diff --git a/.bumpversion.cfg b/.bumpversion.cfg
index f64f87e85..4517467d5 100644
--- a/.bumpversion.cfg
+++ b/.bumpversion.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 1.1.0dev1
+current_version = 1.1.0rc1
 commit = True
 tag = True
 tag_name = {new_version}
diff --git a/scrapy/VERSION b/scrapy/VERSION
index 3ac32d3a6..686366e4b 100644
--- a/scrapy/VERSION
+++ b/scrapy/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.1.0dev1
+1.1.0rc1