Tour of Flanders 2011
| Tour of Flanders 2011 | |
|
|
| Host country |
 Belgium
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| Competition period | April 3, 2011 |
| overall length | 258 kilometers |
| Starting field | 199 in 25 teams (of which 135 arrived at the finish) |
| winner | |
| Overall rating | 1. Nick Nuyens 6:01:20 h 2. Sylvain Chavanel same time 3. Fabian Cancellara same time  
|
| ← Tour of Flanders 2010 | Tour of Flanders 2012 → |
The 95th classic bike tour of Flanders took place on April 3, 2011. The one-day race was part of the 2011 UCI World Tour and the seventh race within it. The distance of the race was 258 kilometers.
The participants
The 18 ProTeams were entitled to start . In addition, the organizer distributed seven wildcards to professional continental teams , three of which came from the host country Belgium . Incidentally, the same seven teams had already received a starting permit for the Gent-Wevelgem race that had been held a week earlier .
The favorites before the start were last year's winner Fabian Cancellara from Saxo Bank SunGard and last year's runner-up Tom Boonen from the Quickstep Cycling Team . Both had won races of a similar character in the run-up to the "Ronde" with the E3 Prize Flanders and Gent-Wevelgem . Other candidates for a top placement were Philippe Gilbert ( Omega Pharma-Lotto ), Leif Hoste , Luca Paolini and Filippo Pozzato (all Katjuscha ) as well as Garmin-Cervélo professionals Heinrich Haussler , world champion Thor Hushovd and Tyler Farrar , Alessandro Ballan and the most promising German participants Marcus Burghardt from the BMC Racing Team , Juan Antonio Flecha ( Sky ProCycling ), Stijn Devolder and Bjorn Leukemans ( Vacansoleil-DCM ) and Nick Nuyens from Saxo Bank SunGard.
The distance
The start took place shortly before ten o'clock in the morning on the market square of Bruges . As in every year, the decisive difficulties in the race were the so-called “Hellingen”, short and steep climbs, many of which were cobbled . In addition, flat cobblestone sections were also passed. The first slipway followed after 68 kilometers to the south with the Tiegemberg. Hundreds of fans cheered the drivers on at the “Volksfest von Flanders” when they passed famous hills like the Oude Kwaremont or the Koppenberg. The most difficult slipway was again the steep cobblestone ramp "Muur-Kapelmuur". This was followed by the Bosberg, before eight flat kilometers to the finish in Ninove -Meerbeeke were on the program.
Race course
After 31 kilometers, five drivers pulled away from the field: the British Jeremy Hunt from Sky ProCycling and Roger Hammond from Garmin-Cervélo as well as Stefan van Dijk ( Verandas Willems ), Sébastien Turgot ( Team Europcar ) and Mitchell Docker ( Skil-Shimano ), who worked out a maximum lead of eight minutes. After 180 kilometers the quintet was caught up after numerous attacks from the field. One of them brought Sylvain Chavanel from Quickstep to the top of the race as a soloist after he caught up with Simon Clarke from Pro Team Astana and then broke away from his companions. Forty kilometers before the finish, an apparently decisive attack by favorite Fabian Cancellara took place on the Leberg : the Swiss from Leopard Trek drove Tom Boonen , who had tried it himself shortly before, and the other winning candidates away. Cancellara caught up with leading Chavanel five kilometers later. Although the Frenchman didn’t work on the pace and let Cancellara drive alone in the wind, the duo extended their lead to one minute. But then the BMC Racing Team was mainly responsible for the fact that the gap to the pursuers quickly melted. Chavanel and Cancellara were overtaken at the famous wall of Geraardsbergen. On the following Bosberg, the Belgian Philippe Gilbert launched an attack and was a few seconds ahead of the other favorites. But they caught up with the Omega Pharma-Lotto man seven kilometers before the end . Twelve professionals were now at the front of the race. More attacks followed, the decisive one was again last year's winner Cancellara with Nick Nuyens and Chavanel on the rear wheel. The other drivers in the top group had nothing more to add, so the trio sprinted for victory. Nuyens from Saxo Bank SunGard beat Chavanel and Cancellara and celebrated the greatest success of his career to date. The best German was Danilo Hondo from Lampre-ISD in 16th place.
Result
| driver | nation | team | time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Nick Nuyens |
|
Saxo Bank SunGard | 6:01:20 h |
| 2. | Sylvain Chavanel |
|
Quickstep | same time |
| 3. | Fabian Cancellara |
|
Leopard Trek | same time |
| 4th | Tom Boonen |
|
Quickstep | + 0:02 |
| 5. | Sebastian Langeveld |
|
Rabobank | + 0:05 |
| 6th | George Hincapie |
|
BMC Racing Team | + 0:05 |
| 7th | Bjorn Leukemans |
|
Vacansoleil DCM | + 0:05 |
| 8th. | Staf Scheirlinckx |
|
Veranda's Willems | + 0:05 |
| 9. | Philippe Gilbert |
|
Omega Pharma Lotto | + 0:05 |
| 10. | Geraint Thomas |
|
Sky ProCycling | + 0:05 |