2006 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 11

Cycling race stages thumb|360px|alt=Map of France with the route of the 2006 Tour de France|Route of the 2006 Tour de France The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd edition of Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began in Strasbourg with a prologue individual time trial on 1 July and Stage 11 occurred on 13 July with a mountainous stage to Val d'Aran in Spain. The race finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, on 23 July. Prologue 1 July 2006 — Strasbourg, 7.1 km 1 on (ITT)http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006.php#Etapes 93ème Tour de France 2006 Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20120121063320/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006.php#Etapes 21 January 2012 The prologue is a short (7.1 km/4.4 mile), completely flat, time trial, as is customary. It took place in the French city of Strasbourg. Thor Hushovd, the 2004 and 2005 Norwegian National Time Trial Cycling Champion, captured a third stage win and second yellow jersey in his career. Prologue result and general classification after prologue Rank Rider Team Time 1Thor Hushovd NOR 20px|Yellow jersey 20px|Green jerseyC.A 2006 8' 17" 2George Hincapie USADSC 2006 s.t. 3David Zabriskie USASAX 2006 + 4" 4Sebastian Lang GERGST 2006 s.t. 5Alejandro Valverde ESPMOV 2006 s.t. 6Stuart O'Grady AUSSAX 2006 s.t. 7Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 6" 8Paolo Savoldelli ITADSC 2006 + 8" 9Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 9" 10Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 10" Note: George Hincapie got to wear the green jersey, as a rider cannot wear two leading jerseys at the same time. Stage 1 2 July 2006 — Strasbourg to Strasbourg, 184.5 km 1 on thumb|right|200px|Stage 1. Stage 1 was a largely flat sprinter stage with a category 4 climb up the small Côte de Heiligenstein about halfway through the stage at the 101.5 km mi on mark, and three intermediate sprints throughout the length of the course. The sprints were in Saverne (at 53.0 km/32.9 mile), Plobsheim (137.0 km/85.1 mile), and Kehl (175.5 km/109.0 mile). The stage was a 184.5 km mi on long loop, starting and finishing in Strasbourg. An early breakaway consisting of Stéphane Augé (Cofidis), Walter Bénéteau (Bouygues Télécom), Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel–Euskadi), Nicolas Portal (Caisse d'Epargne), Matthieu Sprick (Bouygues Télécom), Benoît Vaugrenard (Française des Jeux), and Fabian Wegmann (Team Gerolsteiner) formed by the 22 km mi on mark and gained a lead of 4:35 over the main peloton before being caught in the last 30 km mi on. That allowed Wegmann to take the polka dot jersey for winning the race up the lone climb. A fast George Hincapie won two bonus seconds and with them the yellow jersey at the last sprint, despite a quick damage control operation by Sébastien Hinault who took the four second bonus to protect his captain, Thor Hushovd. At the very end of the stage, Thor Hushovd (who was wearing the yellow jersey) made contact with a cardboard sign from green-jersey sponsor PMU held by a spectator. Hushovd cut his right arm badly, but was able to stay in the race. Stage 1 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Jimmy Casper FRA 20px|Green jerseyCOF 2006 4h 10' 00" 2Robbie McEwen AUSOLO 2006 s.t. 3Erik Zabel GERTeam Milram s.t. 4Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 s.t. 5Luca Paolini ITALIQ 2006 s.t. 6Isaac Gálvez ESPMOV 2006 s.t. 7Stuart O'Grady AUSSAX 2006 s.t. 8Bernhard Eisel AUTFDJ 2006 s.t. 9Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 s.t. 10Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 1http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_1.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 1ère étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914123756/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_1.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1George Hincapie USA 20px|Yellow jerseyDSC 2006 4h 18' 15" 2Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 + 2" 3David Zabriskie USASAX 2006 + 6" 4Sebastian Lang GERGST 2006 s.t. 5Alejandro Valverde ESPMOV 2006 s.t. 6Stuart O'Grady AUSSAX 2006 s.t. 7Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 8" 8Paolo Savoldelli ITADSC 2006 + 10" 9Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 11" 10Benoît Vaugrenard FRA 20px|White jerseyFDJ 2006 s.t. Stage 2 3 July 2006 — Obernai to Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg), 228.5 km 1 on Stage 2 started in the small French town of Obernai and ended in Luxembourg and is the second longest of the Tour. This stage is 228.5 km/141.9 miles long with rolling terrain. It has five categorized climbs (two Category 3 and three Category 4): Col des Pandours (Category 3 at 35.5 km/22.0 miles) Col de Valsberg (Category 3 at 50.0 km/31.1 miles) Côte de Kedange-sur-Canner (Category 4 at 187.5 km/116.5 miles) Côte de Kanfen (Category 4 at 212.5 km/132.0 miles) Côte de Volmerange-les-Mines (Category 4 at 215.0 km/133.5 miles) There were three intermediate sprints in Marimont-lès-Bénestroff (at 107.0 km/66.5 miles), Holling (169.5 km/105.3 miles), and Yutz (198.5 km/123.3 miles). The stage was primarily dominated by a two-man breakaway almost at the start by David de la Fuente and Aitor Hernández. They were caught in the late climbs, and De La Fuente took over the polka dot jersey. A crash in the last 2 km mi on slowed the peloton considerably, although they were all credited with the same time as the leaders. Thor Hushovd reclaimed the yellow jersey due to sprint bonuses. Stage 2 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 5h 36' 14" 2Tom Boonen BELQST 2006 s.t. 3Thor Hushovd NOR 20px|Yellow jerseyC.A 2006 s.t. 4Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 s.t. 5Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 s.t. 6Luca Paolini ITALIQ 2006 s.t. 7Stuart O'Grady AUSSAX 2006 s.t. 8Bernhard Eisel AUTFDJ 2006 s.t. 9Erik Zabel GERTeam Milram s.t. 10Peter Wrolich AUTGST 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 2http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_2.