider had been marked as a pre-race favourite, and both had gone to the Vuelta as
domestiques for their team leaders: Cobo for
Denis Menchov
Denis Nikolayevich Menshov (often mistakenly romanized as Menchov, ; born 25 January 1978) is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general classification rider ...
, and Froome for
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 ...
; their team leaders originally finished 5th and 3rd respectively. The race was the first time that two Britons had stood on the podium of a Grand Tour, and Froome's second-place finish was, at the time, the best result in a Grand Tour by a British rider, until Wiggins won the
Tour de France the following year. Cobo also won the Combination Classification. The King of the Mountains competition was won for the fourth consecutive time by Frenchman
David Moncoutié. The points classification was won by Dutch rider
Bauke Mollema
Bauke Mollema (; born 26 November 1986) is a Dutch professional cycle sport, cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has finished in the top 10 in all three Grand Tours, with stage wins in the 2021 Tour de France, 2017 Tour de France, and the 2 ...
who finished 4th overall.
On 13 June 2019, the sport's governing body, the
Union Cycliste International
The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces disci ...
(UCI), announced that Cobo had been found guilty of an anti-doping violation, according to findings from his
biological passport
An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by ...
. As a result, the UCI penalised him with a three-year period of ineligibility. Cobo was officially stripped of the title on 18 June 2019. On 17 July 2019, as the time for Cobo to appeal the decision expired with no application, the UCI announced it recognised
Chris Froome as the 2011 champion, making him retroactively the first Briton to win a Grand Tour. Froome was also promoted to the winning position in the combination classification. Wiggins was promoted to runner-up, his second promotion on a Grand Tour podium due to doping, and Mollema was promoted to the podium in third.
[
]
Froome, who had in the intervening time finally won the
2017 Vuelta a España
The 2017 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling stage race that took place in Spain between 19 August and 10 September 2017. The race was the 72nd edition of the Vuelta a España and the final Grand Tour of the 2017 cycling season ...
, 'on the road', officially received the 2011 winner's trophy at the start of the final stage of the 2020 edition on 8 November 2020.
Teams
The 18 teams in the
Union Cycliste Internationale
The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...
(UCI)
Proteam category were obliged to enter the race. Four
UCI Professional Continental
The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...
teams were also invited.
The full list of participating teams is:
†: Invited Pro-continental teams.
Pre-race favourites

2010 winner
Vincenzo Nibali
Vincenzo Nibali (; born 14 November 1984) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2005 to 2022. He is one of seven cyclists who have won all three of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours i ...
came to defend his Vuelta title and was seen as the favourite due to the better time-trial skills than climbers as
Igor Antón
Igor Antón Hernández (born 2 March 1983) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018 for the , and squads.
Career
Born in Galdakao, Basque Country, Antón's first major achievement ...
,
Joaquim Rodríguez and
Michele Scarponi. Anton was regarded as the strongest climber in the 2010 race, but due to a crash he had to withdraw from the race.
Ezequiel Mosquera did not start the race, the 2010 runner-up being suspended from racing by his team due to an ongoing doping investigation.
Two other Grand Tour winners in the Vuelta peloton were
Carlos Sastre (winner of the
2008 Tour de France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of Tour de France, the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, France, Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16t ...
) and
Denis Menchov
Denis Nikolayevich Menshov (often mistakenly romanized as Menchov, ; born 25 January 1978) is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general classification rider ...
(two-time winner of the Vuelta and winner of the
2009 Giro d'Italia). Both riders of the team were looking for better results after disappointing Giro campaigns. Sastre finished in thirtieth place, while Menchov finished eighth. Menchov had allergies and physical problems at the Giro d'Italia and was looking for a third Vuelta win. The Russian could count on one of the best team supports in the mountains with climbers as Sastre,
Juan José Cobo and
Fabio Duarte
Fabio Andrés Duarte Arevalo (born 11 June 1986 in Facatativá, Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca) is a Colombian Track cycling, track and road bicycle racing, road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team . He is best known fo ...
.
Other favourites for the podium had had a disappointing Tour de France and were looking to improve in the Vuelta.
