The 2011 Giro d'Italia began on 7 May, and stage 11 occurred on 18 May. The 2011 edition commemorated the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. The majority of the race, and the entire first half, was situated entirely within Italy without visiting any other nations. The race commenced with a team time trial, an event where each member of a team starts together racing against the clock. The stage provided for the first two race leaders, members of the winning team.
The race, and the entire cycling world, were turned upside down by the death of rider Wouter Weylandt in stage 3. Weylandt had crashed from near the back of the race while descending a hill, and sustained such grievous injury that he was established to have died instantly upon falling to the road. The next day's stage was neutralized, as the peloton rode slowly and allowed Weylandt's teammates, as well as his good friend and training partner Tyler Farrar from the squad, to cross the line first with their arms around one another. All of them subsequently withdrew from the Giro.
Dutch rider Pieter Weening won the first stage competitively raced after Weylandt's death, and took over the race leadership for four days. He surrendered it to another stage winner, strong overall favorite Alberto Contador who dominated the field on the way up Mount Etna. Although it was perhaps against his will, Contador continued to hold the race leadership through the end of the first half of the race, topping the overall standings with the much more difficult second half of the Giro still to race.
LegendJerseys appearing in the table on the left of the page indicate those worn by the cyclist during the particular stage, while those appearing in the table on the right of the page indicate those awarded to the cyclist after the stage. Denotes the leader of the General classification Denotes the leader of the Mountains classification Denotes the leader of the Points classification Denotes the leader of the Young rider classification s.t. indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the one receiving the time above him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.
Stage 1 7 May 2011 – Venaria Reale to Turin, (team time trial)
The Giro begins with a team time trial, a favored event of race director Angelo Zomegnan who has included such a stage in every Giro since he first assumed that mantle. The course is flat, but is also technical, with several sharp turns, and it also covers tram tracks. Pre-race analysis found it comparable to the equivalent stage in Venice which began the 2009 Giro. The team, known at that time as , are again favorites, along with several other teams. While the Giro itself commemorates the anniversary of Italian unification, so too does the first stage in particular, by visiting Italy's first capital of Turin.
The team was the first on the course, and stopped the clock in 21'21", which held up as a competitive time for the rest of the stage. Nearly every squad came within a second, on either side, of matching their time of ten minutes flat at the intermediate time check. The one which was notably faster was , who were at 9'48" after 9 km. They were the only squad to finish in under 21 minutes, winning the stage with a time of 20'59". Team time trial winners from the 2010 Giro opted to ride somewhat conservatively, particularly over the tram tracks, knowing that with less than 20 km of racing that resultant time gaps would not be excessive. Their leader Vincenzo Nibali effectively gained eight seconds on Giro favorite Alberto Contador with finishing eighth to Liquigas-Cannondale's fourth. Michele Scarponi also gained time on Contador, with the six seconds better than Contador's squad. The most notable time loss on the day however was suffered by Joaquim Rodríguez, with his squad finishing a distant 20th, over a minute off HTC-Highroad's winning time. Marco Pinotti was the first HTC-Highroad rider over the finish line, giving him the first pink jersey. He had previously held the jersey for four days in the 2007 Giro, but he made it clear after the stage that he would work for Mark Cavendish in the first road race stage and could possibly cede the jersey to the Manxman.
Stage 1 result TeamTime 1 20' 59" 2 + 10" 3 + 22" 4 + 22" 5 + 24" 6 + 24" 7 + 26" 8 + 30" 9 + 37" 10 + 37"General classification after stage 1 RiderTeamTime 1 20' 59" 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 0" 5 + 0" 6 + 10" 7 + 10" 8 + 10" 9 + 10" 10 + 10"
Stage 2 8 May 2011 – Alba to Parma,
This stage was flat, and one of few stages intended to end in a mass sprint. It took place on National Bicycle Day in Italy, the second time such an occasion was observed. A very short fourth-category climb occurred from the finish line, to award the first green jersey. The arrival town of Parma hosted the Giro on eight other occasions, and was chosen for National Bicycle Day due to the vast quantities of bike trails it has.