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 2ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914105138/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_2.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Thor Hushovd NOR 20px|Yellow jerseyC.A 2006 9h 54' 19" 2Tom Boonen BELQST 2006 + 5" 3Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 + 8" 4George Hincapie USADSC 2006 + 10" 5David Zabriskie USASAX 2006 + 16" 6Sebastian Lang GERGST 2006 s.t. 7Alejandro Valverde ESPMOV 2006 s.t. 8Stuart O'Grady AUSSAX 2006 s.t. 9Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 18" 10Paolo Savoldelli ITADSC 2006 + 20" Stage 3 4 July 2006 — Esch-sur-Alzette to Valkenburg (Netherlands), 216.5 km 1 on Like stage 2, stage 3 (216.5 km/134.5 miles long) has a rolling profile with six categorized climbs and three intermediate sprints. Starting in Luxembourg the stage passes through Belgium before finishing in Valkenburg in the Netherlands, which is also the traditional site of the finish in the Amstel Gold Race cycling classic. The following are the categorized climbs: Côte de la Haute-Levée (Category 3 at 131 km/81.4 miles) Côte d'Oneux (Category 3 at 155 km/96.3 miles) Côte de Petit-Rechain (Category 4 at 165.5 km/102.8 miles) Loorberg (Category 4 at 189 km/117.4 miles) Trintelenberg (Category 4 at 201 km/124.9 miles) Cauberg (Category 3 at 215.5 km/133.9 miles) There were also three intermediate sprints in Mersch (at 35 km/21.7 miles), Spa (144 km/89.5 miles), and Aubel (176.5 km/109.7 miles). In this stage, the breakaway featured the following five riders: José Luis Arrieta, Spain, A2R 2006 Unai Extebarria, , EUS 2006 Christophe Laurent, France, Agritubel Jérôme Pineau, France, BBO 2006 Jens Voigt, Germany, SAX 2006 Jérôme Pineau concentrated mainly on finishing first in the climbs, which won him the polka dot jersey. Towards the end, most riders were expecting Jens Voigt to try to get away on his own, but he never did. Instead, Christophe Laurent twice got away, but was caught by the chasing four. Then, José Luis Arrieta got away from the others, but during the last climb of the day, the Cauberg, the peloton passed by him. The most important event of this stage was the loss of Alejandro Valverde, the leader in the ProTour, who broke his collarbone. Erik Dekker and Fred Rodriguez also crashed, and both suffered serious injuries. The Cauberg, with its top just before the red banner 1 km mi on from the finish line, was the ideal point for Matthias Kessler to get away from the peloton and take the victory. Sprinters Thor Hushovd and Robbie McEwen did not get over the Cauberg in the first part of the peloton. Therefore, Tom Boonen took the leads in both the general classification and the points classification, even though he finished fourth. Stage 3 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Matthias Kessler GERTHR 2006 4h 57' 54" 2Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 5" 3Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 s.t. 4Tom Boonen BEL 20px|Yellow jersey 20px|Green jerseyQST 2006 s.t. 5Erik Zabel GERTeam Milram s.t. 6Luca Paolini ITALIQ 2006 s.t. 7Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 s.t. 8Eddy Mazzoleni ITATHR 2006 s.t. 9Georg Totschnig AUTGST 2006 s.t. 10Fabian Wegmann GERGST 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 3http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_3.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 3ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914063012/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_3.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Tom Boonen BEL 20px|Yellow jersey 20px|Green jerseyQST 2006 14h 52' 23" 2Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 1" 3George Hincapie USADSC 2006 + 5" 4Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 + 10" 5Paolo Savoldelli ITADSC 2006 + 15" 6Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 s.t. 7Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 16" 8Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 17" 9Serhiy Honchar UKRTHR 2006 s.t. 10Matthias Kessler GERTHR 2006 s.t. Note: Daniele Bennati will be in the green jersey, as a rider cannot wear two leading jerseys at the same time. Stage 4 5 July 2006 — Huy (Belgium) to Saint-Quentin, 207 km 1 on Stage 4 was another sprinter's stage. The 207.0 km mi on long stage had only two categorized climbs, both in the first 60 km mi on. It started in Huy, Belgium and ended in Saint-Quentin in the northern part of France. The two categorized climbs were Cote de Peu d'Eau (Category 3 at 13.0 km/8.1 miles) and Cote de Falaen (Category 4, 57.5 km/35.7 miles). There were also three intermediate sprints in Beaumont (at 103.0 km/64.0 miles), Sains-du-Nord (135.5 km/84.2 miles) and Bernot (188.0 km/116.8 miles). In this stage, the breakaway took place about 20 km mi on into the stage and featured the following five riders: Cedric Coutouly, France, A2R 2006 Laurent Lefèvre, France, BBO 2006 Egoi Martínez, Spain, DSC 2006 Christophe Mengin, France, FDJ 2006 Bradley Wiggins, United Kingdom, COF 2006 The peloton slowly caught them in the late going, with the lead group breaking up at about 10 km mi on to the finish, and finally being caught within 2 km mi on of the finish line. Robbie McEwen won his second stage in a quick sprint. Just before the finish line, Julian Dean crashed in the middle of the peloton but did not take anyone else down. Thor Hushovd, who finished fourth, was disqualified for irregularities during sprinting and set back to last position of the group he finished in, which was position 148. This cost him 26 points for the green jersey which could prove vital in the end. In the top 10 of the general classification, two new names appear, Robbie McEwen because of the 20-second bonus he received for finishing first, and Egoi Martínez, who won all three intermediate sprints and so moved up 18 seconds and into fifth position. Stage 4 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 4h 59' 50" 2Isaac Gálvez ESPMOV 2006 s.t. 3Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 s.t. 4Tom Boonen BEL 20px|Yellow jerseyQST 2006 s.t. 5David Kopp GERGST 2006 s.t. 6Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 s.t. 7Francisco Ventoso ESPGEO 2006 s.t. 8Michael Albasini SUILIQ 2006 s.t. 9Bernhard Eisel AUTFDJ 2006 s.t. 10Jimmy Casper FRACOF 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 4http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_4.