2011 HTC–Highroad season Manager Bob Stapleton One-day victories 6 Stage race overall victories 4 Stage race stage victories 37 Previous season
The 2011 season for began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Chrono des Nations. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour. This was the team's final season, as they failed to secure a new title sponsor.
As they had been in previous years, HTC-Highroad was again the most successful team in 2011, claiming 47 victories. Among them were six stage wins at the Tour de France, including five by Mark Cavendish. While Cavendish had won no fewer than four stages in each of the previous four Tours, the 2011 Tour was the first in which he won the points classification green jersey. Tony Martin added a time trial win, something he also did at the Vuelta a España and five other races on the season. While they were not under the auspices of HTC-Highroad, Cavendish and Martin both claimed world championship titles in their respective disciplines at the 2011 UCI Road World Championships as well.
The team's success was widespread. Along with Cavendish and Martin, Matthew Goss, Mark Renshaw, John Degenkolb, and Michael Albasini each won multiple races as well. Five other riders took a single win, along with the squad's victory in the team time trial stage of the Giro d'Italia. Goss' Milan–San Remo triumph was the team's strongest result in the spring classics season.
2011 roster
Ages as of January 1, 2011.
Riders who joined the team for the 2011 season Rider2010 teamMatt BrammeierJohn Degenkolbneo-proCaleb Fairlystagiaire ()Danny PateAlex RasmussenGatis Smukulis
Riders who left the team during or after the 2010 season Rider2011 teamGert DockxAndré GreipelRasmus GuldhammerTeam Concordia Forsikring-HimmerlandAdam HansenMaxime MonfortVicente ReynèsMichael RogersAleksejs SaramotinsMarcel Sieberg
One-day races Before the spring season and the races known as "classics" began, Goss was victorious in the first race of the season run under the auspices of UCI ProTeams, the Cancer Council Helpline Classic. Avoiding a crash by 's Greg Henderson, the defending champion, Goss finished the criterium first ahead of teammate Renshaw and 's Robbie McEwen. Cavendish also rode this race, but finished 30 seconds back. The team was also active at the Vuelta a Mallorca series of single-day races. Degenkolb and Howard rounded out the podium at the Trofeo Cala Millor, finishing just behind the day's winner Tyler Farrar in a photo finish to a 23-rider sprint. Martin took fifth two days later at the Trofeo Deià, turning in an uncharacteristically strong sprint near the front of a 34-rider group. On the last day in Majorca, Degenkolb managed tenth place in the Trofeo Magaluf-Palmanova.
Spring classics
At the first monument race of the season, Milan–San Remo, the team came in thinking they had two options for the victory – 2009 winner Cavendish, and the 2011 season's most prolific winner to date Goss. Sporting director Valerio Piva stated that if the race came down to a large field sprint, as it often does, the team's focus would be Cavendish. For the second year in a row, Cavendish had had a slow start to his season, but stated that he felt he was on good form heading into Milan–San Remo. The race turned out to be atypical of how Milan–San Remo usually plays out. A crash occurred from the finish of the day on Le Manie, one of several small climbs in the profile. This allowed some 45 riders who had been ahead of world champion Thor Hushovd, the man who crashed, to speed clear of the rest of the main field. They quickly took a two-minute advantage and, working cohesively, never gave it up. Goss was the only HTC-Highroad rider to make the split, but his teammates, including Cavendish, who had been caught behind obligingly did nothing to help pull the second group up to the first. Goss effectively stayed in the slipstream of riders like Vincenzo Nibali and Philippe Gilbert, and stayed with the first group on the road over the Poggio where other sprinters like Tom Boonen, Alessandro Petacchi, and Heinrich Haussler were unable, despite having made the 45-rider selection earlier in the day. In the finale, eight riders representing eight different teams approached the finish line together. Since no one had a teammate to perform a proper leadout, the final meters were somewhat strange, as the eight riders continually looked around to see who would open up the sprint. Finally, Nibali, Gilbert, and Yoann Offredo did so, but they effectively performed a leadout for Goss, who came around them at the very end of the race for the victory. Goss was the first Australian rider ever to win the race. Afterward, Cavendish stated that he had been feeling ill on the day the race was run, and that even if he had not been caught behind the crash on Le Manie, he would not have had the form to put in a successful sprint. He said he was happy for his teammate's winning effort. The team had hoped to ride for Cavendish at Gent–Wevelgem in March, but repeated mechanical trouble and also a crash left him well short of figuring into the finale. Former Gent–Wevelgem winner Eisel was able to salvage the team's fortunes somewhat by finishing seventh on the day. In April, as the spring season was reaching its height, Cavendish took his third career win at the Scheldeprijs. The Manxman avoided a crash on the final finishing straight, one that doomed the chances for his chief rival Tyler Farrar, and was easily the best sprinter of the 31 riders who finished together at the head of the race.
