Although the significantly stronger UCI-ranked field figured to create a more competitive race, a breakaway on the mountainous first stage gave four riders—Leipheimer and Brajkovič from RadioShack and Sevilla and Sergio Henao from Gobernación—a lead over all the other contenders of more than 2:30.

However, the other four riders in the break established a huge advantage of over 2' 30" on their main rivals in the general classification.

[4] August 11, 2011 -- Lehi to Provo, 159.6 kilometres (99.2 mi) Stage 2 featured rolling hills but was largely flat and was anticipated to finish in a bunch sprint, with Elia Viviani of Liquigas–Cannondale and Jake Keough of UnitedHealthcare favored.

However, Jack Bauer from Endura Racing managed to get a jump on both sprinters due to two crashes inside of 7 km, took off with a kilometer to go and was able to hold on for victory.

[5] August 12, 2011 -- Miller Motorsports Park, individual time trial, 15.6 kilometres (9.7 mi) Stage 3 was contested on a similar but slightly longer course than the 2009 and 2010 Tours used.

American Tejay van Garderen of HTC–Highroad achieved his first professional victory on his 23rd birthday by edging Leipheimer of Team RadioShack.

It began from Kimball Junction, just outside Park City, and trekked for 161 km through the mountains until ending on a mountaintop finish at the Snowbird ski resort.

16 people failed to finish this stage, but the race ended with 88 of the original 120 contestants completing the tour.