2011 Movistar Team season
Manager Eusebio Unzué
One-day victories 3
Stage race overall victories 3
Stage race stage victories 14
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The 2011 season for Movistar Team began in January at the Tour de San Luis 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.

With twenty victories to their credit, the team had a reasonably successful 2011 season competitively, but the year was very tumultuous for reasons outside competition. After a successful early season, including the overall crown at the Vuelta a Castilla y León, team rider Xavier Tondó was killed in a freak accident at his home while preparing for a training ride with teammate Beñat Intxausti. Later in the season, Mauricio Soler sustained a horrific crash at the Tour de Suisse, which could easily have cost him his life as well. After more than four months in the hospital, Soler was released, but his recovery was far from complete at that time.

2011 roster

Ages as of January 1, 2011.

Rider Date of birth
 Andrey Amador (CRC) (1986-08-29)August 29, 1986 (aged 24)
 David Arroyo (ESP) (1980-01-07)January 7, 1980 (aged 30)
 Marzio Bruseghin (ITA) (1974-06-15)June 15, 1974 (aged 36)
 Rui Costa (POR) (1986-10-05)October 5, 1986 (aged 24)
 Imanol Erviti (ESP) (1983-11-15)November 15, 1983 (aged 27)
 José Vicente García (ESP) (1972-08-04)August 4, 1972 (aged 38)
 Iván Gutiérrez (ESP) (1978-11-27)November 27, 1978 (aged 32)
 Jesús Herrada (ESP) (1990-07-26)July 26, 1990 (aged 20)
 Beñat Intxausti (ESP) (1986-03-20)March 20, 1986 (aged 24)
 Javier Iriarte (ESP) (1986-11-11)November 11, 1986 (aged 24)
 Vasil Kiryienka (BLR) (1981-06-28)June 28, 1981 (aged 29)
 Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU) (1985-12-08)December 8, 1985 (aged 25)
 Pablo Lastras (ESP) (1976-01-20)January 20, 1976 (aged 34)
Rider Date of birth
 David Lopez (ESP) (1981-05-13)May 13, 1981 (aged 29)
 Angel Madrazo (ESP) (1988-07-30)July 30, 1988 (aged 22)
 Carlos Oyarzún (CHI) (1981-10-26)October 26, 1981 (aged 29)
 Luis Pasamontes (ESP) (1979-10-02)October 2, 1979 (aged 31)
 Sergio Pardilla (ESP) (1984-01-16)January 16, 1984 (aged 26)
 Francisco Pérez (ESP) (1978-07-22)July 22, 1978 (aged 32)
 Rubén Plaza (ESP) (1980-02-29)February 29, 1980 (aged 30)
 José Joaquín Rojas Gil (ESP) (1985-06-08)June 8, 1985 (aged 25)
 Branislau Samoilau (BLR) (1985-05-25)May 25, 1985 (aged 25)
 Enrique Sanz (ESP) (1989-09-11)September 11, 1989 (aged 21)
 Mauricio Soler (COL) (1983-01-14)January 14, 1983 (aged 27)
 Xavier Tondó[N 1] (ESP) (1978-11-05)November 5, 1978 (aged 32)
 Francisco Ventoso (ESP) (1982-05-06)May 6, 1982 (aged 28)

One-day races

Before the spring season and the races known as classics, the team got a win in the Vuelta a Mallorca series. After making a 40-rider selection with 15 km (9.3 mi) remaining in the Trofeo Deià, Rojas won the resulting sprint among those riders.[15]

Spring classics

The Vuelta a La Rioja was the team's first traditional one-day win. Erviti finished first ahead of two Colombian riders from a UCI Continental team, eight seconds ahead of the main field.[16]

The team also sent squads to Milan–San Remo, Gent–Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, but placed no higher than 11th in any of these races.

Fall races

The team also sent squads to the Clásica de San Sebastián, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, and the Giro di Lombardia, but placed no higher than 11th in any of these races.

Stage races

The team picked up wins in two simultaneous events at the beginning of the season. At the Tour de San Luis, new acquisition Tondó won the 19.5 km (12.1 mi) individual time trial, gaining a 30-second lead over Androni Giocattoli's José Serpa in the process with three days left to race.[17] In the race's penultimate stage, however, Tondó dramatically bonked and crashed on the descent of the Cerro El Amago, the day's last climb.[18] He had stayed with the race's top riders and seemed to be a 15 km (9.3 mi) descent and an easy, flat final stage away from winning the race. Instead, he lost 15 minutes on the day,[19] and finished the race in 23rd place.[20] Also in January, the squad sent to the Tour Down Under came away with another win. Ventoso won the race's queen stage in Willunga ahead of the sprinters who populated the top of the general classification standings.[21] Ventoso was the squad's top finisher in the final overall standings, in sixth place. The squad narrowly won the teams classification, beating Vacansoleil–DCM by eight seconds.[22] Ventoso added a sprint win in February in stage 3 of the Ruta del Sol.[23] The team did not win any stage at Critérium International in March, but they did win the teams classification and have Kiryienka on the final podium in second. With strong placings in all three stages, Kiryienka also won the event's points classification.[24] Rojas won the sprint finish to stage 6 of the concurrent Volta a Catalunya, with nearly the entire peloton finishing together.[25]