At the third monument, Paris–Roubaix, the squad was one of only two ( being the other) to have three finishers in the top 20. Degenkolb joined a breakaway group that formed right about when the first cobbled sectors began. Later, around the Arenberg sector, Bak joined a chase group that bridged up to the leaders. He stayed at the front of the race for nearly its entire remainder, fading slightly at the end to finish fifth. Degenkolb was one of the many riders caught by a surging Fabian Cancellara toward the finish, hanging on for 19th place. Also, Eisel rode most of the race with the favorites like Cancellara and Thor Hushovd, and followed their accelerations toward the finish, taking seventh. Post-race analysis praised the team's strong effort after a disappointing Tour of Flanders, when they had no rider figure into the finale. At the Grand Prix de Denain later in April, Howard narrowly missed the podium by finishing fourth in the field sprint.
The team also sent squads to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Le Samyn, Montepaschi Strade Bianche, Nokere Koerse, Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders, Brabantse Pijl, the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and the inaugural ProRace Berlin, but finished no higher than 11th in any of these races.
Fall races
The team's fall performances were perhaps subdued by the news of their impending collapse being confirmed in early August. It was not until October, at Paris–Bourges that the team came relatively close to another victory. Degenkolb took fourth place in a hectic that resulted in the peloton being split into several groups. The team had a bittersweet joy later that same week at Paris–Tours, as it was there that Cavendish debuted his newly won world championship rainbow jersey, in one of the few occasions he would wear it as a member of this team. With a late attack by 's Greg Van Avermaet keeping the expected bunch finish from happening, the team's best-placed man on the day was Degenkolb in 11th; Cavendish was 42nd, coming in towards the back of the first large group on the road. Cavendish also rode in the rainbow jersey at the Giro del Piemonte, but did not complete the race. The team's best-placed rider that day was trainee rider Zakkari Dempster, well down in 65th position.
The team then decided against sending Cavendish to the fall monument, the Giro di Lombardia. Its profile, even hillier than the Giro del Piemonte, meant it was unlikely that Cavendish would finish that race either. Sporting director Valerio Piva explained that having Cavendish start that race only to pull out after riding for an hour would be disrespectful to Cavendish, the rainbow jersey, and the race itself. The squad therefore sent only six riders to the race instead of the customary nine, and Sivtsov in 43rd place was the only classified finisher. The next day, Martin took the team's final victory in their history at the Chrono des Nations single-day time trial. It was perhaps the most dominant victory of Martin's career, with no rider coming inside two minutes of his winning time. Coincidentally, Amber Neben of the women's HTC-Highroad team also took victory at this event, closing the team's history with double success.
The team also sent squads to the Clásica de San Sebastián, the GP Ouest-France, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, the Championship of Flanders, and the Grand Prix d'Isbergues, but finished no higher than 18th in any of these races.
Stage races
Despite losing defending champion André Greipel to in the offseason, they came to the Tour Down Under expecting to contend for overall victory. Sprinters Cavendish, Eisel, Goss, Roulston, and Renshaw were all part of the squad, though no leader was chosen ahead of time. Goss won the field sprint finish to the first stage, finishing just ahead of Greipel in second. He stated after the stage that the plan was for him to lead Cavendish out and win if able, or for Cavendish to come around him and open up a time gap if he were able. Cavendish was 62nd on the day. Numerous crashes in stage 2 thinned the number of riders present to try for the stage win. Goss and Cavendish both fell, though they were credited with the same finishing time as the leading group since the crashes took place within of the finish line. Cavendish required several stitches after the stage. Time bonuses involving Goss, stage 2 winner Ben Swift, and Robbie McEwen meant all had the same time going into stage 3, but McEwen got the ochre jersey. Goss got a time bonus the next day, for third, and retook the race lead. Stage 4 featured a surprise, as the peloton ceded 24 seconds at the finish to a breakaway group including 's Cameron Meyer, who became the new race leader. While Goss took bonus seconds in both stage 5 and stage 6, it was not enough, as he came up two seconds short of Meyer in the final overall classification. Goss was second overall, and winner of the points classification.