page_title: 2011 Cofidis season
section_title: Tour de France
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 Cofidis season / Grand Tours / Tour de France
caption_attribution_description: Rein Taaramäe at the team presentation of the 2010 Tour de France in Rotterdam
context_page_description: The 2011 season for the Cofidis cycling team began in January at the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise and ended in October at Paris–Tours. Cofidis was a UCI Professional Continental team in 2011, meaning they had to be proactively selected by the organizers of UCI World Tour events, including each of the season's Grand Tours, if they were to compete.
  The team's most successful rider in 2011 was David Moncoutié. The veteran Frenchman won the Tour Méditerranéen and Tour de l'Ain overall crowns, as well as successes in the Vuelta a España. Moncoutié took a stage win and the King of the Mountains, each for the fourth straight year. Sprinter Samuel Dumoulin was also a prolific winner, winning six races.
context_section_description: The Amaury Sport Organisation announced the wildcard entries to the Tour de France in January, much earlier in than in past years. Cofidis, who had participated in the Tour every year of their existence, were among the four teams added to the 18 UCI ProTeams obligated to attend. After not racing the Tour in 2010 and indicating at the time that he may not return to it, Moncoutié decided instead to ride the 2011 Tour with hopes of winning the King of the Mountains title. The decision put a bit of doubt to his potential return to the Vuelta a España, notwithstanding the team needing a wildcard for that race as well, in spite of his three-year string of winning the mountains classification at that race. Taaramäe, Dumoulin, El Fares, and Vogondy were also named to the squad.
  Taaramäe finished near the front of the race on stage 1 atop the short Mont des Alouettes hill. He was distanced by stage winner Philippe Gilbert and eventual Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, but finished with the main front group six seconds back for eighth on the day.  The team had a very poor team time trial, coming in 21st. They were second to last, ahead of Euskaltel–Euskadi, who are renowned for having weak time trialists on their roster, and only by 2 seconds. The result dropped Taaramäe down to 66th place. The squad was mostly quiet in the first half of the Tour, with Gallopin taking fourth in a field sprint to finish stage 5 and Dumoulin tenth in stage 10 their best finishes.
  On stage 13 into Lourdes, which included a passage over the hors catégorie climb Col d'Aubisque, Moncoutié figured into a ten-man breakaway. Given the lack of overall threat in the group, the peloton did not mount a serious chase, meaning the stage winner would come from this group of ten. FDJ's Jérémy Roy broke away from the group on the way up the climb. Moncoutié strenuously chased him, with Thor Hushovd following behind. The other breakaway riders all faded, finishing five minutes back on the stage. Roy crested the Aubisque first, and Moncoutié second. Hushovd, a rider known as a very strong descender, caught up with Moncoutié on the way down the Aubisque. With a short flat section still to race after the descent, Moncoutié and Hushovd worked cohesively as a chase group behind Roy. They caught and passed Roy 3 km (1.9 mi) from the end of the stage, and Hushovd eventually dropped Moncoutié as well to be the solo stage winner; Moncoutié finished second and Roy third. Moncoutié was roundly criticized by the French press for collaborating with Hushovd in the chase, with Roy (a fellow Frenchman) up the road. To that point in the Tour, no French rider had yet won a stage. Team manager Boyer defended Moncoutié, saying Hushovd was likely to surpass Roy and win any sprint at the end of the stage no matter what, and by working with him Moncoutié assured himself second place rather than falling to third.
  Taaramäe took over the white jersey for best young rider from Rigoberto Urán on stage 18. Urán finished a distant 27th on the day, seven minutes off the pace of stage winner Andy Schleck. Taaramäe's eighth place, three minutes back of Schleck but four minutes the better of Urán, moved him into 11th place overall and into the best young rider's position, by 33 seconds over Pierre Rolland. Rolland won the stage at Alpe d'Huez the next day, with Taaramäe finishing 14th two minutes back. This gave Rolland an advantage of a minute and 33 seconds going into the stage 20 individual time trial, where Taaramäe's skills are superior. Taaramäe indeed finished better than Rolland in the time trial, tenth to Rolland's 21st, but gained only 48 seconds. This was insufficient to win back the white jersey before the final, largely ceremonial stage into Paris on the Tour's final day. Taaramäe finished the Tour in 12th place overall, at a deficit of eleven and a half minutes to Tour champion Cadel Evans. Moncoutié was not a major factor in any classification, finishing 41st overall and 25th in the mountains classification. Given his result at just 24 years of age, and that he retains eligibility fo
caption: Former Estonian national champion Rein Taaramäe was Cofidis' best finisher in the Tour de France, coming in 12th just a few seconds shy of winning the best young rider white jersey.
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