John Gadret (Ag2r) has won Stage 11 of the 2011 Giro. Gadret burst out the peloton in the last 300 m to win the hilly, 142-km ride from Teramo to Castelfidardo in 3:33:11. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) outsprinted Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini) for second. Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) remains the maglia rosa.

A number of would-be escapees attempted to get clear of the peloton, but the bunch shut down all of these moves. Only at 60 km did Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin), who was third on GC at 1:19, get free. Carlos Betancourt and Fabio Taborre (both from Acqua e Sapone), Simoni Stortoni (Colnago), Daniel Moreno (Katusha), Marco Marzano (Lampre), Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas), Ignatas Konovalovas (Movistar), Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank), Tiago Machado (RadioShack), and Lars Nordhaug (Sky) joined the Frenchman. With a GC threat in the break, Saxo Bank went to the front to peg the lead, which it did at 2:00.

With 45 km left, Astana went to the front, and the bunch began to whittle away the break's lead. With 25 km remaining, Moreno attacked his companions. Ten km later, he led the break by 0:20 and the bunch by 1:20.

Konovalovas attacked and reached Moreno with nine km left. He tried to drop Moreno, but the two agreed to collaborate to hold off the field.

The original break broke up as members attacked each other. With three km left, Moreno and Konovalovas led the remnants of the break by 0:40. Half a km later, the peloton, which Lampre led, engulfed the break.

The leaders' advantage dropped from 0:34 with two km left to 0:12 at the one-km banner. Moreno dropped Konovalovas, but the peloton reeled him in with 300 m left. Gadret burst out of the field for the win.

Gadret dedicated his victory to Wouter Weylandt (Leopard-Trek), who was killed in a Stage 3 crash and whose funeral took place today. "I want to dedicate this victory to Weylandt," said Gadret. "I was thinking all day about his funeral. Even though I'm not Belgian I wanted to win for him. Cycling is a big family. Since he died I haven't stopped thinking about his fall. I wanted to do something to pay homage to him, and I'm happy."

In the overall, Contador leads Konstantin Sivtsov (HTC) by 0:59 and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) at 1:21. Stage 12 will leave things as they are. The pancake-flat, 184-km run from Castelfidardo to Ravenna will end in a cavalry charge. Who will win it? Mark Cavendish (HTC)? Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre)? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!

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You'll find complete results and more photos from stage 11 here.

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