2011 Cofidis season
The 2011 season for the Cofidis cycling team began in January at the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise and ended in October at Paris–Tours.
At the Grand Prix d'Ouverture la Marseillaise, held in January as the first race of the season in France, El Fares rode to tenth place by finishing in the main field behind the solo winner.
Team Europcar's Thomas Voeckler won the race with a late attack, with the peloton coming so close to catching him at the finish line that there was no time gap.
[14] Vogondy rode to fourth place at the Route Adélie de Vitré, just missing the podium after figuring into a winning breakaway.
[15] The team picked up their first single-day win the same day as the more prestigious Tour of Flanders, in which they participated but were not especially competitive, with Duque in 19th their best finisher.
The team also sent squads to the Trofeo Laigueglia, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Gran Premio di Lugano, Les Boucles du Sud Ardèche, Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke, Gent–Wevelgem, Scheldeprijs, Paris–Camembert, the Grand Prix de Denain, the Amstel Gold Race, Tro-Bro Léon, La Flèche Wallonne, the Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop, and the Tallinn-Tartu GP, but finished no higher than 12th in any of these races.
In late July, the team took two of the top six placings at the Polynormande, with El Fares in second and Gallopin in sixth.
[24] Petit just missed out on the podium at the Grand Prix de Fourmies, finishing fourth in a large field sprint.
[31] Taaramäe took fourth overall at Paris–Nice in March, winning the youth classification with this performance, which was easily the strongest for an Estonian rider in the event's history.
[32] Taaramäe turned in a similar strong ride at the two-day, three-stage Critérium International, finishing on the event's final podium in third place, and securing the youth classification.
[34] The second was more unexpected, in that it was a dead flat run in to the finish on wide roads, a more traditional field sprint.
[35] Dumoulin was delighted to win twice in front of some of the sport's biggest stars, and stated that his next goal would be a major spring classic, perhaps the Amstel Gold Race.
[37] In June, Maté won the final stage at the Route du Sud, coming best in a five-man breakaway sprint.
[38] Keukeleire, a prolific winner in his neo-pro season of 2010 but shut out in the first several months of 2011, took his first win of the year in July at the Tour of Austria.
He won a selective sprint at the end of stage 3, finishing at the head of a 23-rider group that included the race's top riders.
[42] On the same day Dumoulin secured Paris–Corrèze, Cusin narrowly defeated Saxo Bank–SunGard's Matti Breschel at the end of stage 2 at the Tour of Denmark.
As a Professional Continental team, Cofidis needed to be selected by the organizers of any of the Grand Tours in order to participate.
The Amaury Sport Organisation announced the wildcard entries to the Tour de France in January, much earlier in than in past years.
Cofidis, who had participated in the Tour every year of their existence, were among the four teams added to the 18 UCI ProTeams obligated to attend.
[50] Taaramäe finished near the front of the race on stage 1 atop the short Mont des Alouettes hill.
[53][54] On stage 13 into Lourdes, which included a passage over the hors catégorie climb Col d'Aubisque, Moncoutié figured into a ten-man breakaway.
With a short flat section still to race after the descent, Moncoutié and Hushovd worked cohesively as a chase group behind Roy.
[55] Moncoutié was roundly criticized by the French press for collaborating with Hushovd in the chase, with Roy (a fellow Frenchman) up the road.
This gave Rolland an advantage of a minute and 33 seconds going into the stage 20 individual time trial, where Taaramäe's skills are superior.
While he had entered 2011 thinking it would likely be his last season as a professional rider, Moncoutié changed his mind about that as well and said he would "probably be part of the bunch in 2012.
[63] Moncoutié secured a high placing on stage 6, coming in ninth on the day with the lead chase group that finished behind four Liquigas–Cannondale riders at the head of the race.
Given that riders who are not involved in a classification nor have teammates that are will generally not ride against someone who is, Sijmens' presence in this breakaway was effectively the only way Moncoutié could have retained the jersey.
