These are the profiles for the individual stages in the 2011 Tour de France, with Stage 1 on 2 July, and Stage 11 on 13 July. In February 2012 following doping allegations a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport stripped of all results of Alberto Contador obtained in and later than the 2010 Tour de France, which led him to being stripped of that title, as well as his results in the 2011 Tour de France. His results have thus been removed here, with cyclists behind him moving up one spot.
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 points classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the leader of the team classificationThe bibs are designated to all remaining riders within the leading team. Denotes the rider designated as the day's most combative 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 2 July 2011 — Passage du Gois to Mont des Alouettes,
The Tour started with a road stage rather than the traditional prologue time trial, and with an uphill finish. The day started with a non-racing parade over the tidal Passage du Gois. When underway, the riders initially followed the coast, where the wind could have had an impact, before heading inland to Les Herbiers and the finish on the Mont des Alouettes.
The first breakaway of the Tour was formed by three riders: Lieuwe Westra of , Perrig Quéméneur of and Jérémy Roy of . They attacked from the very beginning of the race and their maximum advantage was over six minutes. The top places in the intermediate sprint after were won by the breakaway members and the new points distribution saw green jersey contenders competing for the rest of points. Tyler Farrar took fourth place ahead of André Greipel. About nine kilometres from the end, Maxim Iglinsky collided with a spectator, and the resulting crash held up the majority of the field, including Alberto Contador and Samuel Sánchez. This group were chasing the lead group of 78 riders, until within the last three kilometers, they were delayed by another crash that had split the lead group approximately in half. On the uphill finish, an attack by Fabian Cancellara was successfully countered by Philippe Gilbert, who was favourite for the stage, and who finished three seconds clear of Cadel Evans, who finished a similar margin clear of the chasing group. Due to rules that protect riders against time lost due to accidents in the latter stages of a race, about 40 riders who had been in the same group as Gilbert and others at to go, but who were delayed by a later crash, were awarded the same time as those who finished just behind Gilbert and Evans, but those who caught up with them, having been delayed in the Iglinsky incident, lost at least 1'20".
Stage 1 result and general classification after stage 1 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 3" 3 + 6" 4 + 6" 5 + 6" 6 + 6" 7 + 6" 8 + 6" 9 + 6" 10 + 6"
Stage 2 3 July 2011 — Les Essarts, team time trial (TTT)
The team time trial was relatively short at and mostly flat, so large time gaps were not expected. , who saw all their GC contenders lose nearly two minutes on stage 1, won the stage to place their world champion Thor Hushovd in the overall lead, while Cadel Evans, who had a three-second advantage over Hushovd going into the stage, was almost able to take the yellow jersey, as his team took just four seconds longer than to come second, a fraction of a second faster than .
Stage 2 result Rank Team Time 1 2 + 4" 3 + 4" 4 + 4" 5 + 5" 6 + 10" 7 + 12" 8 + 28" 9 + 32" 10 + 39"General classification after stage 2 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 0" 3 + 1" 4 + 4" 5 + 4" 6 + 4" 7 + 4" 8 + 4" 9 + 4" 10 + 4"
Stage 3 4 July 2011 — Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon,
The break of the day, consisting of Mickaël Delage (), José Iván Gutiérrez (), Rubén Pérez (), Maxime Bouet () and Niki Terpstra () went clear within the opening kilometre of racing. Their lead reached a maximum of eight minutes after . The members of the breakaway took the intermediate sprint, but the sprint for remaining points caused controversy, as Mark Cavendish, who won the sprint, later had the points he won at this stage removed, as did Thor Hushovd. Delage and Gutiérrez were the last pair of the break to remain clear of the peloton, but were caught with remaining. The stage was won by Hushovd's teammate Tyler Farrar, who took his first individual Tour stage win. Farrar formed a 'W' sign with his fingers on the line in homage to his friend Wouter Weylandt who died in a crash on the Giro d'Italia in May. rider José Joaquín Rojas, third on the stage, assumed the lead of the points classification from Philippe Gilbert.
Stage 3 result Rank Rider Team Time 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 3 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 0" 3 + 1" 4 + 4" 5 + 4" 6 + 4" 7 + 4" 8 + 4" 9 + 4" 10 + 4"
Stage 4 5 July 2011 — Lorient to Mûr-de-Bretagne,
This was an undulating course, with a steep hill shortly before the finish. A five-man breakaway group escaped after , consisting of Jérémy Roy (), Blel Kadri (), Imanol Erviti (), Johnny Hoogerland () and Gorka Izagirre (), and remained on their own until the foot of the Mûr-de-Bretagne. Defending champion Alberto Contador was the first to attack in the closing stages, causing several splits in the field, including a group of ten at the front of the race. As Contador's initial attack failed, Jurgen Van den Broeck tried to break clear, but was caught up by the front group, and Cadel Evans, third in the overall standings at the beginning of the day, held off a final sprint from Contador to win the stage, but the presence of Thor Hushovd in the lead group meant that Hushovd kept the overall lead, while Evans took the lead in the mountains classification.
