Ag2r's squad for the Giro d'Italia had as its leader Gadret, the 13th-place finisher in the 2010 Giro who aimed to improve upon that placing and ride to a top ten finish. Dessel and Nocentini were named to the squad to aim for stage wins and breakaway representation. The team's showing in the stage 1 team time trial was mediocre at best, as they came home 16th of the 23 teams, 49 seconds off the winning pace set by HTC-Highroad. Montaguti finished near the front of the field in the Giro's first two road races, taking tenth in the mass sprint finish to stage 2, and likewise tenth in stage 3 when the field was a little more split up. Gadret tried to bridge to the leader on the road (Martin Kohler) in stage 5 one of that stage's many dirt road sections, but he experienced mechanical trouble and finished well down on the day, losing almost a minute to the race's top riders. Gadret lay in 26th place after eight stages, which was the eve of the race's first summit finish, at Mount Etna.