Kiryienka won stage 2 at the Tour of the Basque Country with a late-race solo attack. He initially drew four others with him, but a second surge 1,400 m (4,600 ft) from the line gave him the win two seconds ahead of the leading group on the road. It was the Belarusian's first race win since a stage in the 2008 Giro d'Italia.[26] The squad also won the team award at this event.[27] Later in April, the team had a very strong Vuelta a Castilla y León. Ventoso won the first two stages in field sprints, keying of the sprint train Team Sky was trying to use to set up their sprinter Russell Downing on both days.[28][29] The overall classification was left wide open the next day when three-time champion Alberto Contador suffered mechanical trouble on the race's only summit finish, the Laguna de los Peces, and lost two minutes. Tondó finished fifth on the stage, and was in second overall just three seconds behind new race leader Bauke Mollema.[30] Tondó was third in the race's individual time trial the next day, taking the race lead since he gained 12 seconds on Mollema.[31] The time gaps held on the final stage, meaning Tondó won the race overall. Ventoso added a second place in stage 5 to his two wins earlier to handily win the points classification, though he would have won it even if he had not scored in the final stage.[32] Neo-pro Sanz took the first win of his career at the Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid in a short (84.8 km (52.7 mi)) road race held the same day as the prologue time trial. The young Spaniard came first in the field sprint.[33] The next day, Costa finished second on the Puerto de la Morcuera summit by 14 seconds, but this performance was enough to make him the race's overall winner. The team also won two classification awards, with Costa taking the points title and Herrada the youth classification.[34]

The team also sent squads to the Tour Méditerranéen, the Tour du Haut Var, Vuelta a Murcia, Paris–Nice, Tirreno–Adriatico, the Tour de Romandie, Vuelta a Asturias, the Circuit de Lorraine, the Critérium du Dauphiné, the Brixia Tour, the Tour de Pologne, the Eneco Tour, the Tour du Poitou-Charentes and the Tour of Beijing, but did not achieve a stage win, classification win, or podium finish in any of them.

Grand Tours

Giro d'Italia

Tour de France

Vuelta a España

Season victories

DateRaceCompetitionRiderCountryLocation
January 20Tour de San Luis, Stage 4UCI America Tour Xavier Tondó (ESP) ArgentinaSan Luis
January 22Tour Down Under, Stage 5UCI World Tour Francisco Ventoso (ESP) AustraliaWillunga
January 23Tour Down Under, Teams classificationUCI World Tour[N 2] Australia
February 9Trofeo DeiàUCI Europe Tour José Joaquín Rojas (ESP) SpainDeià
February 22Vuelta a Andalucía, Stage 3UCI Europe Tour Francisco Ventoso (ESP) SpainJaén
March 26Volta a Catalunya, Stage 6UCI World Tour José Joaquín Rojas (ESP) SpainMollet del Vallès
March 27Critérium International, Points classificationUCI Europe Tour Vasil Kiryienka (BLR) France
March 27Critérium International, Teams classificationUCI Europe Tour[N 3] France
April 5Tour of the Basque Country, Stage 2UCI World Tour Vasil Kiryienka (BLR) SpainLekunberri
April 9Tour of the Basque Country, Teams classificationUCI World Tour[N 4] Spain
April 13Vuelta a Castilla y León, Stage 1UCI Europe Tour Francisco Ventoso (ESP) SpainPalencia
April 14Vuelta a Castilla y León, Stage 2UCI Europe Tour Francisco Ventoso (ESP) SpainSalamanca
April 17Vuelta a Castilla y León, OverallUCI Europe Tour Xavier Tondó (ESP) Spain
April 17Vuelta a Castilla y León, Points classificationUCI Europe Tour Francisco Ventoso (ESP) Spain
April 24Vuelta a La RiojaUCI Europe Tour Imanol Erviti (ESP) SpainLogroño
May 7Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid, Stage 2UCI Europe Tour Enrique Sanz (ESP) SpainCoslada
May 8Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid, OverallUCI Europe Tour Rui Costa (POR) Spain
May 8Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid, Points classificationUCI Europe Tour Rui Costa (POR) Spain
May 8Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid, Young rider classificationUCI Europe Tour Jesús Herrada (ESP) Spain
May 12Giro d'Italia, Stage 6UCI World Tour Francisco Ventoso (ESP) ItalyFiuggi
May 28Giro d'Italia, Stage 20UCI World Tour Vasil Kiryienka (BLR) ItalySestriere
June 12Tour de Suisse, Stage 2UCI World Tour Mauricio Soler (COL)  SwitzerlandCrans-Montana
June 19Route du Sud, OverallUCI Europe Tour Vasil Kiryienka (BLR) France
June 19Route du Sud, Teams classificationUCI Europe Tour[N 5] France
July 9Tour de France, Stage 8UCI World Tour Rui Costa (POR) FranceSuper Besse
August 5Vuelta a Burgos, Stage 3UCI Europe TourTeam time trial[N 6] France
August 22Vuelta a España, Stage 3UCI World Tour Pablo Lastras (ESP) SpainTotana
September 11Grand Prix Cycliste de MontréalUCI World Tour Rui Costa (POR) CanadaMontreal

