2011 Team Katusha season

Brutt took the team's first win of the season at the Classica Sarda on Sardinia, a race run with the same teams as the Giro di Sardegna stage race earlier in the week. He had been part of a 22-man escape group that formed after only 11 km (6.8 mi). Only 21 riders finished the race, and Brutt crossed the line first ahead of Emanuele Sella and Peter Sagan after a flurry of attacks and counterattacks in the finale.[15] Pozzato was the team's leader at the first monument race of the season, Milan–San Remo, having been the last Italian rider to win the race (in 2006). He made the day's major selection, after a crash occurred on the Le Manie climb 90 km (56 mi) from the finish of the race. Despite not having as many support riders with him as other contenders who made the split, Pozzato made all subsequent selections as well, including an eight-rider group that formed on the Poggio and decided the race. Pozzato finished fifth in the finale sprint.[16] Fellow contender Philippe Gilbert, who had likewise made all the selections, criticized Pozzato after the race for chasing him down multiple times in the race's final kilometers.[17] Pozzato and Ivanov were touted as contenders at the second monument race, the Tour of Flanders.[18][19] Pozzato marked two accelerations from pre-race favorite Fabian Cancellara on the cobbled climbs, but faded toward the end and finished the race with the first large group on the road over a minute down on race winner Nick Nuyens.[20] One post-race analysis criticized Pozzato for another weak showing and suggested that internal disputes with team manager Tchmil could be to blame.[21] The team had a notably difficult third monument, Paris–Roubaix. While Pozzato again drew mention as a pre-race contender,[22] he and the entire team were struck hard by the notoriously difficult Paris–Roubaix terrain. Gusev was caught out in crashes as the day's principal breakaway formed, during the first cobbled sector. He did not continue in the race. Paolini also was affected by a crash, and abandoned the race from a group trying to chase to the leaders. Pozzato stayed with the group of race favorites for a time, but crashed on the Mons-en-Pévèle sector and he too left the race.[23] In what one post-race analysis called "possibly the lowest moment in the team’s short history," not one rider from their squad so much as finished the race.[24] The mechanical incidents sustained by riders were made worse because even the team car punctured and failed to finish the race. Pozzato in particular had been left stranded – his crash at Mons-en-Pévèle had not injured him, but he needed a full bike change to be able to continue. Neutral service vehicles only provide wheels, so he would need to wait for his team car, which was not coming.[25]

Team leader Rodríguez rode well in the Amstel Gold Race. Katusha had been the team who did most of the work in chasing down the day's principal breakaway group, and Rodríguez effectively stayed at the front of the race most of the day. After Andy Schleck attacked for victory, Rodríguez was part of the chase group that overhauled the Luxembourger on the Cauberg, the final of the race's 31 climbs. However, it was Omega Pharma–Lotto's Philippe Gilbert who was first over the line, leaving Rodríguez second.[26] Rodríguez admitted after the race that the finish suited Gilbert more than him, but he expected to do him better in the upcoming La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.[27] La Flèche Wallonne played out almost exactly as Amstel Gold did. Rodríguez thought that the Mur de Huy climb which finished Flèche Wallonne would, due to being steeper than anything visited in the Amstel, favor him more than Gilbert, but Gilbert again took the win with Rodríguez second. He was impressed that Gilbert had attacked from far out on the Mur, and that he had held on to win after doing so.[28] The team did not fare well at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Rodríguez finished 26th, being affected on the day by the high pollen count in the air and had respiratory difficulties. Kolobnev finished 11th, and admitted after the race that he had been distracted and missed the crucial move from the Schleck brothers and Gilbert that had decided the race.[29]

The team also sent squads to the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, Trofeo Palma, Trofeo Cala Millor, Trofeo Palmanova, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Nokere Koerse, Gent–Wevelgem, the Brabantse Pijl, the Grand Prix de Denain and Halle–Ingooigem, but placed no higher than 11th in any of these races.

The team also sent squads to the Coppa Bernocchi, the Vattenfall Cyclassics, the GP Ouest-France, the Grote Prijs Jef Scherens, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, the Grand Prix de Fourmies and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, but placed no higher than 12th in any of these races.