page_title: 2011 BMC Racing Team season
section_title: Tour de France
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 BMC Racing Team season / Grand Tours / Tour de France
caption_attribution_description: Cadel Evans at the prologue of the Tour de Romandie 2011
context_page_description: The 2011 season for the BMC Racing Team began in January with the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Giro di Lombardia. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.
  Team captain Cadel Evans provided the majority of their victories in 2011, most notably the overall crown at the Tour de France. Twice a runner-up at that race, and at age 34 the oldest post-World War II winner, Evans took used a different race program than he had in previous years. He rode relatively few races prior to the Tour, though he was also the overall victor at Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour de Romandie.
  Though often considered to be a team with a strong classics pedigree, and active in most races with several top tens, they did not win any single-day race in the spring season. Greg Van Avermaet won the late-season Paris–Tours, along with two stages in stage races earlier in the season. The team's ostensible classics leader, Italian Alessandro Ballan, did not win any race in 2011 and was again briefly suspended from racing pursuant to the ongoing Mantova doping investigation, as he had been in 2010.
context_section_description: The Tour de France was the main focal point of the season for BMC's leader Evans, and perhaps the team itself. He had ridden two Grand Tours each of the past two seasons, and in three of the past four, but in 2011 he focused solely on the Tour. He rode a different race program in preparation for the Tour than he had in previous years, riding fewer races. Among them were the early-season stage races Tirreno–Adriatico and Tour de Romandie, both of which Evans won, and the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he finished on the podium in second overall. The squad named to the race was chosen with the sole goal of helping Evans win the race overall. It consisted of classics specialists Hincapie and Burghardt with the aim of keeping Evans out of trouble in the flatter stages, climbers Moinard and Morabito to help in the mountains, and strong time trialists Bookwalter and Schär (and Hincapie) for the stage 2 team time trial. Hincapie made his 16th consecutive Tour start, to tie the record held by Joop Zoetemelk, having finished each except the very first.
  Evans was active in the finale of the first road race stage. Almost completely flat with a punchy uphill finish, the stage kept the peloton together most of the way before a crash 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) from the end split the field. Evans stayed out front and shadowed Philippe Gilbert on the finish atop the Mont des Alouettes. The Belgian won the stage, but Evans finished clear of the peloton for second place three seconds back. This positioned the team well for the stage 2 team time trial. Despite being considered the lesser of squads such as Garmin–Cervélo, Team Sky, and HTC–Highroad, among others, the squad finished second just four seconds back of Garmin–Cervélo, tied with Team Sky and Leopard Trek. The result left Garmin–Cervélo riders Thor Hushovd and David Millar tied on the same time at the top of the overall classification, with the Norwegian taking the yellow jersey, and Evans installed into third overall just a single second back. Evans said after the stage that he was very pleased with the team's effort and had confidence for the continuation of the race.
  Stage 4, again mostly flat with an uphill finish, was another important day for the team. Evans approached the finish with a select group at the head of the race, including most of the race's overall favorites and race leader Hushovd. Evans outsprinted Alberto Contador at the finish to claim his second career Tour stage win. After finishing safely in the peloton on the next three stages, all of them favoring sprinters, Evans took third, just behind Gilbert, on Super Besse in stage 8. Despite the uphill finish and the stage's bumpy profile, Hushovd also finished in this group, meaning Evans did not, as was expected, take the yellow jersey. Though the next day featured a change of race leader, when a breakaway including Thomas Voeckler gained almost four minutes against the peloton, Evans remained well-placed in third overall. There were then no significant changes to the overall standings until stage 16. This was a medium mountain stage heading gradually uphill until a second-category climb 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) from the finish in Gap. Hushovd won the stage from a breakaway, but together with Contador and Samuel Sánchez, Evans attacked on the descent. He gained over a minute against the race's other top riders, most notably Andy Schleck.
  Stage 18 was extremely important to the race's overall standings. With 60 kilometers (37 mi) still to go before the finish, Andy Schleck attacked out of the group of race favorites, and no one followed him. He made the bridge up to a teammate from the morning escape, who paced him to a maximum four-minute advantage at the front of the race. From behind, Evans put in an intensive effort from about the 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) to go mark to limit his losses. Schleck easily won the stage, but Evans remained only 57 seconds down, a time gap he could easily make up in the stage 20 individual time trial. Evans had mounted the final chase all on his own, with riders near him such as Voeckler and I
caption: Team captain Cadel Evans won the Tour de France, thanks in large measure to his time trial skills.
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