2006 Vuelta a España
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The 61st Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from August 26 to September 17, 2006. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 3,192 km, and was won by Alexander Vinokourov of the Team Astana cycling team.
Contents |
[edit] Teams and riders
In addition to the 20 UCI ProTour teams, Relax-GAM have received a wild card.
[edit] List of stages
| Stage | Date | From - To | Distance | Type | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 Aug | Málaga - Málaga | 7.2 km | Team time trial | Team CSC |
| 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 | Alexandre Vinokourov | |
| 9 | 3 Sept | A Fonsagrada - Alto de La Cobertoria | 206 km | Mountain stage* | Alexandre Vinokourov |
| 4 Sept | Rest Day | ||||
| 10 | 5 Sept | Avilés - Museo de Altamira (Santillana del Mar) | 190 km | Sérgio Paulinho | |
| 11 | 6 Sept | Torrelavega (Velódromo Oscar 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 | Alexandre Vinokourov |
| 21 | 17 Sept | Madrid - Madrid | 150 km | Erik Zabel |
- Mountain stages with asterisk end on the top of the climb.
[edit] Stage recaps
[edit] Jersey progress
Jersey wearers when same rider is holding multiple jerseys:
- Lars Ytting 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.
[edit] Current standings
[edit] General classification (final)
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alexander Vinokourov |
Team Astana | 81h23'07" |
| 2 |  Alejandro Valverde |
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears | 1'12" |
| 3 | Andrei Kashechkin |
Team 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 |
Cofidis | 11'32" |
[edit] 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]
| Rank | Rider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Thor Hushovd |
Crédit Agricole | 199 |
| 2 | Alexander Vinokourov |
Team 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 | Andrei Kashechkin |
Team Astana | 95 |
| 9 | Carlos Sastre |
Team CSC | 93 |
| 10 | José Ángel Gómez Marchante |
Saunier Duval-Prodir | 68 |
[edit] 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 |
Team Astana | 84 |
| 5 | Alexander Vinokourov |
Team 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 |
[edit] 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 |
Team Astana | 8 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde |
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears | 8 |
| 3 | Andrey Kashechkin |
Team 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 |
[edit] Teams classification
| Rank | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team |
201h 59'16" |
| 2 | Team 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 |
1h40'02" |
| 7 | Lampre-Fondital |
1h43'20" |
| 8 |  AG2R Prévoyance |
2h 02'55" |
| 9 | Relax-GAM |
2h 16'26" |
| 10 | Cofidis |
2h 20'33" |
[edit] Withdrawals
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- 134 of 189 starters finished the race.
- 2 teams finished with all nine riders: Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears and Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.
