The 2011 Crocodile Trophy was the 17th edition of the Crocodile trophy

Crocodile Trophy

The Crocodile Trophy is an annual mountain bike ten day stage race held in North Queensland, Australia. The race typically covers around the over 10 stages and is known to be one of the most demanding mountain bike race in the world. The race is marked for the heat and the rough terrain of the...

 Mountain Bike stage race. The race was held from 18 October to 27 October. The race covered 1211 kilometres (752 mi) divided over 10 stages.

Pre race favourites were the winner of last two events: Urs Huber, runner-up of the last two events and former olympic champion: Bart Brentjens

Bart Brentjens

Bart Jan-Baptist Marie Brentjens is a Dutch racing cyclist in mountain biking.Brentjens won a gold medal for mountain biking in the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first to recognize cross-country mountain biking as an event. He followed this with bronze in the 2004 Summer Olympics...

 and number three of the last two events: Mike Mulkens. Huber aimed to be the first rider in history to win the trophy three times in a row.

Race Overview

Only two of the pre race favourites would eventually start the race. Bart Brentjens pulled out of the event before the first stage due to an illness. On the first day of the Trophy it started to rain in North Queensland. The organisation decided that it was not safe for the riders to race in the heavy rain and decided to neutralize the stage. One rider, Danish cyclist Jakob Steen-Petersen, broke his collarbone because took risks in a descent despite the neutralization of the stage.

The rain hadn't stopped but the race started on the second day. Swiss Marathon champion en defening champion Urs Huber took the stage with an advantage of 4 minutes to Brentjens' team-mate Jeroen Boelen to become the first race leader. During the third stage it became clear that Huber and Boelen would be the riders for the overall victory. Huber won the stage, but the gap to the dutchman was much smaller than on stage two.

Boelen then took three consevuctive stages, the first by winning the sprint of a four man break away. Boelen outsprinted Huber on stage 5 for the second stage win. The Dutchman took both the stage and the leaders jersey on the next day. Huber punctured but also ran out of energy on the longest stage of the 2011 event, resulting in a loss of more than ten minutes to Boelen.

Huber managed to take a few seconds back on the seventh stage, a stage which was compared to Paris-Roubaix

Paris-Roubaix

Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France near the Belgian frontier. Since its beginning in 1896 until 1967 it started in Paris and ended in Roubaix ; since 1968 the start city is Compiègne , whilst the finish is still in Roubaix...

 by former Austrian road race champion René Haselbacher

René Haselbacher

René Haselbacher is an Austrian retired professional road bicycle racer. He rode for major teams and , and took national titles in both road racing and the time trial...

: "Today was really like a Paris-Roubaix stage. Relatively flat but hard, and you just needed to keep on going." His fellow Austrian road race cyclist Christoph Sokoll won the seventh stage after his break-away companion Mike Mulkens punctured in the last kilometer. Dutch road race cyclist Huub Duyn

Huub Duyn

Huub Duyn is a Dutch racing cyclist who rides for Donckers Koffie-Jelly Belly. His best result to date was winning the Paris-Tours under 23 race.-Notable results:2006-Former teams:...

 claimed the eight stage while only riding the Crocodile Trophy for the fun.

Urs Huber withdrew from the race before the start of stage 9. Huber, second overall at that moment, got ill during the night between stage 8 and 9 and was not able to continue the event. Boelen won both the 9th and 10th stage and sealed the overall victory.

Stages

Stage	Route	Distance	Date	Winner	Race Leader Men	Race Leader Women
1	Cairns - Lake Tinaroo Lake Tinaroo Lake Tinaroo, also known as Tinaroo Dam, is a man-made reservoir on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia. It was constructed between 1953 and 1958 on the Barron River close to Lake Barrine and Lake Eacham .- History :...	98 km	18 October	Stage Neutralized	Stage Neutralized	Stage Neutralized
2	Lake Tinaroo Lake Tinaroo Lake Tinaroo, also known as Tinaroo Dam, is a man-made reservoir on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia. It was constructed between 1953 and 1958 on the Barron River close to Lake Barrine and Lake Eacham .- History :...  - Koombooloomba	106 km	19 October	Urs Huber	Urs Huber	Jessica Douglas
3	Koombooloomba - Irvinebank Irvinebank Irvinebank is a village in the western foothills of the Atherton Tablelands of Far North Queensland, Australia. Once a thriving town with an economy based on mining, milling and smelting...	115 km	20 October	Urs Huber
4	Gunnawarra Lagoon - Irvinebank Irvinebank Irvinebank is a village in the western foothills of the Atherton Tablelands of Far North Queensland, Australia. Once a thriving town with an economy based on mining, milling and smelting...	106 km	21 October	Jeroen Boelen
5	Irvinebank Irvinebank Irvinebank is a village in the western foothills of the Atherton Tablelands of Far North Queensland, Australia. Once a thriving town with an economy based on mining, milling and smelting...  - Mt. Mulligan	110 km	22 October	Jeroen Boelen
6	Mt. Mulligan - Mt. Mulgrave	189 km	23 October	Jeroen Boelen	Jeroen Boelen
7	Mt. Mulgrave - Laura Laura -Places:Australia*Laura, Queensland, a town*Laura River , its river*Laura, South AustraliaCanada*Laura, SaskatchewanMarshall Islands* Laura, Marshall Islands, an island town in the Majuro Atoll of the Marshall IslandsPoland...	151 km	24 October	Christoph Sokoll
8	Laura Laura -Places:Australia*Laura, Queensland, a town*Laura River , its river*Laura, South AustraliaCanada*Laura, SaskatchewanMarshall Islands* Laura, Marshall Islands, an island town in the Majuro Atoll of the Marshall IslandsPoland...  - Kalpowar	89 km	25 October	Huub Duyn Huub Duyn Huub Duyn is a Dutch racing cyclist who rides for Donckers Koffie-Jelly Belly. His best result to date was winning the Paris-Tours under 23 race.-Notable results:2006-Former teams:...
9	Kalpowar - Munburra	148 km	26 October	Jeroen Boelen
10	Munburra - Cooktown	99 km	27 October	Jeroen Boelen