2011 Team Sky season

[1] On 13 June 2019, the sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste International (UCI), announced that Juan José Cobo had been found guilty of an anti-doping violation, according to findings from his biological passport.

[2] 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, and simultaneously promoting Bradley Wiggins to 2nd place.

Flecha and Stannard tried to break the field with around 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) left in the race, but were eventually pulled back as were several other riders down the road from their group.

The following weekend, Flecha finished in ninth place at Paris–Roubaix, leading home team-mate Hayman, 47 seconds down on race-winner Johan Vansummeren of Garmin–Cervélo.

[19] Gerrans did indeed feature in the closing stages of the race, but only for third place as Omega Pharma–Lotto's Philippe Gilbert and Team Katusha rider Joaquim Rodríguez had already accelerated away from the field.

[25] For the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, Sky looked to control the race in order to protect Urán, Gerrans and Boasson Hagen.

[30] Urán took another third-place finish, in the Giro dell'Emilia, coming home in a group of four riders, over 20 seconds behind race-winner Carlos Betancur of Acqua & Sapone.

[35] The team also sent squads to the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, the Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli, and the Giro di Lombardia, but placed no higher than 15th in any of these races.

Swift avoided two crashes within the closing 3 kilometres (1.9 mi), which saw several of his team-mates fall, to out-sprint Australian pair Robbie McEwen (Team RadioShack) and Graeme Brown (Rabobank) to the line.

[40] He held the lead until the final day time-trial, where he finished over a minute down on the quickest time and fell to seventh place in the general classification.

[43] Swift continued his strong run at the Vuelta a Castilla y León in April, where he won the final stage of the race after help from Downing, to take his third win of the season.

After stage one was cancelled due to a snowstorm and unsafe riding conditions,[46] the second stage was run over a shorter distance, and rain started to fall as the race headed into the finishing circuit in Sacramento, where the team came to the front to assume control for the in-form Swift; he was favored instead of the team's regular sprinter Henderson, who had not raced since the Scheldeprijs in early April,[47] but Henderson was utilised as the leadout man for Swift, and released him to his fifth victory of 2011, securing the first yellow and green jerseys – for the lead of both the general classification and the sprints classification – of the race.

[56] A fifth-place finish the following day, on the final stage, ensured that Appollonio won the points classification, taking the jersey from Team Katusha rider Denis Galimzyanov.

[57] Consistent finishing from Wiggins at the Critérium du Dauphiné earned the team their first overall race win at World Tour level.

After finishing third in the opening prologue, Wiggins placed second behind Tony Martin (HTC–Highroad) on the third stage time trial, held over the course that would later be used for the penultimate day time-trial of the Tour de France, to take the overall lead by over a minute from nearest challenger, BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans.

[59] Boasson Hagen also added World Tour points with third behind Wiggins in the time trial, and second to HTC–Highroad rider John Degenkolb on stage 4.

[64] Gerrans performed strongly in the Danmark Rundt in August, finishing second to Leopard Trek rider Jakob Fuglsang on the third stage.

[65] Gerrans maintained his advantage until the end of the race, eventually winning by nine seconds over Fuglsang's team-mate Daniele Bennati, while the squad won the teams classification.

Boasson Hagen finished the opening prologue stage in second place, with only BMC Racing Team rider Taylor Phinney getting the better of him over the 5.7 kilometres (3.5 mi) course.

[68] Boasson Hagen held the lead to the end of the race, and won the final stage of the event in Sittard, to take a 22-second victory over Gilbert.

[71] In the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, the week following the Eneco Tour, Appollonio earned his second victory in a first stage sprint finish; with the team having upped the pace during the closing stages, Dowsett, Kennaugh – who had been in a breakaway earlier in the day – and Henderson enabled Appollonio to contend for the sprint, winning by a comfortable margin, with only eleven other riders finishing in the same time.

Dowsett claimed victory in the time trial held on the morning of the final day,[74] while Thomas won the points classification, taking the lead on the finish line, after six top-ten placings out of the eight stages enabled to usurp the total of general classification winner Lars Boom (Rabobank), for an eventual three-point winning margin over HTC–Highroad's Mark Cavendish.

[88] Downing, on his Grand Tour début, placed eighth on stage 18,[89] as a result of a split in the main field, which allowed no fewer than 20 riders to make headway, all of whom posing no major threat in the general classification.

Following on from a 24th-place finish in 2010, Wiggins was the team's leader for the race, with Swift, Thomas, Boasson Hagen, Urán, Flecha, Zandio, Knees and Gerrans making up the nine-man outfit.

[102] The following day, Boasson Hagen also made into the breakaway, eventually finishing in sixth place on the stage, after three riders escaped from the front, but stayed clear of the main field.

[107] After being part of a 14-man breakaway, Boasson Hagen led over the final mountain, the Colle Pra Martino, and retained his lead on the descent to win the stage by 40 seconds.

[110] Having recovered from his injuries suffered in the Tour de France, Wiggins was the team's leader at the Vuelta, competing in the race for the first time.

[116] Froome and Wiggins both gave away some time over the rest of the week, and they trailed Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) by nearly two minutes at the conclusion of the eighth stage.

Ultimately, Wiggins and Froome finished fourth and fifth on the stage, but moved up to 13th and 14th in the general classification, just a minute behind new race leader, Rabobank's Bauke Mollema.

On 17 July 2019, nearly eight years since the race ended, the UCI formally awarded the title to Froome, now recognizing him as the first British rider to win any of the Grand Tours.

Christopher Sutton , pictured later in the year at the Tour de Romandie , became the first Australian rider to win Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne .
Rigoberto Urán , pictured during the Critérium du Dauphiné , placed in the top ten in three single-day races during the second half of the season, and finished 19th at the Giro di Lombardia .
Ben Swift , pictured at the Tour de Romandie in April, won the most stages for the team in 2011, winning five in total, including three during World Tour races.
Geraint Thomas , pictured in the British national road race champion's jersey at the Critérium du Dauphiné , claimed his first overall stage race victory, at the Bayern-Rundfahrt .
Bradley Wiggins took his biggest road racing career victory at the time by winning the Critérium du Dauphiné . Here he is being paced by Edvald Boasson Hagen .
Edvald Boasson Hagen , pictured at the Critérium du Dauphiné , claimed his second Eneco Tour victory in three years, in 2011 .
Juan Antonio Flecha , during stage 19, wearing the team's special kit for the race. Flecha also made headlines when he and Vacansoleil–DCM 's Johnny Hoogerland were sideswiped by a France Télévisions car during an overtaking manoeuvre, while they rode in a breakaway.