Stage 4 result Rank Rider Team Time 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 + 6"General classification after stage 4 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 1" 3 + 4" 4 + 8" 5 + 10" 6 + 10" 7 + 12" 8 + 12" 9 + 12" 10 + 12"
Stage 5 6 July 2011 — Carhaix to Cap Fréhel,
Many riders tried to get into the breakaway in this stage, but the final breakaway was formed of 4 riders: José Iván Gutiérrez (), Tristan Valentin (), Sébastien Turgot (), and Anthony Delaplace (). They had a maximum advantage of 5 minutes. The intermediate sprint was won by the breakaway riders, while in the peloton Borut Božič took the highest remaining points haul. José Joaquín Rojas and Tom Boonen were penalised for irregular sprinting at this point, a penalty that cost Rojas his lead in the green jersey competition. After the intermediate sprint, set a very high pace and there were many crashes in the peloton, one of which involved Janez Brajkovič, who had to abandon due to a broken collarbone and concussion. Another crash involved Nicki Sørensen who fall off when his bike was clipped by a photo motorcycle and it was dragged along by it for 200m. Alberto Contador, Robert Gesink, Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel and Iván Velasco, who sustained a broken collarbone, were among other riders who crashed on this stage. The breakaway was caught with to go, but Thomas Voeckler () and Jérémy Roy () attacked with to go, creating a maximum gap of one minute, and the race was in the last before Voeckler was caught. A late attack by Edvald Boasson Hagen disrupted the lead out lines for the main sprinters, but Mark Cavendish nevertheless took the victory ahead of Philippe Gilbert in the last 50 metres. There were no changes among the leading riders and contenders for the General Classification, but Gilbert assumed the lead in the sprinters' competition, although this was confirmed only after Rojas had been presented with the leader's jersey on the podium.
Stage 5 result Rank Rider Team Time 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 5 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 1" 3 + 4" 4 + 8" 5 + 10" 6 + 10" 7 + 12" 8 + 12" 9 + 12" 10 + 12"
Stage 6 7 July 2011 — Dinan to Lisieux,
This was another undulating stage with a hill in the last few kilometres, expected to suit classics specialists. Lieuwe Westra () initiated the main break of the day, eventually joined by his teammate Johnny Hoogerland, Anthony Roux (), Leonardo Duque () and Adriano Malori (). Their lead reached 12 minutes, and Hoogerland added to the point in the mountains classification that he already had on the first two categorised climbs of the day, and thus ensured that he would take over the polka-dot jersey, and he, along with Roux and Duque, had ceased trying to stay clear when there were still some 60 km remaining, but Westra and Malori persisted, with Malori only caught with less than three km remaining. A late attack by Jelle Vanendert () and Thomas Voeckler () was caught with a kilometre remaining, and the sprint was eventually won by Edvald Boasson Hagen of (), with fellow Norwegian Thor Hushovd finishing third to retain the yellow jersey. Although there were several heavy rain showers, there were fewer falls than in the previous stage, although GC contender Levi Leipheimer () fell and lost more than a minute.
Stage 6 result Rank Rider Team Time 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 6 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 1" 3 + 4" 4 + 8" 5 + 10" 6 + 10" 7 + 12" 8 + 12" 9 + 12" 10 + 12"
Stage 7 8 July 2011 — Le Mans to Châteauroux,
This stage had no climbing points available, and was considered to be very much a chance for the sprint specialists to contest the stage win. The break formed very early in the stage, with two riders from , Gianni Meersman and Mickaël Delage along with Yannick Talabardon () and Pablo Urtasun (). A crash with remaining caused injuries to Bradley Wiggins of and Chris Horner of that caused them to retire from the race, while other GC contenders to lose time included Levi Leipheimer, Ryder Hesjedal, Roman Kreuziger, Rigoberto Urán and Bauke Mollema. The sprint train of dominated the closing stages of the races, allowing Mark Cavendish to take the stage win. Overall leader Thor Hushovd finished in seventh place to retain that position.
Stage 7 result Rank Rider Team Time 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 7 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 1" 3 + 4" 4 + 8" 5 + 10" 6 + 12" 7 + 12" 8 + 13" 9 + 13" 10 + 20"
Stage 8 9 July 2011 — Aigurande to Super Besse,