Away from competition

Death of Xavier Tondó

Mauricio Soler crash aftermath

Footnotes

References

  1. ↑ "El Movistar ficha por tres temporadas a Jesús Herrada" [Movistar sign Jesús Herrada for three years]. Biciciclismo (in Spanish). Gurenet Teknologia S.L. 2 October 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  2. ↑ Ryan, Barry (30 August 2010). "Intxausti signs for Movistar". Cycling News. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Arrieta to Movistar as directeur sporti". Cycling News. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  4. 1 2 Ryan, Barry (30 August 2010). "Konovalovas and Samoilau sign with Movistar". Cycling News. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 Kröner, Hedwig (20 December 2010). "Movistar signs Oyarzun". Cycling News. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  6. ↑ Westemeyer, Susan (29 August 2010). "Transfers: Tondo to Movistar". Cycling News. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  7. ↑ Ryan, Barry (17 November 2010). "Cobo signs for Geox-TMC". Cycling News. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 "Transferts 2010-2011" [Transfers 2010–2011]. Velochrono.fr (in French). Velochrono. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  9. ↑ Gruber, Jered (23 September 2010). "Katusha signs three: Daniel Moreno, Alberto Losada, and Leif Hoste". VeloNation. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  10. ↑ Atkins, Ben (12 July 2010). "French veteran Christophe Moreau announces retirement". VeloNation. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "AG2R, Skil-Shimano name new signings". Cycling News. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  12. ↑ "Luis León Sánchez signs with Rabobank". Cycling News. 5 September 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  13. 1 2 Wynn, Nigel (28 September 2010). "Team Sky signs Dowsett, Uran and Zandio". Cycling Weekly. IPC Media Ltd. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  14. ↑ "Valverde suspended for two years world-wide, keeps results". Cycling News. 31 May 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  15. ↑ Cycling News (2011-02-09). "Rojas roars to victory on Mallorca". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  16. ↑ Cycling News (2011-04-24). "Erviti bests Suarez for Rioja win". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
  17. ↑ Kirsten Frattini (2011-01-16). "Tondo gains race lead with TT win". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 2011-01-22. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  18. ↑ Jered Gruber (2011-01-22). "Xavier Tondo loses Tour de San Luis in spectacular fashion". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  19. ↑ Kirsten Frattini (2011-01-22). "Rubiano claims the stage as La Carolina crowns Arriagada race leader". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 2011-01-26. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  20. ↑ Kirsten Frattini (2011-01-23). "Aguilar, Crespo give Funvic one-two on final stage". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 2011-01-25. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  21. ↑ Les Clarke (2011-01-22). "Ventoso takes vaunted Willunga stage". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 2011-01-25. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  22. ↑ Les Clarke (2011-01-23). "Swift and Henderson head Sky quinella". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 2012-10-01. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  23. ↑ Cycling News (2011-02-22). "Ventoso takes sprint into Jaén". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
  24. ↑ Jean-François Quénet (2011-03-27). "Schleck defends overall lead". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  25. ↑ Cycling News (2011-03-26). "Rojas sprints to stage win". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-30.
  26. ↑ Stephen Farrand (2011-04-05). "Kiryienka escapes for solo victory". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
  27. ↑ Cycling News (2011-04-09). "Klöden and Martin dominate closing time trial". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
  28. ↑ Cycling News (2011-04-13). "Ventoso victorious in Palencia". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  29. ↑ Cycling News (2011-04-14). "Two in a row for Ventoso". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  30. ↑ Cycling News (2011-04-15). "Savini steals queen stage as Contador's hopes vanish". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  31. ↑ Cycling News (2011-04-16). "Contador best against the clock". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  32. ↑ Peter Hymas (2011-04-17). "Tondo wins Vuelta a Castilla y León". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 26 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  33. ↑ Cycling News (2011-05-07). "Sanz strikes in Coslada". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
  34. ↑ Cycling News (2011-05-08). "Costa claims overall victory". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
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