Dates 5–12 June Distance 1,064.4 km (661.4 mi) Winner Bradley Wiggins (GBR) | Stages 7+prologue Winning time 26h 40' 51" Second Cadel Evans (AUS) | |
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The 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné, was the 63rd running of the Critérium du Dauphiné (formerly Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré) cycling stage race. It started on 5 June in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne 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 season.
Contents
The race was won by Team Sky rider Bradley Wiggins, 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 BMC Racing Team was 1 minute and 26 seconds, and Astana's Alexander Vinokourov completed the podium, 23 seconds down on Evans.
In the race's other classifications, Team Katusha rider Joaquim Rodríguez won both the King of the Mountains classification, and the green jersey for the points classification, Saur–Sojasun's Jérôme Coppel won the young rider classification, with Team Europcar finishing at the head of the teams classification.
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 and Tour de Romandie winner, Cadel Evans, as well as Ivan Basso, Robert Gesink, Samuel Sánchez, Alexander Vinokourov and Bradley Wiggins used the race as a trial-run for the Tour de France.