A singular rider formed the day's breakaway. Sebastian Lang of accelerated out of the peloton after just . No one joined him, and the German stayed out front alone for the next , having held an advantage at one point of over 20 minutes. He had still been in first position over the fourth-category climb, meaning he was awarded the green jersey on the podium after the stage. After he was caught, some from the finish, an eight-man counter-attack formed. Their advantage was never greater than 30 seconds, and when Eduard Vorganov crashed from the end of the stage, the others lost their rhythm and were caught soon after. rode on the front of the peloton in the final kilometers, trying to set up the finish for their sprinter Tyler Farrar. At the finish, however, Farrar's last leadout man Murilo Fischer was unable to match the accelerations of Mark Renshaw and Danilo Hondo, respective leadout men for Mark Cavendish and Alessandro Petacchi, and the American faded to seventh on the day. Petacchi opened the sprint first, to the right of Renshaw, leaving Cavendish to take the line to Renshaw's left. Just as Cavendish occupied a position with open road in front of him, Petacchi deviated from his line and rode directly in front of Cavendish for a few meters. When Cavendish tried to go around Petacchi, the Italian again changed his line to stay in front of Cavendish. After a moment, both sprinted with open road in front of them, and Petacchi came across the line first by a matter of millimeters. Cavendish was visibly upset, shouting and gesticulating at Petacchi after they crossed the finish line.
Cavendish's 12-second time bonus for second place nonetheless made him the new overall race leader. Cavendish later explained that his frustration was not directed at Petacchi, but at race officials, since he felt he would be relegated if he had sprinted in a similar manner. However, he also said that he never had the intention of appealing the result. His sporting director Valerio Piva also took that stance, stating that Petacchi's sprint was "not really fair play." The next day, Cavendish made a point of apologizing to Petacchi via Twitter for his outburst after crossing the finish line.
Stage 2 result RiderTeamTime 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 2 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 12" 3 + 12" 4 + 12" 5 + 12" 6 + 16" 7 + 22" 8 + 22" 9 + 22" 10 + 22"
Stage 3 9 May 2011 – Reggio Emilia to Rapallo,
This stage was categorized flat, though there were two climbs near the end. The third-category Passo del Bocco was expected to split the peloton, while the fourth-category Madonna delle Grazie climb was expected to make the finish trying for any sprinters remaining at the front of the race. Pre-race analysis led to speculation that the race lead would probably change hands on this stage. The departure town of Reggio Emilia was chosen for this Giro because it is where the flag of Italy was first created.
Race report Four riders distinguished themselves as the day's breakaway – Bart De Clercq, Gianluca Brambilla, Pavel Brutt, and Davide Ricci Bitti. They established their position as the day's signature escape after . Overnight race leader Mark Cavendish had repeated mechanical trouble, needing two full bike changes early in the stage. This gapped him off from the front of the race, leaving him three minutes back of the stage winner at day's end and surrendering the pink jersey. The break's time gap began to fall at the to go mark, having been at a maximum of six minutes. De Clercq tried to accelerate out of the breakaway for the mountains points at the top of the Passo del Bocco, since his teammate Sebastian Lang held the mountains jersey after his day-long breakaway in stage 2. He started his sprint much too early, however, and Brambilla beat him to the summit, making the Italian the new wearer of the green jersey. The main field, paced mostly by as they tried to keep the pace difficult to isolate Cavendish while protecting their sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, caught them with left to race. Shortly thereafter, another four-man group formed. After some moments, they were joined by David Millar to make for a leading quintet. This group stayed away to the finish, with 's Ángel Vicioso was easily the strongest sprinter present, taking the win. Millar's time bonus for second, coupled with the group's 21-second gap over the main field, made the Briton the new race leader.
Stage 3 result RiderTeamTime 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 + 12" 7 + 12" 8 + 21" 9 + 21" 10 + 21"General classification after stage 3 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 7" 3 + 9" 4 + 9" 5 + 9" 6 + 12" 7 + 13" 8 + 18" 9 + 19" 10 + 19"
Death of Wouter Weylandt
During the descent of the Passo del Bocco, rider Wouter Weylandt crashed and suffered catastrophic injury. Race doctor Giovanni Tredici, and the doctor for the team were in cars very near Weylandt's group on the road, and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation for approximately 40 minutes. Doctors also gave Weylandt adrenaline and atropine to try to restart his heart, though Tredici stated that resuscitation efforts were rather clearly in vain, and that Weylandt was already dead by the time they got to him. Doctors were never able to revive Weylandt, and he was declared dead on the spot. A short time later, Weylandt's body was airlifted off the descent and taken to a nearby hospital, where the pathologist conducting the autopsy concluded that the Belgian had died immediately upon crashing. Weylandt's death was the first at the Giro in 25 years, and the first at one of cycling's Grand Tours since Fabio Casartelli died during the 1995 Tour de France.