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 4ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914070017/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_4.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Tom Boonen BEL 20px|Yellow jerseyQST 2006 19h 52' 13" 2Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 1" 3George Hincapie USADSC 2006 + 5" 4Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 + 7" 5Egoi Martínez ESPDSC 2006 + 10" 6Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 + 12" 7Paolo Savoldelli ITADSC 2006 + 15" 8Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 s.t. 9Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 16" 10Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 17" Stage 5 6 July 2006 — Beauvais to Caen, 225 km 1 on Stage 5 is a long (225.0 km/139.8 mile) sprinters stage with four categorized climbs (all Category 4) and the usual three intermediate sprints. The stage started in Beauvais and ended in Caen in northern France (in the Normandy region). The following were the categorized climbs: Mont des Fourches (Category 4 at 10.5 km/6.5 miles) Côte du Buquet (Category 4 at 109.0 km/67.7 miles) Côte de Saint-Grégoire-du-Vièvre (Category 4 at 134.5 km/83.5 miles) Côte du Boulay (Category 4 at 159.0 km/98.8 miles). The three intermediate sprints were located in Les Andelys (at 66.5 km/41.3 miles), Saint-Georges-du-Vièvre (at 140.5 km/87.3 miles) and Pont-L'Evêque (at 175.0 km/108.7 miles). Early in this stage, eight riders tried to get away from the peloton: Stéphane Augé, France, COF 2006 Bram de Groot, Netherlands, RAB 2006 Samuel Dumoulin, France, A2R 2006 Sebastian Lang, Germany, GST 2006 Manuel Quinziato, Italy, LIQ 2006 Daniele Righi, Italy, LAM 2006 Björn Schröder, Germany, Team Milram Bram Tankink, Netherlands, QST 2006 but the peloton did not let them get away very far until Dumoulin and Schröder broke away from the group. The other six were caught and Dumoulin and Schröder were allowed to take a lead of up to 12'50" over the peloton. Meanwhile, the sprinters in the peloton did not want to sprint for the 2 points left at the three intermediate sprints, so every time Johan Van Summeren attacked just a few kilometers before every sprint to take the points. Jérôme Pineau also was very active today, as he did the same thing as Van Summeren but then on the climbs, taking points to maintain his lead in the standings for the polka dot jersey. In the end, Dumoulin and Schröder were caught about 2 kilometres from the finish line as QST 2006, OLO 2006 and C.A 2006 had driven hard to close the gap. In the sprint, surprisingly Óscar Freire popped up out of nowhere to take the stage win. Tom Boonen finished second, took 12 bonus seconds and thereby insured that he was going to be wearing the yellow jersey at least one more day. Stage 5 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 5h 18' 50" 2Tom Boonen BEL 20px|Yellow jerseyQST 2006 s.t. 3Iñaki Isasi ESPEUS 2006 s.t. 4David Kopp GERGST 2006 s.t. 5Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 s.t. 6Alessandro Ballan ITALAM 2006 s.t. 7Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 s.t. 8Francisco Ventoso ESPGEO 2006 s.t. 9Erik Zabel GERTeam Milram s.t. 10Bernhard Eisel AUTFDJ 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 5http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_5.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 5ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914042626/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_5.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Tom Boonen BEL 20px|Yellow jerseyQST 2006 25h 10' 51" 2Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 13" 3Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 + 17" 4George Hincapie USADSC 2006 s.t. 5Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 + 19" 6Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 + 24" 7Paolo Savoldelli ITADSC 2006 + 27" 8Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 28" 9Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 29" 10Serhiy Honchar UKRTHR 2006 s.t. Stage 6 7 July 2006 — Lisieux to Vitré, 189 km 1 on This somewhat shorter stage (189.0 km/117.4 miles) was also a sprinters' stage, with only one categorized climb: the Côte de la Hunière (Category 3 at 27.5 km/17.1 miles). The three intermediate sprints were located in Villedieu-lès-Bailleul (at 46.0 km/28.6 miles), Chantrigné (at 116.5 km/72.3 miles) and Juvigné (162.5 km/101.0 miles). In the beginning of the stage, many riders were trying to break away from the peloton to be part of the daily group of leaders, but in contrast to most earlier stages, it took a long time before finally a group got away from the peloton and was allowed to gain some time and distance. After the only categorized climb of the day, it's Giuseppe Guerini and David López who are just riding a few seconds in front of the peloton, followed by Jérôme Pineau, the holder of the polka dot jersey who successfully tried to enhance his lead in the king of the mountains classification. But the two leaders don't get away and at the first intermediate sprint in Villedieu-lès-Bailleul, new names pass the line first. Most important to remember is Benoît Vaugrenard winning the sprint and therefore taking 6 bonus seconds which move him past Markus Fothen in the classification for best young rider. After that a very large group of 17 riders forms who manage to ride away almost 2 minutes in front