Janez Brajkovič,
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 ...
and
Jurgen van den Broeck crashed out of the Tour in the first week while
Andreas Klöden
Andreas Klöden (born 22 June 1975) is a German former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 1998 and 2013. His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and finishing second in the gene ...
withdrew from the race a week later, also due to injuries of a crash. Wiggins showed good form before the Tour and was seen as a podium candidate for the Tour. His accomplished time-trialling, together with his improved climbing skills, made him a favourite for the Vuelta victory.
Among the top ten contenders were several promising talents, including
Dan Martin (winner of the
2010 Tour de Pologne, runner up of the 2011 Tour de Pologne and third overall at the
2011 Volta a Catalunya
Eleven or 11 may refer to:
*11 (number)
* One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011
Literature
* ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn
*''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith
*''Eleve ...
),
Steven Kruijswijk (ninth in the
2011 Giro, third overall and a mountain stage win at the
2011 Tour de Suisse),
Bauke Mollema
Bauke Mollema (; born 26 November 1986) is a Dutch professional cycle sport, cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has finished in the top 10 in all three Grand Tours, with stage wins in the 2021 Tour de France, 2017 Tour de France, and the 2 ...
(twelfth at the
2010 Giro d'Italia
The 2010 Giro d'Italia was the 93rd edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. The race started off in Amsterdam on 8 May and stayed in the Netherlands for three stages, before leaving the country. The ...
and fifth overall at the
2011 Tour de Suisse) and
Rein Taaramäe
Rein Taaramäe (born 24 April 1987) is an Estonian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Continental team .
Career Cofidis (2008–14)
Taaramäe turned professional in 2008 for after riding for the team as a stagiaire in late 20 ...
(twelfth at the
2011 Tour de France, third overall at the 2011
Critérium International and fourth overall at the 2011
Paris–Nice
Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the ...
. Other contenders for the top ten were Garmin's co-leader
Christophe Le Mével and Ag2R's
Nicolas Roche.
Route and stages
The full route for the 2011 Vuelta was unveiled in Benidorm on January 12, 2011. The climbers immediately liked the route of the race with six mountain stages with uphill finishes and another two flat stages with steep uphill finishes. Among the uphill finishes were the infamous
Alto de L'Angliru
Alto de L'Angliru (; ) is a steep mountain road in Asturias, near La Vega-Riosa, in northern Spain. It is considered one of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing and is often used in the Vuelta a España stage race.
Origin ...
and the climb to the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
. Two finishes were on climbs that have never been featured in the Vuelta before. These are to Estacion de Montaña Manzaneda in Galicia on stage 11 and La Farrapona in the Asturias region on stage 14. Olympic Road Champion
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 ...
pointed out that the lack of Time Trial kilometres make the race very interesting because there are not enough of them for GC riders with good time trialing ability to take advantage for the variety of mountain stages.
It was the first Vuelta since 33 years that visited the
Basque Country. The 33-year absence of the region was due to fear of
political protests. Separatists of the Basque Country were unhappy with the return of the Vuelta and calling the coming of the Vuelta 'A Waste of Money'. Although the criticism of several Separatists on the route of this year, the organizers of the Vuelta announced on 8 September that the 2012 event will start in the Navarrese city of
Pamplona
Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain.
Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...
.
Race overview
''For details see
2011 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11 and
2011 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21''
The Vuelta began with a
team time trial
A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events).
The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ...
in
Benidorm
Benidorm ( , , ) is a municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
Known as the “New York City, New York of the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean”, Benidorm has been a tourist destinatio ...
. The squad won this stage. Danish General Classification contender
Jakob Fuglsang
Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (born 22 March 1985) is a Danish professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . Before turning professional for , he was a mountain biker racing for Team Cannondale–Vredestein, winning the Und ...
passed the finish line as first and was the first cyclist to wear the red leaders jersey. Fuglsang lost the leaders jersey after just one day to team-mate
Daniele Bennati
Daniele Bennati (born 24 September 1980) is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the , , , , , , and squads.
