2006 Vuelta a España

Template:Short description Template:Infobox cycling race report The 2006 Vuelta a España was held from 26 August to 17 September 2006, and was the 61st edition of the race. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of Template:Convert, and was won by Alexander Vinokourov of the Template:UCI team code cycling team. The points classification was won by Thor Hushovd of Template:UCI team code, and the mountains classification by Egoi Martínez of Template:UCI team code.

Teams and riders

In addition to the 20 UCI ProTour teams, Relax–GAM have received a wild card.

List of stages

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type	Winner
1	26 Aug	Málaga – Málaga	7.2 km	Team time trial	Template:UCI team code
2	27 Aug	Málaga – Córdoba	167 km		Paolo Bettini
3	28 Aug	Córdoba – Almendralejo	220 km		Francisco Ventoso
4	29 Aug	Almendralejo – Cáceres	142 km		Erik Zabel
5	30 Aug	Plasencia – Estación de Esquí La Covatilla (Béjar)	178 km	Mountain stage*	Danilo Di Luca
6	31 Aug	Zamora – León	155 km		Thor Hushovd
7	1 Sept	León – Alto de El Morredero (Ponferrada)	148 km	Mountain stage*	Alejandro Valverde
8	2 Sept	Ponferrada – Lugo	173 km		Alexander Vinokourov
9	3 Sept	A Fonsagrada – Alto de La Cobertoria	206 km	Mountain stage*	Alexander Vinokourov
	4 Sept	Rest Day
10	5 Sept	Avilés – Museo de Altamira (Santillana del Mar)	190 km		Sérgio Paulinho
11	6 Sept	Torrelavega (Velódromo Óscar Freire) – Burgos	165 km	Mountain stage	Egoi Martínez
12	7 Sept	Aranda de Duero – Guadalajara	162 km		Luca Paolini
13	8 Sept	Guadalajara – Cuenca	170 km		Samuel Sánchez
14	9 Sept	Cuenca – Cuenca	33 km	Individual time trial	David Millar
15	10 Sept	Motilla del Palancar – Factoría Ford (Almussafes)	175 km		Robert Förster
	11 Sept	Rest Day
16	12 Sept	Almería – Observatorio Astronómico de Calar Alto	145 km	Mountain stage*	Igor Antón
17	13 Sept	Adra – Granada	167 km	Mountain stage	Thomas Danielson
18	14 Sept	Granada – Sierra de la Pandera	153 km	Mountain stage*	Andrey Kashechkin
19	15 Sept	Jaén – Ciudad Real	195 km		José Luis Arrieta
20	16 Sept	Rivas Futura – Rivas Vaciamadrid	28 km	Individual time trial	Alexander Vinokourov
21	17 Sept	Madrid – Madrid	150 km		Erik Zabel

• Mountain stages with asterisk end on the top of the climb.

Stage recaps

• Vuelta a España 2006, Stage 1 to Stage 11
• Vuelta a España 2006, Stage 12 to Stage 21

Jersey progress

Stage (Winner)	General classification	Points Classification	Mountains Classification	Combination Classification	Team Classification
0Stage 1 (TTT) (Team CSC)	Carlos Sastre	Carlos Sastre	no award	no award	Template:UCI team code
0Stage 2 (Paolo Bettini)	Thor Hushovd	Paolo Bettini	Mario De Sárraga	Mario De Sárraga
0Stage 3 (Francisco Ventoso)		Thor Hushovd		David de la Fuente
0Stage 4 (Erik Zabel)
0Stage 5 (Danilo Di Luca)	Danilo Di Luca		Danilo Di Luca	Danilo Di Luca	Template:UCI team code
0Stage 6 (Thor Hushovd)
0Stage 7 (Alejandro Valverde)	Janez Brajkovič		Janez Brajkovič	Janez Brajkovič
0Stage 8 (Alexander Vinokourov)
0Stage 9 (Alexander Vinokourov)	Alejandro Valverde		Pietro Caucchioli	Alejandro Valverde
0Stage 10 (Sérgio Paulinho)
0Stage 11 (Egoi Martínez)
0Stage 12 (Luca Paolini)
0Stage 13 (Samuel Sánchez)
0Stage 14 (ITT) (David Millar)
0Stage 15 (Robert Förster)
0Stage 16 (Igor Antón)
0Stage 17 (Tom Danielson)	Alexander Vinokourov		Egoi Martínez
0Stage 18 (Andrei Kashechkin)
0Stage 19 (José Luis Arrieta)				Alexander Vinokourov
0Stage 20 (ITT) (Alexander Vinokourov)
0Stage 21 (Erik Zabel)
Final	Alexander Vinokourov	Thor Hushovd	Egoi Martínez	Alexander Vinokourov	Template:UCI team code

Jersey wearers when same rider is holding multiple jerseys:

• Lars Bak wore the points jersey in stage 2
• Paolo Bettini wore the points jersey in stages 4–5
• Janez Brajkovič wore the white combination jersey in stages 6–7
• José Miguel Elías wore the orange mountains jersey in stages 6–7
• Danilo Di Luca wore the orange mountains jersey in stages 8–9
• Alejandro Valverde wore the white combination jersey in stages 8–9
• Carlos Sastre wore the white combination jersey in stages 8–16
• Alexander Vinokourov wore the white combination jersey in stage 17
• Andrey Kashechkin wore the white combination jersey in stage 19-21
• When he has been 2nd in combination classification behind GC leader, Alejandro Valverde has worn white jersey of UCI ProTour leader. This happened on stages 8, 9, 19, 20 and 21.