of the peloton, the most important riders in this group are — Tom Boonen, wearing the yellow jersey, Pavel Padrnos, Antonio Flecha, Axel Merckx, Thor Hushovd, Patrick Sinkewitz and Philippe Gilbert. However, the peloton does not want to let them go, mainly influenced by the teams OLO 2006 and DSC 2006. Three less important riders manage to break away from the leading group and when the peloton catches the other 14, they decide to let the three go. Those three are Anthony Geslin, Florent Brard the current French national champion, and Magnus Bäckstedt. They get caught just four kilometers before the finish line and so the sprinters can have another go at the stage victory. Robbie McEwen wins the sprint by a big margin after excellent work by his teammate Gert Steegmans. Robbie takes his third stage win in this tour and his eleventh overall. In the standings, Tom Boonen remains in yellow but is expected to lose it the next day when there is an individual time trial, Robbie McEwen enlarges the gap between him and the other sprinters in the standings for the green jersey. He will probably be wearing that jersey for another two days, just like Jérôme Pineau is not likely to lose the polka dot jersey any day soon since not many hills or mountains are to be overcome the next few days. Benoît Vaugrenard is now leader of the young rider classification, but will have to be faster than Markus Fothen and the other youngsters in the time trial as he only has a small time advantage over most opponents. Anthony Geslin wins the combativity-trophy for the day and DSC 2006 remains in the lead of the team classification. Stage 6 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 4h 10' 17" 2Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 s.t. 3Tom Boonen BEL 20px|Yellow jerseyQST 2006 s.t. 4Bernhard Eisel AUTFDJ 2006 s.t. 5Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 s.t. 6Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 s.t. 7Erik Zabel GERTeam Milram s.t. 8Luca Paolini ITALIQ 2006 s.t. 9Gert Steegmans BELOLO 2006 s.t. 10Iñaki Isasi ESPEUS 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 6http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_6.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 6ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914075034/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_6.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Tom Boonen BEL 20px|Yellow jerseyQST 2006 29h 21' 00" 2Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 + 12" 3Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 21" 4Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 + 25" 5George Hincapie USADSC 2006 s.t. 6Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 + 27" 7Paolo Savoldelli ITADSC 2006 + 35" 8Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 36" 9Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 37" 10Serhiy Honchar UKRTHR 2006 s.t Stage 7 8 July 2006 — Saint-Grégoire to Rennes, 52 km 1 on (ITT) The first time trial took place in Brittany. It was a flat stage with no major climbs. The stage was 52.0 km mi on long. Due to the doping scandal a number of riders did not start in the tour, among those riders were the biggest favorites to win the tour, Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Alexander Vinokourov. With those riders not starting, the 2006 Tour de France did not have real favorites and opinions were hugely divided over who was going to win the tour. Stage 7, an individual time trial, was going to be the first real test to see who was up to the task and who wasn't. The THR 2006 finished with 6 riders in the top 16 including Serhiy Honchar, a Ukrainian time trial specialist, taking first place in the stage. Other positive results came from Floyd Landis, who finished second and Cadel Evans the Australian climber who was placed in ninth position in the general standings. Time-trial favorite David Zabriskie finished out of the top 10 in 13th. The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team with George Hincapie, Paolo Savoldelli, Yaroslav Popovych and José Azevedo all finished lower than expected. Additionally, Levi Leipheimer finished more than 6 minutes behind Honchar. Bobby Julich crashed and injured his wrist and thigh severely before being taken away in an ambulance. Despite Leipheimer's finish, GST 2006 found success with both Sebastian Lang and Markus Fothen finishing in the top 10. This enabled Fothen to take back the leading position in the young rider classification and gives him a considerable lead over his opponents. Swede Gustav Larsson and Dutchman Joost Posthuma also achieved a top 10 finish in the time trial. Looking at the general classification after stage 7, THR 2006 has 4 riders in the top 10 which looks promising going into the mountains. However the other major contenders for the victory in this tour seem to be Floyd Landis, Cadel Evans and Denis Menchov. It is unsure what to expect exactly from Vladimir Karpets, Markus Fothen and David Zabriskie but they have possibilities left too. Paolo Savoldelli and George Hincapie are not out of it yet also, being behind respectively 2'10" and 2'30", with a few other possible contenders between them in the standings as there are Carlos Sastre, Eddy Mazzoleni and French favorite Christophe Moreau. In conclusion, the tour is still wide open since not many people expect Serhiy Honchar to hold on to the jersey until Paris. The green and polka dot jersey stay with Robbie McEwen and Jérôme Pineau respectively, while the top team is now THR 2006. Stage 7 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Serhiy Honchar UKR 20px|Yellow jerseyTHR 2006 1h 01' 43" 2Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 1' 01" 3Sebastian Lang GERGST 2006 + 1' 04" 4Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 1' 24" 5Gustav Larsson SWEFDJ 2006 + 1' 34" 6Patrik Sinkewitz GERTHR 2006 + 1' 39" 7Markus Fothen GER 20px|White jerseyGST 2006 + 1' 42" 8Andreas Klöden GERTHR 2006 + 1' 43" 9Denis Menchov RUSRAB 2006 + 1' 44" 10Joost Posthuma NEDRAB 2006 + 1' 45"General classification after stage 7http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_7.