2011 Omega Pharma–Lotto season
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.
In March, Gilbert won Montepaschi Strade Bianche by performing a very late-race attack, a tactic that has earned him most of his professional victories.
[24] At the first monument race of the season, Milan – San Remo, Gilbert was considered a strong favorite victory, largely due to his win on the Strade Bianche.
While he had a gap for a brief moment in the final few meters in San Remo, both Fabian Cancellara and race winner Matthew Goss were able to pass him, leaving Gilbert third.
He and compatriot Björn Leukemans attacked out of what had been a leading group of ten, and stayed clear to the finish where Gilbert won the sprint.
After Andy Schleck launched an attack for victory on the Keutenberg, 12 km (7.5 mi) from the finish, Gilbert and Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez were among the group that overtook him on the Cauberg, the final climb.
[31] One post-race analysis opined that Gilbert's race demonstrated that he is the best rider in the world on a short uphill finish.
Gilbert was the first rider since Rolf Järmann in 1998 to be a repeat winner of the Amstel, and the first since Jan Raas in 1980 to win consecutive editions.
Gilbert was mentioned among the contenders, but the Mur de Huy climb at the finish being steeper than anything covered by the Amstel, pre-race analysis viewed Rodríguez, Alberto Contador, and Robert Gesink, among others, as bigger favorites.
[33] Saxo Bank–SunGard and Leopard Trek did the bulk of the work in the peloton chasing down the morning escape, which took an advantage that ballooned to 17 minutes at one point.
Michael Albasini and Christophe Le Mével tried to solo up the Mur to victory, but they effectively led out Rodríguez and Gilbert.
Between the Col du Maquisard and the Côte de la Redoute, where the race has often been decided in the past, they stopped pulling at the front of the peloton.
On the next climb, the Côte de Roche aux Faucons, the widely expected attack from Leopard Trek's two leaders, the Schleck brothers, took place.
Gilbert marked them, and effectively stayed in their slipstreams as the trio surged to the front of the race, past the remnants of the morning breakaway.
At the finish, which took place on a slight downhill, neither Luxembourger put in any sort of challenge to Gilbert, and his superior sprint got him to the line first ahead of Fränk Schleck in second by a few bike lengths.
His points also helped his home nation of Belgium take the lead in that classification, and the Omega Pharma-Lotto team moved up four slots as well.
[40] Rankings were not published after La Flèche Wallonne, but after Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Gilbert had moved up to world number one, by 120 points over Fabian Cancellara, with Belgium further increasing their lead in the nations classification.
They were joined midway through the stage by 15 other riders, including three who had made a breakaway that won 12 minutes the previous day and were therefore very invested in keeping this break stay away.
