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. == Teams and riders == In addition to the 20 UCI ProTour teams, Relax–GAM have received a wild card. == Route == Mountain stages with asterisk end on the top of the climb. == Race overview == == Jersey progress == 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) === === 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 === 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. === 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. === Teams classification === == External links == La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French) cyclingnews.com