2006 Vuelta a España

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.

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  Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ) (Astana)   Second  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) (Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears)   Third  Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ) (Astana) Points  Thor Hushovd (NOR) (Crédit Agricole) Mountains  Egoi Martínez (ESP) (Discovery Channel) Combination  Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ) (Astana)   Team Discovery Channel
← 2005 2007 →

Teams and riders

Main article: List of teams and cyclists in the 2006 Vuelta a España

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	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		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	Team CSC
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	Discovery Channel
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	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). 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"

External links

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