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 7ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914225806/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_7.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Serhiy Honchar UKR 20px|Yellow jerseyTHR 2006 30h 23' 20" 2Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 1' 00" 3Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 1' 08" 4Patrik Sinkewitz GERTHR 2006 + 1' 45" 5Markus Fothen GER 20px|White jerseyGST 2006 + 1' 50" 6Andreas Klöden GERTHR 2006 s.t. 7Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 1' 52" 8Cadel Evans AUSOLO 2006 s.t. 9Denis Menchov RUSRAB 2006 + 2' 00" 10David Zabriskie USASAX 2006 + 2' 03" Stage 8 9 July 2006 — Saint-Méen-le-Grand to Lorient, 181 km 1 on Stage 8 (181.0 km/112.5 miles in length) had a somewhat rolling profile, with four categorized climbs and three intermediate sprints. The weather was also a factor with the ocean winds blowing. The four climbs were as follows: Côte de Mûr-de-Bretagne (Category 3 at 75.0 km/46.6 miles) Côte de Saint-Mayeux (Category 4 at 78.5 km/48.8 miles) Côte de Gouarec (Category 4 at 94.0 km/58.4 miles) Côte de Ty Marrec (Category 4 at 138.5 km/86.0 miles) The three intermediate sprints were located in Plessala (at 38.0 km/23.6 miles), Locmalo (112.5 km/69.9 miles) and Plouay (142.0 km/88.2 miles). In Stage 8, a group of five riders formed after about 50 km mi, consisting of the following riders: Mario Aerts, Belgium, OLO 2006 Sylvain Calzati, France, A2R 2006 Kjell Carlström, , LIQ 2006 Matthias Kessler, Germany, THR 2006 David Zabriskie, United States, SAX 2006 with Patrice Halgand, France, C.A 2006 making the jump from the peloton to the leading group on his own before the gap became too big which made the final number of escapees in the breakaway group of this stage six. The peloton, mainly under influence of PHO 2006, did not let the lead grow too much, since Zabriskie and Kessler were both standing 2'03" behind the leader, or just 1'03 behind Phonak's leader, Floyd Landis. As the race progressed and the lead of the leaders was brought back from its maximum of 7'30 to about 3'30, the riders from the Phonak team stopped chasing as it was the sprinter's teams to start chasing and close the final gap. However, most teams were probably afraid of OLO 2006's Robbie McEwen as he had impressively won three sprinters' stages in this tour already, so there were no chasing riders from QST 2006 (for Tom Boonen), no riders from LAM 2006 (for Daniele Bennati) and no riders also for OLO 2006 as they already had Mario Aerts in the lead. The only team that kept chasing was FDJ 2006, because they were the least successful French team so far in the tour and the lead group featured two riders from other French teams. Meanwhile, in the lead group, Sylvain Calzati had stormed away from the other five escapees with about 30 km mi to go, only to be chased after somewhat later by Patrice Halgand and Kjell Carlström. The other three riders mainly looked at each other and did not believe they could stay out of the peloton's grip. However, the peloton would catch up with those three non-believers, but the other three were not to be caught before the finish line. Sylvain Calzati proved to be too strong for the other two as they coöperated to get back to him but never saw him again before Lorient, instead the gap only became bigger. In the end Sylvain Calzati scored his most beautiful professional victory of his career as he came over the finish line more than two minutes ahead of Carlström and Halgand, who both just ended a few seconds before the peloton. In the peloton, Robbie McEwen again won the sprint, enlarging his lead in the standings for the green jersey over the other sprinters. In the top 10 of the general standings and best young rider classification, nothing changed as all the main contenders finished together in the peloton. The polka dot jersey also remained with Jérôme Pineau. The intermediate sprints of this stage did not have any major influence on the classification for the best sprinter, but David Zabriskie, who was part of the breakaway group, took 10 bonus seconds and so moved into ninth position overall and reduced his deficit to 1'53" from the leader Serhiy Honchar. Sylvain Calzati did not only win the stage, he also came through first on top of all classified climbs of the day. He scored 4 points for de Mûr-de-Bretagne and 3 points for the three other côtes which made him end with 13 points and this moved him into fourth position in the polka dot jersey standings. Stage 8 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Sylvain Calzati FRAA2R 2006 4h 13' 18" 2Kjell Carlström FINLIQ 2006 + 2' 05" 3Patrice Halgand FRAC.A 2006 s.t. 4Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 + 2' 15" 5Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 s.t. 6Erik Zabel GERTeam Milram s.t. 7Bernhard Eisel AUTFDJ 2006 s.t. 8Luca Paolini ITALIQ 2006 s.t. 9Tom Boonen BELQST 2006 s.t. 10David Kopp GERGST 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 8http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_8.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 8ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914064335/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_8.