Mark Cavendish wins, Tour de France 2011, stage 21

Ben Swift opened British riders' 2011 victory account in January, winning two stages of the Tour Down Under in Australia. A further 45 major wins followed for British riders in the country's collective best season in recent decades.

Swift's TdU wins kicked off a season of top-level professional results for male and female British riders as the nation firmly established itself as one of the major players on the international circuit.

The year ended on a high, with Mark Cavendish becoming the first British rider since Tom Simpson in 1965 to win the road race world championships title. Earlier in July, Cavendish won five stages of the 2011 Tour de France on his way to clinching the green points classification jersey, a British first.

Cavendish's Tour success was part of a bumper July that also saw Nicole Cooke, Emma Pooley, Ian Stannard and Lizzie Armitstead take victories.

Great Britain finished the season as fifth-ranked nation in the Union Cycliste Internationale's WorldTour rankings, topped by Spain. British-based Team Sky ended the year as second-ranked ProTeam behind the Belgian Omega Pharma-Lotto outfit.

Bradley Wiggins was Britain's top-ranked WorldTour rider in eighth place after winning the Criterium du Dauphine, finishing third in the Vuelta a Espana and third in Paris-Nice.

Below we list the major road wins achieved by senior British men and women in 2011. We have only included wins in major races open to an international field, and those won by an individual - no team time trials. We have included overall stage race wins and classification wins.

What our list of 46 wins doesn't take into account is the large number of podium positions and top ten results also achieved by British riders - not least Chris Froome's outstanding second place in the Vuelta a Espana. It also doesn't take into account the continued success that Britain is enjoying in other cycling disciplines.


You can vote for your favourite British rider and performance in the Cycling Weekly 2011 Reader Poll>>

British major international pro wins 2011

January

Ben Swift (Sky): Tour Down Under, stage two

Ben Swift (Sky): Tour Down Under, stage six

February

Steve Cummings (Sky): Tour of the Algarve, stage three

Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp): Tour of South Africa, stage one

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour of Oman, stage six

Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp): Tour of South Africa, overall

March

Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo): Trofeo Alfredo Binda

April

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Scheldeprijs

Ben Swift (Team Sky): Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, stage five

Ben Swift in Tour of California

May

Ben Swift (Sky): Tour de Romandie, stage five

Andrew Fenn (Great Britain): Tour de Bretagne, stage seven

Lizzie Armitstead (Garmin-Cervelo): Tour of Chongming Island, stage one

Ben Swift (Sky): Tour of California, stage two

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Giro d'Italia, stage 10

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Giro d'Italia, stage 12

Bradley Wiggins (Sky): Bayern Rundfahrt, stage four ITT

Geraint Thomas (Sky): Bayern Rundfahrt, overall

David Millar (Garmin-Cervelo): Giro d'Italia, stage 21 ITT

June

Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo): Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira, stage 3a ITT

Bradley Wiggins (Sky): Critérium du Dauphiné, overall

July

Nicole Cooke (MCippolini): Giro Donne, stage five

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour de France, stage five

Ian Stannard (Sky): Tour of Austria, stage five

Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo): Giro Donne, stage eight

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour de France, stage seven

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour de France, stage 11

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour de France, stage 15

Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo): Thuringen Rundfahrt, stage four

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour de France, stage 21

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour de France, points classification

Lizzie Armitstead (Garmin-Cervelo): Thuringen Rundfahrt, stage six

Lizzie Armitstead (Garmin-Cervelo): Thuringen Rundfahrt, points classification

Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo): Thuringen Rundfahrt, mountains classification

Chris Froome wins stage 17 of the Vuelta

August

Mark Cavendish (Great Britain): London-Surrey Cycle Classic (Olympic test event)

Mark McNally (An Post-Sean Kelly): La Mi-Août en Bretagne, overall

Alex Dowsett (Sky): Tour du Poitou Charentes, stage five

September

Chris Froome (Sky): Vuelta a Espana, stage 17

Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo): Tour de l'Ardeche, stage three

Simon Yates (Great Britain): Tour de l'Avenir, stage six

Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo): Tour de l'Ardeche overall

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour of Britain, stage one

Alex Dowsett (Sky): Tour of Britain, stage 8a ITT

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad): Tour of Britain, stage 8b

Geraint Thomas (Sky): Tour of Britain, points classification

Jonathan Tiernan Locke (Rapha Condor Sharp): Tour of Britain, mountains classification

Mark Cavendish (Great Britain): World Championship road race

Related links

British pros rack up 40 wins in 2010

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Nigel Wynn
Former Associate Editor

Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, n exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.