2011 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11  These are the profiles for the individual stages in the 2011 Vuelta a España, with Stage 1 on 20 August, and Stage 11 on 31 August. The Vuelta started with a team time trial in the coastal town of Benidorm. The first team on the route was , and they stopped the clock at 16' 48", a time that kept them in eighth place after the stage. did the best time at the intermediate point, a second faster than . eventually won the stage by four seconds ahead of . was the negative surprise of the day, finishing 20th of the 22 teams. A number of events left the team at one point with four riders, with a team's time recorded when a fifth rider passes the finish line. Xabier Zandio recovered to join his four teammates out front, limiting any further time loss. 's leader, the defending champion, Vincenzo Nibali gained 21 seconds on Joaquim Rodríguez with finishing 10th, 24 seconds on Igor Antón's and 28 seconds on Michele Scarponi's . Jakob Fuglsang was the first Leopard Trek rider who crossed the finish line, giving him the first red jersey and his first jersey at a Grand Tour. The breakaway of the day was formed by four riders: Steve Houanard (), Paul Martens (), Adam Hansen () and Jesús Rosendo (). The only categorized climb of the day was won by Martens, giving him the first blue polka dot jersey. Adam Hansen was the last from the breakaway to remain clear, but he was caught with to go. Davide Viganò of was the first to make a move within the final kilometre, but he was caught immediately. After him there were Vicente Reynès of and Christopher Sutton of who gained a gap on the field and they stayed clear until the finish with Sutton outsprinting Reynès, with Marcel Kittel completing the podium. Daniele Bennati moved into the red jersey due to his sixth position on the stage, taking the jersey from teammate Jakob Fuglsang. Sutton claimed the first green jersey, while Rosendo earned the white jersey for the combination classification. The initial breakaway of the day was formed by three riders: Sylvain Chavanel (), Nicolas Edet () and Ruslan Pidgornyy (), before they were joined by two Spanish riders, Pablo Lastras of and Markel Irizar of .