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Serhiy Honchar UKR 20px|Yellow jerseyTHR 2006 34h 38' 53" 2Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 1' 00" 3Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 1' 08" 4Patrik Sinkewitz GERTHR 2006 + 1' 45" 5Markus Fothen GER 20px|White jerseyGST 2006 + 1' 50" 6Andreas Klöden GERTHR 2006 s.t. 7Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 1' 52" 8Cadel Evans AUSOLO 2006 s.t. 9David Zabriskie USASAX 2006 + 1' 53" 10Denis Menchov RUSRAB 2006 + 2' 00" Rest Day 10 July 2006 — Bordeaux All the riders had flown from Lorient to Bordeaux on the evening of July 9 and now spent their rest day in Bordeaux or some place nearby. Important news on this day came from Floyd Landis, as he announced that he seriously injured his hip, during training in 2003, which still hinders him while riding due to a bad position on the bike and also causes sleeping problems. He has decided to undergo surgery to receive an artificial hip after the Tour which would hopefully relieve him of these problems. However this also means that it is very well possible that he will never be able to ride at a professional level again. As a conclusion he mentions this is an extra motivation for him to try to win this Tour. Floyd's teammate Axel Merckx on this day signed a new contract with PHO 2006 for one extra season. Merckx, who is now 33 years old, announced that the 2007 season will be his last season, as he wants to spend a lot more time with his family thereafter. The Phonak team will be called iShares next season. Stage 9 11 July 2006 — Bordeaux to Dax, 169.5 km 1 on The peloton got a completely flat stage today, which was also relatively short (169.5 km/105.3 miles in length). This stage looked to be one of the last chances for the sprinters as the next day they were moving into the Pyrenees. The peloton did not have to pass by any categorized climbs during this stage but instead there were three intermediate sprints which were located at Le Barp (at 25.5 km/15.8 miles), Parentis-en-Born (72 km/44.7 miles) and Saint-Girons (128.0 km/79.5 miles). Like many of the preceding stages, an early break away was allowed to escape, but kept within reach of the sprinter teams. In this stage, the break away consisted of Christian Knees (Team Milram) who initiated the break away, and Walter Bénéteau (BBO 2006) and Stéphane Augé (COF 2006) who joined soon after. The break away was eliminated with four kilometers to go, and so was an attack from Stuart O'Grady (SAX 2006) two kilometers later. The final sprint was won by Óscar Freire (RAB 2006), after an impressive manoeuvre by Robbie McEwen (OLO 2006). Important detail at the finish line was that many riders lost a few seconds because the peloton broke into groups during the sprint. Important riders who lost 13" — Matthias Kessler, Denis Menchov and Markus Fothen. Stage 9 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Óscar Freire ESPRAB 2006 3h 35' 24" 2Robbie McEwen AUS 20px|Green jerseyOLO 2006 s.t. 3Erik Zabel GERTeam Milram s.t. 4Tom Boonen BELQST 2006 s.t. 5Cristian Moreni ITACOF 2006 s.t. 6Isaac Gálvez ESPMOV 2006 s.t. 7Francisco Ventoso ESPGEO 2006 s.t. 8Luca Paolini ITALIQ 2006 s.t. 9David Kopp GERGST 2006 s.t. 10Thor Hushovd NORC.A 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 9http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_9.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 9ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110915014214/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_9.php 15 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Serhiy Honchar UKR 20px|Yellow jerseyTHR 2006 38h 14' 17" 2Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 1' 00" 3Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 1' 08" 4Patrik Sinkewitz GERTHR 2006 + 1' 45" 5Andreas Klöden GERTHR 2006 + 1' 50" 6Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 1' 52" 7Cadel Evans AUSOLO 2006 s.t. 8David Zabriskie USASAX 2006 + 1' 53" 9Markus Fothen GER 20px|White jerseyGST 2006 + 2' 03" 10Christophe Moreau FRAA2R 2006 + 2' 07" Stage 10 12 July 2006 — Cambo-les-Bains to Pau, 190.5 km 1 on Stage 10 (190.5 km/118.3 miles) enters the Pyrenees and is the first mountain stage. It is considered an in-between stage, as it features two major mountains, but the finish line lies more than 40 kilometres beyond the last climb of the day. Expected is that the winner of the stage will not be a climber, maybe even a sprinter. It has three categorized climbs: Col d'Osquich (Category 3 at 50 km/31.1 miles) Col du Soudet (Hors catégorie (highest level) at 101.5 km/63.0 miles) Col de Marie Blanque (Category 1 at 148 km/91.9 miles) Being a mountain stage, it has only two intermediate sprints instead of the regular three: at Larceveau (at 37.5 km/23.3 miles) and Laguinge (at 74.5 km/46.3 miles) During the first 40 kilometres, no riders managed to get away from the peloton. At the sprint in Larceveau a few riders sprinted for the points and that group grew to 15 riders who were allowed to break away from the peloton: Daniele Bennati, Italy, LAM 2006 Carlos Da Cruz, France, FDJ 2006 Cyril Dessel, France, A2R 2006 Thor Hushovd, , C.A 2006 Iñaki Isasi, Spain, EUS 2006 Iñigo Landaluze, Spain, EUS 2006 Juan Miguel Mercado, Spain, Agritubel Cristian Moreni, Italy, COF 2006 Joost Posthuma, Netherlands, RAB 2006 Manuel Quinziato, Italy, LIQ 2006 Christophe Rinero, Italy, GEO 2006 Mathieu Sprick, France, BBO 2006 Gert Steegmans, Belgium, OLO 2006 Cédric Vasseur, France, QST 2006 Jens Voigt, Germany, SAX 2006 Hushovd and Steegmans dropped on the Col d'Osquich, then the rest of the group got split into lots of different smaller groups during the climb of the Col de Soudet with Cyril Dessel and Juan Miguel Mercado passing the top of the climb first. During the descent Landaluze, Rinero, Isasi, Vasseur and Moreni managed to return. The peloton was about 10 minutes behind at that time, as THR 2006 had decided they were not going to defend their yellow jersey and leave the work for the next stages for some other team. During the climb of the Col de Marie-Blanque, Dessel and Mercado again proved to be the strongest with Dessel coming through first as he had done on the two earlier climbs already: the polka dot jersey was his. Landaluze came closest to coming back as he was about 50 meters behind at some point during the descent, but the two leaders worked together not to let that happen. However, about 15 kilometres before the finish line, Mercado was hoping to make a deal with Dessel: since Dessel was going to be winning the yellow and polka dot jersey, he was hoping to be getting the stage win from Dessel in return for helping him. However