2011 Vuelta a España

The 2011 Vuelta a España was held from 20 August to 11 September. The bicycle race began in Benidorm with a team time trial and ended, as is traditional, in Madrid. The 2011 Vuelta was the 66th edition of the race and was the first Vuelta in 33 years that visited the Basque Country. The 33-year absence from the region was due to fear of political protests.

Commentators claimed that it was a race well suited for climbers due to the short time trials and the large number of climbing kilometres. Nine of the twenty-one stages were ranked as Mountain stages, and six of them had a mountain-top finish (including the very steep uphill finish on the Alto de L'Angliru). Two other stages had steep uphill finishes, both of which were won by Katusha leader Joaquim Rodríguez.

This Vuelta saw the introduction of a combativity award, much like that in the Tour de France. The most combative rider in each stage was awarded a red back number which he wore for the next stage.

The victory was originally awarded to Juan José Cobo who had a race-winning margin of just 13 seconds over Briton Chris Froome. Neither rider had been marked as a pre-race favourite, and both had gone to the Vuelta as domestiques for their team leaders: Cobo for Denis Menchov, and Froome for Bradley Wiggins; their team leaders originally finished 5th and 3rd respectively. The race was the first time that two Britons had stood on the podium of a Grand Tour, and Froome's second-place finish was, at the time, the best result in a Grand Tour by a British rider, until Wiggins won the Tour de France the following year. Cobo also won the Combination Classification. The King of the Mountains competition was won for the fourth consecutive time by Frenchman David Moncoutié. The points classification was won by Dutch rider Bauke Mollema who finished 4th overall.

On 13 June 2019, the sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste International (UCI), announced that Cobo had been found guilty of an anti-doping violation, according to findings from his biological passport. As a result, the UCI penalised him with a three-year period of ineligibility. Cobo was officially stripped of the title on 18 June 2019. On 17 July 2019, as the time for Cobo to appeal the decision expired with no application, the UCI announced it recognised Chris Froome as the 2011 champion, making him retroactively the first Briton to win a Grand Tour. Froome was also promoted to the winning position in the combination classification. Wiggins was promoted to runner-up, his second promotion on a Grand Tour podium due to doping, and Mollema was promoted to the podium in third.

Froome, who had in the intervening time finally won the 2017 Vuelta a España, 'on the road', officially received the 2011 winner's trophy at the start of the final stage of the 2020 edition on 8 November 2020, ironically receiving his last of seven Grand Tour prizes for his first Grand Tour victory.