page_title: 2011 Giro d'Italia
section_title: Race overview
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 Giro d'Italia / Race overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Mark Cavendish finishing Stage 3 of the 2011 Tour Down Under in Stirling.
context_page_description: The 2011 Giro d'Italia was the 94th Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race started on 7 May with a team time trial in Turin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, when the city served as the first capital of the single state.
  The route was one of the most difficult in the modern history of the race, with substantial criticism that it was simply too hard for a three-week-long race. Of the seven stages categorized as 'high mountain', six had summit arrivals, highlighted by the three stages before the second rest day ending at Grossglockner in Austria, the exceptionally steep Monte Zoncolan, and a tall and steep peak near the Fascia Valley in Gardeccia. There was also, for the fifth consecutive Giro, a climbing time trial, this one to the Nevegal. Of the race's 18 mass-start stages, only three ended with the majority of the field together at the front of the race.
  In the third stage, Leopard Trek rider Wouter Weylandt crashed coming down the Passo del Bocco, near the town of Mezzanego, suffering catastrophic injury. Despite substantial resuscitation efforts, he was established to have died on the spot.
context_section_description: The Giro began with a team time trial in the city that served as Italy's first federal capital, Turin. The HTC–Highroad squad won this stage, making their rider Marco Pinotti the first wearer of the race leader's pink jersey. That team's focus the next day was not to defend Pinotti's race lead, but to try to deliver their star sprinter Mark Cavendish to the victory, which would have the indirect effect of him overtaking Pinotti for the pink jersey. Cavendish indeed became the new race leader, but after an awkward final sprint it was not he but Italian Alessandro Petacchi who won the day. David Millar then became the third race leader in as many days when he finished with a breakaway group that was 21 seconds the better of the main field in stage 3, though this result was overshadowed by the death of Wouter Weylandt earlier in the stage.
  The peloton chose not to run stage four competitively following Weylandt's death; instead the stage was ridden as a procession in his memory. The remaining members of his team Leopard Trek, as well as training partner Tyler Farrar from the Garmin–Cervélo squad, crossed the finish line first with their arms around one another before withdrawing from the race that evening. Stage 5 was held on the dirt roads of Tuscany, which had provided for one of the more spectacular stages in the 2010 Giro d'Italia. Dutch rider Pieter Weening won the stage with an 8-second time gap against the field. That, coupled with the 20-second time bonus for winning the day, gave him the pink jersey. There was some stability in the overall standings at this point, as the race's top riders finished together, or nearly so, in the next three stages.
  Stage 9 was the first major mountain stage, featuring two ascents of Mount Etna, including a summit finish. It was on this day that strong overall favorite Alberto Contador first seized control of the race. Just after Androni Giocattoli's José Rujano attacked out of the leading group on the road on the way up to Etna for the last time, Contador did likewise. Rujano struggled mightily to hold Contador's wheel and no one else came close to reaching the pair. Contador won the stage, his first Giro stage win despite having won the Italian Grand Tour in 2008, and immediately attained a minute's advantage in the overall classification. In his five previous Grand Tour wins, Contador had never lost the race lead after taking it, but he had also never taken it so early on in the race. As teams who have riders with a legitimate chance to win a race overall will generally try to avoid defending the lead for too many days, lest they tire their support riders out early and leave their leader vulnerable, there was speculation that Contador would tactically relinquish the jersey. The Spaniard himself hinted that such a move would be in his plans. This would be likeliest to happen in the heavily undulating stage 11. The breakaway group for this stage was hard-fought and late-forming, since someone from its number could potentially become the new race leader. While Garmin–Cervélo's Christophe Le Mével, who entered the day third overall and had on two other occasions come within a time bonus of claiming the jersey, made the group, neither he nor anyone in it was destined to take pink. Largely under the impetus of Michele Scarponi's Lampre–ISD team, the breakaway group was caught before the finish. Contador and the rest of the overall favorites finished at the front of the race, with riders well down in the standings claiming the time bonuses, meaning Contador retained the race leadership after all.
  Contador took the most time against the main field out of any day in stage 13. On this day, which ended at the Grossglockner in Austria, he and Rujano again finished well ahead of the main field. As they approached the finish line, Contador did not attempt to sprint for the win, allowing Rujano to take it. Their minute and a half time gap, plus the time bonus for second place, gave Contador a lead of over three minutes in the overall standings. Only in the 2009 Tour de France had he ever held a l
caption: Mark Cavendish won two stages and wore the pink jersey – only Alberto Contador did the same.
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