Dessel wanted it all, so Mercado stopped helping and Dessel had to maintain the lead by himself to prevent Landaluze from coming back. In the end, Mercado sprinted past Dessel about 300 metres from the finish and won the stage. Landaluze finished third about a minute behind. Moreni, Rinero, Isasi and Vasseur also managed to stay in front of the pelont, the others were caught. Sprinters Erik Zabel and Daniele Bennati were able to stay in the peloton and therefore they took points in the competition for the green jersey as they sprinted for the eighth place behind the seven of fifteen escaped riders that were not caught. Bennati won the sprint and finished 7'23" behind Mercado and Dessel. As a result of this stage, Cyril Dessel is now holding the yellow and polka dot jersey, Robbie McEwen is still in green and Markus Fothen is still in white. The lead team is now A2R 2006. Other important facts: Iban Mayo, the Basque climber, one of the riders expected to show something in the mountain stages, was one of the first to drop from the peloton and it is unsure what he is still capable of this tour. Michael Rasmussen is an odds-on favorite to be showing something during the next stage as he demonstrated his interest for the polka dot jersey by sprinting away from the peloton to get the last remaining points on the Col de Marie-Blanque. The tour lost two riders today, Laurent Brochard did not start and Jimmy Engoulvent gave up during the race. Stage 10 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Juan Miguel Mercado ESPAgritubel 4h 49' 10" 2Cyril Dessel FRA 20px|Yellow jersey polkadot Mountains classification White jersey with red polka dots jerseyA2R 2006 s.t. 3Iñigo Landaluze ESPEUS 2006 + 56" 4Cristian Moreni ITACOF 2006 + 2' 24" 5Christophe Rinero FRAGEO 2006 + 2' 25" 6Iñaki Isasi ESPEUS 2006 + 5' 03" 7Cédric Vasseur FRAQST 2006 + 5' 35" 8Daniele Bennati ITALAM 2006 + 7' 23" 9Erik Zabel GERTeam Milram s.t. 10Stefano Garzelli ITALIQ 2006 s.t.General classification after stage 10http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_10.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 10ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110914051850/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_10.php 14 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Cyril Dessel FRA 20px|Yellow jersey polkadot Mountains classification White jersey with red polka dots jerseyA2R 200643h 07' 05" 2Juan Miguel Mercado ESPAgritubel + 2' 34" 3Serhiy Honchar UKRTHR 2006 + 3' 45" 4Cristian Moreni ITACOF 2006 + 3' 51" 5Floyd Landis USAPHO 2006 + 4' 45" 6Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 4' 53" 7Iñigo Landaluze ESPEUS 2006 + 5' 22" 8Patrik Sinkewitz GERTHR 2006 + 5' 30" 9Andreas Klöden GERTHR 2006 + 5' 35" 10Vladimir Karpets RUSMOV 2006 + 5' 37" Note: Juan Miguel Mercado got to wear the polka dot jersey, as a rider cannot wear two leading jerseys at the same time. Stage 11 13 July 2006 — Tarbes to Val d'Aran, Pla-de-Beret (Spain), 206.5 km 1 on right|thumb|300px|Dessel signs in and puts on his special double jersey at Tarbes in the 2006 Tour de France. Note: it was just a stunt from the sponsor. He was not allowed to wear it during the actual Stage where he had to wear the regular yellow jerseyStage 11 is a mountain stage with five categorized climbs: the Col du Tourmalet (Hors catégorie) with an ascent of 7.7% over 18.4 km, the Col d'Aspin (Category 1) with an ascent of 5.2% over 12.3 km, the Col de Peyresourde (Category 1) with an ascent of 7.1% over 9.5 km, the Col du Portillon (Category 1) with an ascent of 8.4% over 7.9 km, and the Pla-de-Beret (Category 1 in Spain) with an ascent of 5.4% over 13.5 km. It begins at Tarbes at 325 m and ends at Val d'Aran at 1830 m. In contrast to the previous stage, many fewer riders were interested in joining an early breakaway group as the stage featured over 60 kilometers of climbing. 17.5 kilometres into the stage, at the first sprint, there were still no riders who had escaped and so Robbie McEwen saw the possibility of going for it. He succeeded, but mainly because the other sprinters did not even challenge him; this means that they have probably given up for the points classification. It seems now that McEwen just needs to make it to Paris to win that green jersey. Not much later, four riders did get away from the peloton. They included three Spaniards: Iker Camaño from EUS 2006, David de la Fuente from GEO 2006 and Juan Antonio Flecha from RAB 2006. They left, together with Fabian Wegmann, the German from GST 2006. All this happened before the first climb of the day, the Col du Tourmalet. On the Tourmalet, Wegmann and de la Fuente looked to be somewhat stronger than their two companions as they both sprinted to finish first on the top. De la Fuente won the sprint and so took the most points for the polka dot jersey, but also he won the Souvenir Jacques Goddet for coming through first on the top of the highest climb in the Pyrenees of this Tour which rendered him 5000 Euros. In the peloton, the team of A2R 2006 maintained the tempo to keep the leaders within reasonable distance and thus protect their yellow jersey. Thomas Voeckler won the sprint against Michael Rasmussen for the remaining points on top of the Tourmalet and he kept going. Although the leaders were about 4 minutes ahead at that time, he thought it would be useful to go after them on his own. At first, his plan appeared to be correct, as he closed the gap during the descent and managed to climb faster than the leaders on the Col d'Aspin. Halfway up the Aspin he was only 2'30" behind, on top of the Aspin only 1'30". The four leaders stayed together on the Aspin, with now Wegmann sprinting faster than de la Fuente at the top. In the peloton, Rasmussen again took the points, but nothing more happened. right|thumb|150px|Stage 11 preparations at the 2006 Tour de FranceDuring the climb of the Col de Peyresourde, Wegmann suddenly attacked and de la Fuente easily followed and beat him at the top for the points. Flecha had tried to follow them but came