2011 roster
Ages as of January 1, 2011
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Erik Breukink | ||
| One-day victories | 4 | ||
| Stage race overall victories | 2 | ||
| Stage race stage victories | 18 | ||
| Previous season • Next season | |||
The 2011 season for the Rabobank cycling team began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October with Michael Matthews' participation in the Noosa Grand Prix. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.
The team had 24 victories in 2011, including stage wins at each Grand Tour. Pieter Weening held the race leader's pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia for four days, and Bauke Mollema also won the points jersey at the Vuelta a España, without winning any stage. No rider was especially more prolific than any other – Michael Matthews, Lars Boom, Robert Gesink, and Theo Bos each had multiple wins. Their most successful individual race was the Tour of Oman, where they took four stage wins, the overall crown, and the youth classification. The team took victories in every month of the season except October.
Ages as of January 1, 2011
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
In the days leading up to the spring season's traditional opener, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, there was talk that many teams in the race would protest the UCI's ban on two-way radios in all races ranked 1.HC, 2.HC, and below. [14] Rabobank, and in particular team manager Breukink, are among the ban's most vocal opponents, and they were at the forefront of the planned protest, promising to take the start with earpieces in place. [15] [16] It subsequently emerged that the planned protest would result in the UCI withdrawing its officials just as they had at the Trofeo Palma de Mallorca earlier in the season, and nullify any results. This would result in the race's insurance policies being voided and quite possibly cause the race to be canceled altogether. The teams decided on a majority vote to cancel the protest and race without radios, [17] while promising to carry the protest to other races. [18] In a remarkable irony, a Rabobank rider won the race – Langeveld won a two-man sprint over defending champion Juan Antonio Flecha by a matter of centimeters. [19]
The team got a strong result at the season's third monument classic, Paris–Roubaix. After an aggressive first two hour of racing that covered the near 100 km (62 mi) before the first cobbled sector, Tjallingii worked his way into a ten-man escape group. After the Arenberg sector, the lead group had swelled to 21 riders. Little by little, the reverse occurred as the speed increased. Tjallingii stayed at the front of the race until Garmin–Cervélo's Johan Vansummeren put in a solo attack 15 km (9.3 mi) from the finish line, and was not seen again, staying out front for victory. From the group behind, Fabian Cancellara put in his most intensive dig at that point and caught every remaining member of the breakaway group (save for Vansummeren). Tjallingii stayed with him, and they along with Team RadioShack's Grégory Rast contested the sprint for second place. Cancellara finished second, and Tjallingii third ahead of Rast. [20] Tjallingii called the result the "greatest day ever" in his career, and was ecstatic that he had made the podium and had not slipped to fourth place. [21]
Ambitious as always to win the most prestigious race of the season held in the Netherlands, the Amstel Gold Race, the team sent a strong squad including Gesink, Freire, Sánchez, Tankink, and Tjallingii. They were noted, however, to be underdogs to defending race champion Philippe Gilbert. [22] The team rode a solid race, as they effectively left the job of chasing down breakaways to Team Katusha and Gilbert's team Omega Pharma–Lotto, with even Gilbert himself pulling to help chase down Andy Schleck in the final kilometers. Gesink, Freire, and Sánchez all sat on wheels and stayed with the front group for the majority of the race. Sánchez tried a solo attack for victory, but was chased down by Damiano Cunego and Stijn Devolder. In the end, Gilbert rode away from the field on the short uphill finish, securing the repeat victory. Rabobank did, however, place three finishers in the top ten, and were the only team to do so. These were Freire in sixth, Gesink in ninth, and Martens in tenth. [23] Martens turned in decent rides at the other two Ardennes classics, with a 10th place in La Flèche Wallonne and 13th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the team's highest finisher in both events. [24] [25] Matthews took a field sprint win at the Rund um Köln the day after Liège–Bastogne–Liège. While Rabobank and Leopard Trek were the only ProTeams in the race, several top-level German professionals (such as Danilo Hondo and Marcus Burghardt) rode for an ad hoc German national team. Matthews took the race win ahead of another German, Marcel Kittel, who rode for his regular trade team Skil–Shimano. [26]
The team also sent squads to the Trofeo Palma de Mallorca, Trofeo Cala Millor, the Clásica de Almería, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Milan–San Remo, Gullegem Koerse and Halle–Ingooigem, but placed no higher than 11th in any of these races.
The team also sent squads to the Vattenfall Cyclassics, the GP Ouest-France, the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, the Grand Prix d'Isbergues, Binche–Tournai–Binche, Paris–Tours, the Giro di Lombardia, and the Noosa Grand Prix, but finished no higher than 11th in any of these races.
