[1] Commentators claimed that it was a race well suited for climbers due to the short time trials and the large number of climbing kilometres.

The victory was originally awarded to Juan José Cobo who had a race-winning margin of just 13 seconds over Briton Chris Froome.

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.

[5] 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.

[6] 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.

2010 winner Vincenzo Nibali came to defend his Vuelta title and was seen as the favourite due to the better time-trial skills than climbers as Igor Antón, Joaquim Rodríguez and Michele Scarponi.

The Russian could count on one of the best team supports in the mountains with climbers as Sastre, Juan José Cobo and Fabio Duarte.

[15] Although the criticism of several Separatists on the route of this year, the organizers of the Vuelta announced on 8 September that the 2012 event will start in the Navarrese city of Pamplona.

Danish General Classification contender Jakob Fuglsang passed the finish line as first and was the first cyclist to wear the red leaders jersey.

[17] Fuglsang lost the leaders jersey after just one day to team-mate Daniele Bennati in a sprinter's stage which was won by Christopher Sutton of Team Sky.

Out of this break-away it was Pablo Lastras (Movistar Team) who attacked on the last climb and held a small margin until the finish line in Totana.

On the climb to the Sierra Nevada it was Daniel Moreno (Team Katusha) who attacked with Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank–SunGard) and who beat the Danish climber in the sprint.

[20] Igor Antón (Euskaltel–Euskadi) won in the 2009 Vuelta a España the stage on the steep ascend of Valdepeñas de Jaén.

Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), a specialist on very steep hills, won the stage before the surprisingly strong Dutchman Wout Poels (Vacansoleil–DCM) and team-mate Daniel Moreno.

[25] On 17 July 2019, as the time for Cobo to appeal the decision expired with no application, the UCI announced that it recognised Chris Froome as the 2011 champion.

Only riders on UCI ProTour teams were eligible to receive rankings points, so winner Juan Cobo was not rewarded in this table.