Domestiques come to the fore in 2011

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Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) was working for Philippe Gilbert.(Image credit: ispaphoto.com)

Normally relegated to the background, the domestiques of the peloton have rarely gotten the attention they deserve. Riders like Jens Voigt, Bert Grabsch and George Hincapie have made careers out of ticking off endless kilometers on the front of the peloton, but despite their inherent value to the sport and their teams, domestiques don't always get a chance to ride for themselves.

The British rider came into the Vuelta a España as a climbing domestique for teammate Bradley Wiggins, who was looking for top results after crashing out of the Tour de France. After staying glued to Wiggins' side in the first mountain stages, Froome stunned everyone by taking second in the time trial to Tony Martin, coming in 23 seconds ahead of his captain, and the pair were neck-and-neck for the race lead until Wiggins cracked on the Anglirú.

The unlikely Paris-Roubaix winner was more of a rabbit for Fabian Cancellara to chase while Vansummeren's team leader Thor Hushovd sat on, but after being denied in the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo, the Swiss star wasn't biting. ‘Summie’ just kept hammering away off the front until he crossed the line to collect the famed cobblestone with arms so weak they could hardly hoist the trophy overhead. He rode the final kilometers with the flat tyre too.

The second-year professional and late-comer to the sport proved his mettle in the Tour of California, where overall winner Chris Horner credited the American for his victory, pointing to Busche's vicious pace-setting on the Sierra Road and Mt. Baldy climbs as critical to his success. Busche carried his stellar form to the US Championships, where he narrowly defeated Hincapie to take the road race title.

When Thomas Voeckler took the maillot jaune in Saint-Flour, nobody expected him to hold onto it as long as he did, but it was largely due to the work of Pierre Rolland that he survived mountain after mountain. It was only Voeckler's own stubborn refusal to give up chasing the leaders on the Alpe d'Huez stage that lost him the yellow jersey, but at least Rolland earned his reward with a stage victory atop the famed ascent.

Annamiek Van Vleuten has been a critical factor in the success of the Nederland Bloeit team, but this year stepped up and put herself on equal footing with team captain Marianne Vos. No other pair of riders worked as well together as Vos and Van Vleuten. Together they claimed six World Cup rounds, Van Vleuten won the overall series, while Vos emerged as top-ranked rider by the UCI with an astonishing number of wins, only the world championship eluded her.

He's spent countless kilometers in breakaways over the course of his career, throwing caution to the wind in order to let his team save its energy. After earning a spot in the WorldTour on Vacansoleil-DCM, De Gendt suddently began making the moves work. After being denied in Tour Down Under by Cameron Meyer, De Gendt went onto bigger and better wins in Paris-Nice, where he won stage 1 and took the leader's jersey, lost it, then got it back. He repeated the feat in Circuit de Lorraine, and then again in the Tour de Suisse, where he jettisoned none other than Andy Schleck to win a stage.

The men who usher their sprinters to the line risk their necks threading their way through the madness of the final kilometer in a bunch gallop. They must have nerves of steel to pick just the right moment to accelerate while fending off the assault of the other lead-out trains. The Renshaw/Cavendish duo has been enormously successful, but we can't discount the efforts of Thomas for Boasson Hagen and Hondo for Alessandro Petacchi.

The Lithuanian was a surprise on the American team's roster for the Tour de France, having been chosen over Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Vansummeren. The 23-year-old quickly proved his worth by helping the team to a win in the team time trial, and then setting a blistering pace in the defence of Thor Hushvod's yellow jersey. A stinging pace set on stage 3 helped set up Tyler Farrar for his first Tour de France stage victory. His reward was a trip onto the podium for the team classification prize in Paris.

Nobody wins the Tour de France without a team, and the lanky pair of BMC riders George Hincapie and Markus Burghardt were critical to Cadel Evans's success, including setting him up for his only stage win of the Tour on the Mûr-de-Bretagne. The pair had to launch a furious chase after Evans had a mechanical with 15km to go. Burghardt got him back into position, and Evans pipped Alberto Contador in the sprint to take home the stage win.

Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.