Matthews scored the team's first victory in the first stage race of the season, the Tour Down Under. After a late split in the field in stage 3 led to 24 riders finishing seven seconds ahead of the next 23, Matthews won a depleted sprint ahead of defending Tour Down Under champion André Greipel and resultant race leader Matthew Goss. [27] He finished the race fourth overall. [28] In February, Boom won the prologue time trial to the Tour of Qatar. It was the first time trial in the Tour's nine-year history. [29] Dead flat and only 2 km (1.2 mi) long, riders were not allowed to use the specially designed bicycles and helmets that are customary in nearly all professional time trials. Despite the very short distance, Boom still had a solid four-second gap over world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara in second. [30] The team was wildly successful at the next UCI Asia Tour stop, the Tour of Oman, which was held shortly after the Tour of Qatar. Bos won the sprint finishes to stages 1 and 3, [31] [32] besting full fields including sprinters the likes of Mark Cavendish, Daniele Bennati, and Matthew Goss both times. While the first three stages were flat like those of its cousin race in Qatar, the fourth and fifth provided that a climber would likely win the Tour of Oman overall. Gesink won both of these stages, the first a road race concluding at Green Mountain which he dedicated to his late father. [33] The next stage was a time trial, and Gesink's win was a bit of a surprise because time trialing is not considered to be a strength for him. He stated after the stage that the hilly course played to his strengths, as did the fact that, like the Tour of Qatar time trial, this one was ridden on normal bicycles. [34] It was the first time trial that he had ever won as a professional; he had started the stage simply hoping to keep the race lead, and instead increased it to over a minute. [35] The final stage was flat again, and though Bos was only tenth in the sprint finale, it capped off a hugely successful event for the team with four stage wins and the overall and youth classifications. [36] Freire added to the team's successful early season at the Ruta del Sol, winning the last two stages in field sprints. These performances also won him the event's points classification. [37] [38] At Tirreno–Adriatico in March, the squad won the team time trial in stage 1, the first ever such stage in the Tirreno–Adriatico's 46-year history. Boom was therefore the first race leader, though he held the lead for only one day. [39] Gesink briefly held the race lead as well, [40] but he was unable to climb with the race's best riders and slipped to fourth after six stages. [41] He turned in a second strong individual time trial performance in as many races to close out the event, moving back onto the podium in second after taking ninth in the closing ITT. He also won the race's youth classification, having led it for the entire event. [42]
At the Tour of the Basque Country, Freire was one of the only true sprinters to enter the notoriously hilly race. Stage 5, while it contained seven categorized climbs, was likely to conducive to a select group sprint since the climbs occurring in the second half of the stage were not especially difficult. Forty-eight riders finished together at the end of the race, and Freire was first over the finish line. A short time later, though, Freire was stripped of his apparent win by the race jury and relegated to the back of the peloton, along with Sánchez, since the two had taken their hands off their handlebars to apparently push away other riders. Sánchez had also seemingly pushed Freire forward about 200 m (660 ft) from the finish line. The victory was transferred to Lampre–ISD's Francesco Gavazzi. [43] Freire called the penalty a "disgrace" and stated that the apparent push was Sánchez signaling him that he should pass him and begin his sprint. [44] The squad nonetheless got a noteworthy result from the race – Gesink again turned in a strong time trial, seventh place in stage 6, and moved up to third place overall in the final standings. Tankink also won the event's sprints classification. [45] Mollema had a strong Vuelta a Castilla y León later in April. After finishing at the front of the race in the first two stages, Mollema was second behind a solo breakaway winner on the race's only summit finish, the Laguna de los Peces. This ride gave him the overall race leadership. [46] He rode to fourth place the next day in the individual time trial, but since Xavier Tondó did him 12 seconds better by finishing third, he lost the race lead to the Spaniard. [47] The time gaps held steady the next day, making Mollema the second-place overall finisher. He also won the event's combination classification, and the Rabobank squad won the team award. [48]
Matthews also won the sprint classification for the team, at the Delta Tour Zeeland. [49] The team also sent squads to the Volta ao Algarve, Paris–Nice, Volta a Catalunya, the Three Days of de Panne, the Tour de Romandie, the Tour of California, the Tour of Belgium, the Ster ZLM Toer, the Brixia Tour, the Tour de Pologne, the Eneco Tour, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, the Tour de Wallonie-Picarde and the Tour of Beijing, but did not achieve a stage win, classification win, or podium finish in any of them.
The 2010 season for the Rabobank cycling team began in January with the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Giro di Lombardia. As a UCI ProTour team, they were automatically invited and obliged to attend every event in the ProTour.
