Vuelta a Espana 2011

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.

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.

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. 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 finished 5th and 3rd respectively. 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 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. 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. He officially received the 2011 winner’s trophy at the start of the final stage of the 2020 edition on 8 November 2020.

2011 Vuelta a España

2011 UCI World Tour, race 21 of 27
Race details
Dates	20 August – 11 September
Stages	21
Distance	3,300 km (2,051 mi)
Winning time	84h 59′ 31″
Results
Winner  Juan José Cobo Chris Froome (GBR) (Team Sky) Second  Bradley Wiggins (GBR) (Team Sky) Third  Bauke Mollema (NED) (Rabobank) Points  Bauke Mollema (NED) (Rabobank) Mountains  David Moncoutié (FRA) (Cofidis) Combination  Juan José Cobo Chris Froome (GBR) (Team Sky) Team Geox–TMC
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Teams

Route and stages

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)

Classification leadership table

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Combination Classification	Team classification	Combativity award
1	Leopard Trek	Jakob Fuglsang	no award	no award	no award	Leopard Trek	Fabian Cancellara
2	Christopher Sutton	Daniele Bennati	Christopher Sutton	Paul Martens	Jesús Rosendo		Adam Hansen
3	Pablo Lastras	Pablo Lastras	Pablo Lastras	Pablo Lastras	Pablo Lastras	Movistar Team	Sylvain Chavanel
4	Daniel Moreno	Sylvain Chavanel		Daniel Moreno	Daniel Moreno	Team RadioShack	Thomas Rohregger
5	Joaquim Rodríguez		Daniel Moreno				Michael Albasini
6	Peter Sagan		Joaquim Rodríguez				Martin Kohler
7	Marcel Kittel		Peter Sagan				Luis Ángel Maté
8	Joaquim Rodríguez	Joaquim Rodríguez	Joaquim Rodríguez				Adrián Palomares
9	Daniel Martin	Bauke Mollema		Daniel Martin	Bauke Mollema	Geox–TMC	Sebastian Lang
10	Tony Martin	Chris Froome				Leopard Trek	Tony Martin
11	David Moncoutié	Bradley Wiggins		Matteo Montaguti		Team RadioShack	Adrián Palomares
12	Peter Sagan						Adam Hansen
13	Michael Albasini			David Moncoutié	Daniel Moreno		Amets Txurruka
14	Rein Taaramäe				Bauke Mollema	Geox–TMC	David de la Fuente
15	Juan José Cobo Wout Poels	Juan José Cobo			Juan José Cobo		Simon Geschke
16	Juan José Haedo						Jesús Rosendo
17	Chris Froome		Bauke Mollema				Johannes Fröhlinger
18	Francesco Gavazzi		Joaquim Rodríguez				Sérgio Paulinho
19	Igor Antón						Igor Antón
20	Daniele Bennati						Carlos Barredo
21	Peter Sagan		Bauke Mollema				no award
Final		Juan José Cobo Chris Froome	Bauke Mollema	David Moncoutié	Juan José Cobo Chris Froome	Geox–TMC	Adrián Palomares

General classification

	Rider	Team	Time
DSQ	Juan José Cobo (ESP)	Geox–TMC	84:59:31
1	Chris Froome (GBR)	Team Sky	84:59:44
2	Bradley Wiggins (GBR)	Team Sky	+ 1′ 26″
3	Bauke Mollema (NED)	Rabobank	+ 1′ 50″
4	Denis Menchov (RUS)	Geox–TMC	+ 3′ 35″
5	Maxime Monfort (BEL)	Leopard Trek	+ 4′ 00″
6	Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)	Liquigas–Cannondale	+ 4′ 18″
7	Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL)	Omega Pharma–Lotto	+ 4′ 32″
8	Daniel Moreno (ESP)	Team Katusha	+ 5′ 07″
9	Mikel Nieve (ESP)	Euskaltel–Euskadi	+ 5′ 20″

Points classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1	Bauke Mollema (NED)	Rabobank	122
2	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Team Katusha	115
3	Daniele Bennati (ITA)	Leopard Trek	101
4	Peter Sagan (SVK)	Liquigas–Cannondale	100
DSQ	Juan José Cobo (ESP)	Geox–TMC	92
5	Chris Froome (GBR)	Team Sky	88
6	Daniel Moreno (ESP)	Team Katusha	83
7	Wout Poels (NED)	Vacansoleil–DCM	71
8	Dan Martin (IRL)	Garmin–Cervélo	70
9	Bradley Wiggins (GBR)	Team Sky	69

King of the Mountains classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1	David Moncoutié (FRA)	Cofidis	63
2	Matteo Montaguti (ITA)	Ag2r–La Mondiale	56
DSQ	Juan José Cobo (ESP)	Geox–TMC	42
3	Dan Martin (IRL)	Garmin–Cervélo	33
4	Daniel Moreno (ESP)	Team Katusha	32
5	David de la Fuente (ESP)	Geox–TMC	24
6	Nico Sijmens (BEL)	Cofidis	22
7	Chris Froome (GBR)	Team Sky	21
8	Chris Anker Sørensen (DEN)	Saxo Bank–SunGard	20
9	Koen de Kort (NED)	Skil–Shimano	19

Combination classification

	Rider	Team	Total
DSQ	Juan José Cobo (ESP)	Geox–TMC	9
1	Chris Froome (GBR)	Team Sky	16
2	Bauke Mollema (NED)	Rabobank	17
3	Daniel Moreno (ESP)	Team Katusha	21
4	Dan Martin (IRL)	Garmin–Cervélo	26
5	Wout Poels (NED)	Vacansoleil–DCM	38
6	Bradley Wiggins (GBR)	Team Sky	39
7	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Team Katusha	48
8	Chris Anker Sørensen (DEN)	Saxo Bank–SunGard	51
9	Denis Menchov (RUS)	Geox–TMC	52

Team classification

Points earned in the Vuelta

Name	Team	Points
Chris Froome (GBR)	Team Sky	157
Bradley Wiggins (GBR)	Team Sky	108
Bauke Mollema (NED)	Rabobank	108
Maxime Monfort (BEL)	HTC–Highroad	70
Daniel Moreno (ESP)	Team Katusha	68
Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)	Liquigas–Cannondale	62
Peter Sagan (SVK)	Liquigas–Cannondale	56
Jurgen Van Den Broeck (BEL)	Omega Pharma–Lotto	54
Dan Martin (IRE)	Garmin–Cervélo	44
Mikel Nieve (ESP)	Euskaltel–Euskadi	38
Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Team Katusha	38

Top ten of the individual standings after the Vuelta

Rank	Prev.	Name	Team	Points
1	2	Philippe Gilbert (BEL)	Omega Pharma–Lotto	698
2	1	Cadel Evans (AUS)	BMC Racing Team	574
3	3	Alberto Contador (ESP)	Saxo Bank–SunGard	471
4	5	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	Team Katusha	366
5	4	Michele Scarponi (ITA)	Lampre–ISD	357
6	6	Samuel Sánchez (ESP)	Euskaltel–Euskadi	307
7	16	Bradley Wiggins (GBR)	Team Sky	289
8	7	Fränk Schleck (LUX)	Leopard Trek	284
9	13	Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)	Liquigas–Cannondale	272
10	17	Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)	Team Sky	260