The race was held on 17 April 2011, included 260,4 km started in Maastricht ended on the top of Cauberg (Valkenburg). The defending champion and one of the biggest pre-race favourite was Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto).
The usual breakaway group was caught around 30 km to go, but it took a bit more time to see a viable attack by the main contenders. Meanwhile we had to witness a crash Fabian Cancellara and Frank Schleck (both Leopard-Trek) involved.
At the front Omega-Pharma, Katusha and Rabobank seemed to be the most eager teams, and despite the crash of their two favourites Leopard-Trek wanted to find their place too.
A 14 man group of favourites managed to distance from the rest of the peloton around 25 km and later, with 11 km to go Andy Schleck attacked. His teammate, Jakob Fuglsang had to help only to keep the gap between the solo rider and the chasing group. Nevertheless, Schleck never managed to increase his advantage more than 10 sec.
In the chasing group, despite the small gap, Philippe Gilbert seemed to be the less patient rider and started to set the pace at the front. It might have been a wrong decision at the first glimpse for Gilbert and a lucky situation for his rivals like Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) or the riders of Rabobank. They caught Schleck with 500 m to go and Rodriguez attacked from behind Gilbert.
But in the end, it turned out, that Gilbert played his cards well, he was able to pass Rodriguez and defend his title.
Top10 of the race
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 6:30:44
2 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team 0:00:02
3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling 0:00:04
4 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek 0:00:05
5 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Katusha Team
6 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
7 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:07
8 Ben Hermans (Bel) Team RadioShack 0:00:18
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:19
10 Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:26