Final standings

General classification (final)

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Template:Flagicon Alexander Vinokourov	Template:UCI team code	81h 23' 07"
2	Template:Flagicon Alejandro Valverde	Template:UCI team code	1' 12"
3	Template:Flagicon Andrey Kashechkin	Template:UCI team code	3' 12"
4	Template:Flagicon Carlos Sastre	Template:UCI team code	3' 35"
5	Template:Flagicon José Ángel Gómez Marchante	Template:UCI team code	6' 51"
6	Template:Flagicon Tom Danielson	Template:UCI team code	8' 09"
7	Template:Flagicon Samuel Sánchez	Template:UCI team code	8' 26"
8	Template:Flagicon Manuel Beltrán	Template:UCI team code	10' 36"
9	Template:Flagicon Vladimir Karpets	Template:UCI team code	10' 47"
10	Template:Flagicon Luis Pérez Rodríguez	Template:UCI team code	11' 32"

Points classification

In 2006, the leader of the points classification is awarded a blue with yellow-fish-covered jersey, which is sponsored by Spain's fishing and marine industry known as FROM (or El Fondo de Regulación y Organización del Mercado de Productos de la Pesca y Cultivos Marinos).[1] Template:Webarchive

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Thor Hushovd	Template:UCI team code	199
2	Template:Flagicon Alexander Vinokourov	Template:UCI team code	163
3	Template:Flagicon Alejandro Valverde	Template:UCI team code	147
4	Template:Flagicon Samuel Sánchez	Template:UCI team code	107
5	Template:Flagicon Erik Zabel	Template:UCI team code	104
6	Template:Flagicon Stuart O'Grady	Template:UCI team code	104
7	Template:Flagicon Francisco Ventoso	Template:UCI team code	99
8	Template:Flagicon Andrey Kashechkin	Template:UCI team code	95
9	Template:Flagicon Carlos Sastre	Template:UCI team code	93
10	Template:Flagicon José Ángel Gómez Marchante	Template:UCI team code	68

Mountains classification

In 2006, the leader of the climbers classification (or King of the Mountains) wears the orange jersey sponsored by Ford. In recent years, the KoM wore a red jersey.

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Egoi Martínez	Template:UCI team code	129
2	Template:Flagicon Pietro Caucchioli	Template:UCI team code	117
3	Template:Flagicon Alejandro Valverde	Template:UCI team code	98
4	Template:Flagicon Andrey Kashechkin	Template:UCI team code	84
5	Template:Flagicon Alexander Vinokourov	Template:UCI team code	82
6	Template:Flagicon José Miguel Elías	Relax–GAM	70
7	Template:Flagicon Igor Antón	Template:UCI team code	67
8	Template:Flagicon Carlos Sastre	Template:UCI team code	63
9	Template:Flagicon José Ángel Gómez Marchante	Template:UCI team code	60
10	Template:Flagicon David Arroyo	Template:UCI team code	58

Combination classification

In 2006, the leader of the combinations classification wears the white jersey. In 2005, the rider with the lowest cumulative rank of all classifications wore a gold-green jersey.

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Alexander Vinokourov	Template:UCI team code	8
2	Template:Flagicon Alejandro Valverde	Template:UCI team code	8
3	Template:Flagicon Andrey Kashechkin	Template:UCI team code	15
4	Template:Flagicon Carlos Sastre	Template:UCI team code	21
5	Template:Flagicon José Ángel Gómez Marchante	Template:UCI team code	24
6	Template:Flagicon Samuel Sánchez	Template:UCI team code	25
7	Template:Flagicon Tom Danielson	Template:UCI team code	28
8	Template:Flagicon Egoi Martínez	Template:UCI team code	31
9	Template:Flagicon Igor Antón	Template:UCI team code	39
10	Template:Flagicon Manuel Beltrán	Template:UCI team code	43

Teams classification

Rank	Team	Time
1	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	201h 59' 16"
2	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	15' 25"
3	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	25' 33"
4	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	32' 13"
5	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	52' 56"
6	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	1h 40' 02"
7	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	1h 43' 20"
8	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	2h 02' 55"
9	Template:Flagicon Relax–GAM	2h 16' 26"
10	Template:Flagicon Template:UCI team code	2h 20' 33"

External links

• La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French)
• cyclingnews.com