through more than 2 minutes behind at the top. Camano and Voeckler, whose plan had not been so smart after all, had used up most of their strengths and had been overtaken by the peloton before the top, who were 3 minutes behind at the top with yet again Rasmussen taking the points. Flecha was caught in the descent and on the Col du Portillon Wegmann was also caught; he had not been able to counter an attack from de la Fuente. On the Portillon something happened in the peloton also, because now suddenly it were the riders from THR 2006 who took over from the guys from AG2R Prévoyance and pumped up the pace. As a result, the peloton grew thinner and thinner, until only 19 riders remained: David Arroyo, Spain, MOV 2006, José Azevedo, Portugal, DSC 2006, Michael Boogerd, Netherlands, RAB 2006, Damiano Cunego, Italy, LAM 2006, Cadel Evans, Australia, OLO 2006, Markus Fothen, Germany, GST 2006, Andreas Klöden, Germany, THR 2006, Floyd Landis, United States, PHO 2006, Levi Leipheimer, United States, GST 2006, Denis Menchov, Russia, RAB 2006, Christophe Moreau, France, A2R 2006, Iván Parra, , COF 2006, Michael Rasmussen, , RAB 2006, Michael Rogers, Australia, THR 2006, Carlos Sastre, Spain, SAX 2006, Fränk Schleck, , SAX 2006, Gilberto Simoni, Italy, GEO 2006, Georg Totschnig, , GST 2006 and Haimar Zubeldia, Spain, EUS 2006. Cyril Dessel, the holder of the yellow jersey, was already about 2 minutes behind at that time. In the valley that came between the Col du Portillon and Pla-de-Beret, Arroyo and Cunego broke away from that elite group and closed the gap to de la Fuente, but they were all caught even before the climb towards Pla-de-Beret. On the last climb it was due to some extraordinary work by Michael Boogerd that the group kept getting smaller and smaller, with only five riders remaining in the end: Cadel Evans, Australia, OLO 2006, Floyd Landis, United States, PHO 2006, Levi Leipheimer, United States, GST 2006, Denis Menchov, Russia, RAB 2006 and Carlos Sastre, Spain, SAX 2006. Evans and Sastre had to give in at the end and finished only 17 seconds behind the other three who sprinted for the victory at the top. Menchov outsprinted both Americans and won the stage, the third stage victory already for RAB 2006 during this Tour. In the General Classification, Floyd Landis became the leader and thus holder of the yellow jersey, as Cyril Dessel finished 4'45" behind, the exact time he was in front of Landis before the stage—but since Landis finished third, he won 8 bonus seconds and so he moved into the lead with an eight-second advantage. Looking at the "lesser climbers", 37 riders just managed to avoid being disqualified for finishing late, as a group of 36 came in 44'20" behind Denis Menchov and Christophe Mengin even managed to finish 46'13" behind. The time limit was about 46'30". Amongst this group were sprinters Robbie McEwen, Thor Hushovd and Óscar Freire. Tom Boonen would have been delighted to see them finish late as he was in an earlier group. Being on time however, Robbie McEwen remains the leader of the points classification. Cyril Dessel not only lost his yellow jersey; he also lost the polka dot jersey, which went to David de la Fuente—who also got the combativity award for the day. Of the youngsters, only Markus Fothen was able to keep up with the pace during the day, he now has a big lead of exactly twelve minutes over the number two in the young rider classification and almost half an hour or more over all the other youngsters in this tour. Other news in this stage: DSC 2006 completely broke down today, with their four best riders completely failing. José Azevedo was behind 4'10", Yaroslav Popovych 6'25", George Hincapie 21'23" and Paolo Savoldelli 23'04". A lot was expected from Andreas Klöden as his THR 2006 took the lead and determined the pace during the Col du Portillon. However he did not compete for the stage win and had to give in 1'31", a bit disappointing. This loss is small and leaves him sixth in the general classification, still with possibilities. T-Mobile also takes back the lead in the team classification and has led of 46 seconds over GST 2006. Iban Mayo, struggling the day before already, had trouble getting up the climbs from the first few meters yet again. He was also extremely annoyed by the cameraman following him and filming his struggle, as that cameraman knew Mayo was probably going to give up and was waiting for him to do so. In the end Mayo was fined for 200 Swiss Francs for incorrect behaviour in front of the camera. He abandoned when the cameraman stopped following him. Other quitters on this day were Giovanni Lombardi and Wilfried Cretskens. Sébastien Joly, who had been the last man in the standings for a while before this stage, managed to pass Wim Vansevenant who is now the new lanterne rouge. Stage 11 result Rank Rider Team Time 1Denis Menchov RUSRAB 2006 6h 06' 25" 2Levi Leipheimer USAGST 2006 s.t. 3Floyd Landis USA 20px|Yellow jerseyPHO 2006 s.t. 4Cadel Evans AUSOLO 2006 + 17" 5Carlos Sastre ESPSAX 2006 + 17" 6Michael Boogerd NEDRAB 2006 + 1' 04" 7Haimar Zubeldia ESPEUS 2006 + 1' 31" 8Fränk Schleck LUXSAX 2006 + 1' 31" 9Andreas Klöden GERTHR 2006 + 1' 31" 10Christophe Moreau FRAA2R 2006 + 2' 29"General Classification After Stage 11http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_11.php 93ème Tour de France 2006 - 11ème étape Memoire du cyclisme https://web.archive.org/web/20110915031124/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_2006/tdf2006_11.php 15 September 2011 Rank Rider Team Time 1Floyd Landis USA 20px|Yellow jerseyPHO 2006 49h 18' 07" 2Cyril Dessel FRAA2R 2006 + 8" 3Denis Menchov RUSRAB 2006 + 1' 01" 4Cadel Evans AUSOLO 2006 + 1' 17" 5Carlos Sastre ESPSAX 2006 + 1' 52" 6Andreas Klöden GERTHR 2006 + 2' 29" 7Michael Rogers AUSTHR 2006 + 3' 22" 8Juan Miguel Mercado ESPAgritubel + 3' 33" 9Christophe Moreau FRAA2R 2006 + 3' 44" 10Markus Fothen GER 20px|White jerseyGST 2006 + 4' 17" References 30em 2006 Tour de France P 11 12 20 , Prologue To Stage 11, 2006 Tour De France Category:Tour de France stages