2011 Vuelta a España

The 18 teams in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Proteam category were obliged to enter the race. Four UCI Professional Continental teams were also invited.[8]

The full list of participating teams is:

†: Invited Pro-continental teams.

2010 winner Vincenzo Nibali of the Liquigas–Cannondale team, was seen as the top-favourite.

2010 winner Vincenzo Nibali came to defend his Vuelta title and was seen as the favourite due to the better time-trial skills than climbers as Igor Antón, 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 Vacansoleil–DCM due to an ongoing doping investigation.[9]

Two other Grand Tour winners in the Vuelta peloton were Carlos Sastre (winner of the 2008 Tour de France) and Denis Menchov (two-time winner of the Vuelta and winner of the 2009 Giro d'Italia). Both riders of the Geox–TMC 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.[10]

Other favourites for the podium had had a disappointing Tour de France and were looking to improve in the Vuelta. Janez Brajkovič, Bradley Wiggins and Jurgen van den Broeck crashed out of the Tour in the first week while Andreas Klöden 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.[11]

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), Steven Kruijswijk (ninth in the 2011 Giro, third overall and a mountain stage win at the 2011 Tour de Suisse), Bauke Mollema (twelfth at the 2010 Giro d'Italia and fifth overall at the 2011 Tour de Suisse) and Rein Taaramäe (twelfth at the 2011 Tour de France, third overall at the 2011 Critérium International and fourth overall at the 2011 Paris–Nice. Other contenders for the top ten were Garmin's co-leader Christophe Le Mével and Ag2R's Nicolas Roche. [12][13]

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.[14] Among the uphill finishes were the infamous Alto de L'Angliru and the climb to the Sierra Nevada. 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 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 come of the Vuelta 'A Waste of Money'.[15] 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.

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	20 August	Benidorm	13.5 km (8.4 mi)		Team time trial	Leopard Trek
2	21 August	La Nucía – Playas de Orihuela	175.5 km (109 mi)		Flat stage	Christopher Sutton (AUS)
3	22 August	Petrer – Totana	163 km (101 mi)		Flat stage	Pablo Lastras (ESP)
4	23 August	Baza – Sierra Nevada	170.2 km (105.8 mi)		Mountain stage	Daniel Moreno (ESP)
5	24 August	Sierra Nevada – Valdepeñas de Jaén	187 km (116 mi)		Medium mountain stage	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)
6	25 August	Úbeda – Córdoba	196.8 km (122 mi)		Medium mountain stage	Peter Sagan (SVK)
7	26 August	Almadén – Talavera de la Reina	187.6 km (116.6 mi)		Flat stage	Marcel Kittel (GER)
8	27 August	Talavera de la Reina – San Lorenzo de El Escorial	177.3 km (110.2 mi)		Medium mountain stage	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)
9	28 August	Villacastín – Sierra de Bejar. La Covatilla	183 km (114 mi)		Mountain stage	Dan Martin (IRL)
10	29 August	Salamanca	47 km (29.2 mi)		Individual time trial	Tony Martin (GER)
	30 August	Rest day
11	31 August	Verín – Estación de Esquí Manzaneda	167 km (104 mi)		Mountain stage	David Moncoutié (FRA)
12	1 September	Ponteareas – Pontevedra	167.3 km (104.0 mi)		Flat stage	Peter Sagan (SVK)
13	2 September	Sarria – Ponferrada	158.2 km (98.3 mi)		Mountain stage	Michael Albasini (SUI)
14	3 September	Astorga – La Farrapona. Lagos de Somiedo	172.8 km (107.4 mi)		Mountain stage	Rein Taaramäe (EST)
15	4 September	Avilés – Angliru	142.2 km (88.4 mi)		Mountain stage	Juan José Cobo (ESP)  Wout Poels (NED)[16]
	5 September	Rest day
16	6 September	Villa Romana La Olmeda (Palencia) – Haro	188.1 km (116.9 mi)		Flat stage	Juan José Haedo (ARG)
17	7 September	Faustino V (Oyón) – Peña Cabarga	211 km (131 mi)		Mountain stage	Chris Froome (GBR)
18	8 September	Solares – Noja	174.6 km (108.5 mi)		Medium mountain stage	Francesco Gavazzi (ITA)
19	9 September	Noja – Bilbao	158.5 km (98.5 mi)		Medium mountain stage	Igor Antón (ESP)
20	10 September	Bilbao – Vitoria-Gasteiz	185 km (115.0 mi)		Medium mountain stage	Daniele Bennati (ITA)
21	11 September	Circuito del Jarama – Madrid	94.2 km (58.5 mi)		Flat stage	Peter Sagan (SVK)
	TOTAL		3319.8 km (2062.8 mi)

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 in Benidorm. The Leopard Trek squad won this stage. Danish General Classification contender Jakob Fuglsang passed the finish line as first and was the first cyclist to wear the red leaders jersey.[17] Fuglsang lost the leaders jersey after just one day to team-mate Daniele Bennati in a sprinter's stage which was won by Christopher Sutton of Team Sky.[18]

Stage 3 saw the first victory out of a break-away. Out of this break-away it was Pablo Lastras (Movistar Team) who attacked on the last climb and held a small margin until the finish line in Totana. Runner-up of the stage, Sylvain Chavanel (Quick-Step), was the third cyclist who was awarded the red leaders jersey.[19]

No serious attacks were made by the GC contenders on the first mountain stage of the Vuelta. On the climb to the Sierra Nevada it was Daniel Moreno (Team Katusha) who attacked with Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank–SunGard) 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.[20]

Igor Antón (Euskaltel–Euskadi) 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.[21] He couldn't repeat his stage victory. Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), a specialist on very steep hills, won the stage before the surprisingly strong Dutchman Wout Poels (Vacansoleil–DCM) and team-mate Daniel Moreno. Leader Chavanel lost several seconds but managed to keep the lead in the race.[22]

The Liquigas team of Vincenzo Nibali 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 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.[23] The next day Sagan sprinted again for the stage victory but couldn't beat German talent Marcel Kittel (Skil–Shimano) in a sprint which was characterized by a huge crash of American sprinter Tyler Farrar (Garmin–Cervélo) in which he didn't suffer any serious injuries.[24]

On 13 June 2019, the UCI announced that Cobo's biological passport 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.[25] 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 was promoted to second place, and Bauke Mollema promoted to third.[6]

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