2006 Vuelta a España

2006 Vuelta a España
2006 UCI ProTour, race 23 of 27
	Overview of the stages
Race details
Dates	26 August – 17 September
Stages	21
Distance	3,192 km (1,983 mi)
Winning time	81h 23' 07"
Results
	Winner
	Second
	Third
	Points
	Mountains
	Combination
	Team
	← 2005 2007 →

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 3,192 km (1,983 mi), and was won by Alexander Vinokourov of the Astana cycling team. The points classification was won by Thor Hushovd of Crédit Agricole, and the mountains classification by Egoi Martínez of Discovery Channel.

Teams and riders

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

Route

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type	Winner
1	26 August	Málaga to Málaga	7.2 km (4 mi)	Team time trial	Team CSC
2	27 August	Málaga to Córdoba	167 km (104 mi)		Paolo Bettini (ITA)
3	28 August	Córdoba to Almendralejo	220 km (137 mi)		Francisco Ventoso (ESP)
4	29 August	Almendralejo to Cáceres	142 km (88 mi)		Erik Zabel (GER)
5	30 August	Plasencia to Estación de Esquí La Covatilla (Béjar)	178 km (111 mi)	Mountain stage*	Danilo Di Luca (ITA)
6	31 August	Zamora to León	155 km (96 mi)		Thor Hushovd (NOR)
7	1 September	León to Alto de El Morredero (Ponferrada)	148 km (92 mi)	Mountain stage*	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
8	2 September	Ponferrada to Lugo	173 km (107 mi)		Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ)
9	3 September	A Fonsagrada to Alto de La Cobertoria	206 km (128 mi)	Mountain stage*	Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ)
	4 September	Rest Day
10	5 September	Avilés to Museo de Altamira (Santillana del Mar)	190 km (118 mi)		Sérgio Paulinho (POR)
11	6 September	Torrelavega (Velódromo Óscar Freire) to Burgos	165 km (103 mi)	Mountain stage	Egoi Martínez (ESP)
12	7 September	Aranda de Duero to Guadalajara	162 km (101 mi)		Luca Paolini (ITA)
13	8 September	Guadalajara to Cuenca	170 km (106 mi)		Samuel Sánchez (ESP)
14	9 September	Cuenca to Cuenca	33 km (21 mi)	Individual time trial	David Millar (GBR)
15	10 September	Motilla del Palancar to Factoría Ford (Almussafes)	175 km (109 mi)		Robert Förster (GER)
	11 Sept	Rest Day
16	12 September	Almería to Observatorio Astronómico de Calar Alto	145 km (90 mi)	Mountain stage*	Igor Antón (ESP)
17	13 September	Adra to Granada	167 km (104 mi)	Mountain stage	~~Thomas Danielson (USA)~~
18	14 September	Granada to Sierra de la Pandera	153 km (95 mi)	Mountain stage*	Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ)
19	15 September	Jaén to Ciudad Real	195 km (121 mi)		José Luis Arrieta (ESP)
20	16 September	Rivas Futura to Rivas Vaciamadrid	28 km (17 mi)	Individual time trial	Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ)
21	17 September	Madrid to Madrid	150 km (93 mi)		Erik Zabel (GER)

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

Race overview

Jersey progress

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

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	Alexander Vinokourov	Astana	81h 23' 07"
2	Alejandro Valverde	Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears	1' 12"
3	Andrey Kashechkin	Astana	3' 12"
4	Carlos Sastre	Team CSC	3' 35"
5	José Ángel Gómez Marchante	Saunier Duval–Prodir	6' 51"
6	~~Tom Danielson~~	~~Discovery Channel~~	~~8' 09"~~
7	Samuel Sánchez	Euskaltel–Euskadi	8' 26"
8	Manuel Beltrán	Discovery Channel	10' 36"
9	Vladimir Karpets	Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears	10' 47"
10	Luis Pérez Rodríguez	Cofidis	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] Archived 2008-09-26 at the Wayback Machine

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Thor Hushovd	Crédit Agricole	199
2	Alexander Vinokourov	Astana	163
3	Alejandro Valverde	Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears	147
4	Samuel Sánchez	Euskaltel–Euskadi	107
5	Erik Zabel	Team Milram	104
6	Stuart O'Grady	Team CSC	104
7	Francisco Ventoso	Saunier Duval–Prodir	99
8	Andrey Kashechkin	Astana	95
9	Carlos Sastre	Team CSC	93
10	José Ángel Gómez Marchante	Saunier Duval–Prodir	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	Egoi Martínez	Discovery Channel	129
2	Pietro Caucchioli	Crédit Agricole	117
3	Alejandro Valverde	Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears	98
4	Andrey Kashechkin	Astana	84
5	Alexander Vinokourov	Astana	82
6	José Miguel Elías	Relax–GAM	70
7	Igor Antón	Euskaltel–Euskadi	67
8	Carlos Sastre	Team CSC	63
9	José Ángel Gómez Marchante	Saunier Duval–Prodir	60
10	David Arroyo	Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears	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	Alexander Vinokourov	Astana	8
2	Alejandro Valverde	Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears	8
3	Andrey Kashechkin	Astana	15
4	Carlos Sastre	Team CSC	21
5	José Ángel Gómez Marchante	Saunier Duval–Prodir	24
6	Samuel Sánchez	Euskaltel–Euskadi	25
7	Tom Danielson	Discovery Channel	28
8	Egoi Martínez	Discovery Channel	31
9	Igor Antón	Euskaltel–Euskadi	39
10	Manuel Beltrán	Discovery Channel	43

Teams classification

Rank	Team	Time
1	Discovery Channel	201h 59' 16"
2	Astana	15' 25"
3	Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears	25' 33"
4	Euskaltel–Euskadi	32' 13"
5	Team CSC	52' 56"
6	Saunier Duval–Prodir	1h 40' 02"
7	Lampre–Fondital	1h 43' 20"
8	AG2R Prévoyance	2h 02' 55"
9	Relax–GAM	2h 16' 26"
10	Cofidis	2h 20' 33"