The 2011 Vuelta a España was held from 20 August to 11 September. The bicycle race began in Benidorm with a team time trial and ended, as is traditional, in Madrid. 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.[1]
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). Two other stages had steep uphill finishes, both of which were won by Katusha leader Joaquim Rodríguez.[2]
This Vuelta saw the introduction of a combativity award, much like that in the Tour de France. 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.[3] 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, and Froome for Bradley Wiggins; 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.[4] The points classification was won by Dutch rider Bauke Mollema who finished 4th overall.
On 13 June 2019, the sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste International (UCI), announced that Cobo had been found guilty of an anti-doping violation, according to findings from his biological passport. 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.[5] 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.[6]
Froome, who had in the intervening time finally won the 2017 Vuelta a España, '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, ironically receiving his last of seven Grand Tour prizes for his first Grand Tour victory.[7]
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[by whom?], 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]
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 coming 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.
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]
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]
Doping
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]
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. 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.[26]
^"UCI World Ranking – 2011". Union Cycliste Internationale. 12 September 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2011. This update also includes races that took place during the Vuelta, and one that finished a few hours after the Vuelta but on the same day.