Specialising in fast Cycling sprinter, sprint finishes, Bennati turned profession ...
in a sprinter's stage which was won by
Christopher Sutton of .
Stage 3 saw the first victory out of a break-away. Out of this break-away it was
Pablo Lastras () who attacked on the last climb and held a small margin until the finish line in
Totana. Runner-up of the stage,
Sylvain Chavanel (), was the third cyclist who was awarded the red leaders jersey.
No serious attacks were made by the GC contenders on the first mountain stage of the Vuelta. On the climb to the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
it was
Daniel Moreno () who attacked with
Chris Anker Sørensen
Chris Anker Sørensen (; 5 September 1984 – 18 September 2021) was a Danish road bicycle racer who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018 for the , , , and teams. Sørensen then worked as a directeur sportif (and co-owner) for his final ...
() and who beat the Danish climber in the sprint. Chavanel was the first rider who was awarded the leaders jersey two days in a row.
Igor Antón
Igor Antón Hernández (born 2 March 1983) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018 for the , and squads.
Career
Born in Galdakao, Basque Country, Antón's first major achievement ...
() won in the
2009 Vuelta a España the stage on the steep ascend of
Valdepeñas de Jaén. The Basque lost much time on stage 4 and showed no good form in the Vuelta. He couldn't repeat his stage victory.
Joaquim Rodríguez (), a specialist on very steep hills, won the stage before the surprisingly strong Dutchman
Wout Poels
Wouter Lambertus Martinus Henricus Poels (born 1 October 1987) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam .
Career
Poels was born in Venray. He almost lost a kidney after a massive crash on 2012 Tour de France, Prolo ...
() and team-mate Daniel Moreno. Leader Chavanel lost several seconds but managed to keep the lead in the race.
The Liquigas team of
Vincenzo Nibali
Vincenzo Nibali (; born 14 November 1984) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2005 to 2022. He is one of seven cyclists who have won all three of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours i ...
rode a strong descent in the final of stage 6 and managed to form a small break-away with four Liquigas riders and former stage winner Lastras. From the four Liquigas riders
Peter Sagan
Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak former professional cyclist who competed in road bicycle racing and mountain bicycle racing. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-c ...
took his first Grand-Tour victory. Nibali failed to gain bonification seconds due to miscommunication within the team. The 2010 winner took sixteen seconds on his direct concurrents for the overall victory. The next day Sagan sprinted again for the stage victory but couldn't beat German talent
Marcel Kittel
Marcel Kittel (born 11 May 1988) is a German former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2019 for the , and squads. As a junior, he specialised in time trials, even winning a bronze medal in the World Championships for cycli ...
() in a sprint which was characterized by a huge crash of American sprinter
Tyler Farrar () in which he didn't suffer any serious injuries.
Doping
On 13 June 2019, the UCI announced that Cobo's
biological passport
An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by ...
had indicated the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the period between 2009 and 2011. He was therefore considered ineligible for results. Cobo had one month to lodge an appeal against the decision. On 17 July 2019, as the time for Cobo to appeal the decision expired with no application, the UCI announced that it recognised
Chris Froome as the 2011 champion.
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 ...
was promoted to second place, and
Bauke Mollema
Bauke Mollema (; born 26 November 1986) is a Dutch professional cycle sport, cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has finished in the top 10 in all three Grand Tours, with stage wins in the 2021 Tour de France, 2017 Tour de France, and the 2 ...
promoted to third.
Classification leadership table
Standings
General classification
Points classification
King of the Mountains classification
Combination classification
Team classification
The UCI disqualified Juan José Cobo and
Carlos Barredo from the race. If you ignore them in the daily results, Geox–TMC would drop to 3rd place, Rabobank would end up 13th, and Team RadioShack would be 10th.
World rankings points
The Vuelta was one of 27 events throughout the season that contributed points towards 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 ...
. Points were awarded to the top 20 finishers overall, and to the top five finishers in each stage. Only riders on UCI ProTour teams were eligible to receive rankings points, so winner Juan Cobo was not rewarded in this table.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 Vuelta a Espana
Vuelta a España by year
Espana
1