The 2010 season for Omega Pharma–Lotto began in January with the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Chrono des Nations. As a UCI ProTour team, they were automatically invited and obliged to send a squad to every event in the ProTour.
The 2010 Tour of the Basque Country, was the 50th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country cycling stage race. It started on 5 April and ended on 10 April. Chris Horner won the race 7 seconds ahead of Alejandro Valverde after winning the sixth and final stage which was an individual time trial 8 seconds ahead of Valverde. Valverde's results were subsequently removed after a retroactive suspension was applied.
The 2011 Tour of Britain was the eighth running of the latest incarnation of the Tour of Britain and the 72nd British tour in total. The race started on 11 September in Peebles, Scotland and finished on 18 September in London, England, with the race also visiting Wales for one stage.
The 2011 season for the Ag2r–La Mondiale cycling team began in January at the Tour de San Luis and ended in October at the Chrono des Nations. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.
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.
The 2011 season for the Geox–TMC cycling team, its last, began in February at the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi and ended in October at the Tour of Hainan. With new financial backers and a greatly improved roster over their meager 2010 season, the team had hoped to retain UCI ProTeam status in the offseason. Instead, they rode as a UCI Professional Continental team, meaning that they had to be selected by the organizers of any UCI World Tour event if they were to compete. This included each of the season's Grand Tours. The team's manager and license-holder was former Liège–Bastogne–Liège winner Mauro Gianetti. Though both Geox and TMC expressed desire to replace him with former Mapei manager Álvaro Crespi, since the team did not attain ProTeam status, nothing came of this during the season. Crespi held an official role with the team as a consultant.
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.
The 2011 season for the Garmin–Cervélo cycling team began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Noosa Grand Prix. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.
The 2011 season for Lampre–ISD began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Japan Cup. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.
The 2011 season for Omega Pharma–Lotto began in January with the Tour Down Under, where defending champion André Greipel debuted for the team, 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. The team's roster changed drastically from 2010.
The 2011 season for HTC–Highroad began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Chrono des Nations. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour. This was the team's final season, as they failed to secure a new title sponsor.
The 2011 season for Team Katusha began in January at 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.
The 2011 season for Team RadioShack began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October with Robbie McEwen's participation in the Noosa Grand Prix. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.
The 2011 season for the Team Sky cycling team began in January at the Bay Classic Series and ended in October at the Noosa Grand Prix. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour. Improving upon 20 victories in the 2010 season, Team Sky managed 28 victories during the season, including four Grand Tour stage wins, two each at the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. Also at the Vuelta, the team achieved their best Grand Tour showing to date with Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins finishing the race in second and third places – behind Geox–TMC's Juan José Cobo – having both held the red jersey for the general classification lead at some stage of the race. Outside of the Grand Tours, the team achieved stage victories at four other World Tour events and the overall victory at two, with Wiggins winning the pre-Tour warmup event, the Critérium du Dauphiné and Edvald Boasson Hagen claimed victory at the Eneco Tour held in Belgium and the Netherlands. The team were not as successful in single-day races, with three wins taken by Christopher Sutton, Boasson Hagen and Mathew Hayman. With the performances of Froome, Wiggins and Boasson Hagen, Team Sky made a substantial leap up the World Tour rankings; having finished fifteenth in the 2010 UCI World Ranking, Team Sky finished as runners-up in the 2011 rankings, just 40 points behind overall winners Omega Pharma–Lotto.
The 2011 Amgen Tour of California was the sixth running of the Tour of California cycling stage race. It was held from May 15–22, and was rated as a 2.HC event on the UCI America Tour. Originally scheduled for eight stages, the race was due to begin in South Lake Tahoe, but snow around the Lake Tahoe area led to stage 1 being delayed, shortened and ultimately cancelled. The race concluded in Thousand Oaks as planned.
The 2012 Eneco Tour was the eighth running of the Eneco Tour cycling stage race. It started on August 6 in Waalwijk in the Netherlands and ended on August 12 in Geraardsbergen, Belgium, after seven stages. It was the 20th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
The 2012 Amgen Tour of California was the seventh running of the Tour of California cycling stage race. It was held from May 13–20, and was rated as a 2.HC event on the UCI America Tour. It began in Santa Rosa and concluded in front of Los Angeles's Staples Center after eight stages. As per the Union Cycliste Internationale rules adopted in 2011, the use of race radios was prohibited, since only the events which are designated UCI World Tour events can use the devices.
The 2012 Tour de Suisse was the 76th running of the Tour de Suisse cycling stage race. It started on 9 June with an individual time trial in Lugano and ended on 17 June, in Sörenberg after nine stages. It was the 17th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
The 2013 season for the Belkin Pro Cycling team began in January at the Tour Down Under. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.
