The 2006

Eneco Tour The Benelux Tour (previously known as the Eneco Tour and the BinckBank Tour) is a road bicycle racing stage-race that is part of the UCI World Tour. The race was established in 2005 and was originally known as the Eneco Tour, named after the orig ...

road cycling race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most commo ...

took place from 16 to 23 August, two weeks later in the season than the year before. The second edition of the Eneco Tour covered parts of the

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Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. As in

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, 23 teams took part in the race. Next to the 20 UCI ProTour teams, , and received wild card entries. The race itself was very close, as both the prologue (6 km) and timetrial (16 km) were quite short which led to small time differences. A dramatic conclusion on the last day rendered

Stefan Schumacher Stefan Schumacher (born 21 July 1981) is a German former professional road racing cyclist. Schumacher won the bronze medal in the road race at the 2007 UCI Road World Championships, two stages in the 2006 Giro d'Italia and two stages in the 200 ...

the victory over

George Hincapie George Anthony Hincapie (born June 29, 1973) is an American former racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 1994 and 2012. Hincapie was a key domestique of Lance Armstrong. Hincapie was also a domestique for Alberto Contador in 2007 an ...

, with just one second of advantage. Other riders who stood out during this race were the Belgians

Tom Boonen Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in ...

and

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three ...

, who both won in their home region. Other wins came from

Manuel Quinziato Manuel Quinziato (born 30 October 1979 in Bolzano) is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2017 for the , , and squads. Major results ;1997 : 3rd Team pursuit, UCI Junior Track Cycling World Cham ...

and David Kopp.

Schedule

Stages

16-08-2006: Den Helder, 6.1 km. (ITT)

17-08-2006: Wieringerwerf-Hoogeveen, 176.9 km.

18-08-2006: 's-Hertogenbosch-Sittard Geleen, 194.6 km.

19-08-2006: Beek-Westmalle, 185 km.

20-08-2006: Landgraaf, 16.1 km. (ITT)

21-08-2006: Hasselt-Balen, 183.1 km.

22-08-2006: Bornem-Sint Truiden, 213.9 km.

23-08-2006: Ans-Ans, 201.2 km.

In the last final meters, Stefan Schumacher got hit by an arm from a supporter and as a result made an awkward move away from the supporters to the middle of the road, which resulted in George Hincapie falling down. Before the move it looked like Schumacher was going to become second and Hincapie third, which would make Hincapie the winner with an advantage of 1 second. Since Hincapie crashed he did not take any bonus seconds for ending in the top three and because Schumacher managed to restart his sprint and end third he took 4 bonus seconds and so won by 1 second. The jury took about twenty minutes deciding if Schumacher should be removed to the back of the peloton but in the end they concluded that Schumacher did not make the move on purpose and thus Schumacher won the Eneco Tour 2006. Some reactions: *

Dirk Demol Dirk Demol (born 4 November 1959) is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist and a cycling team manager. He is currently assistant sports director of . As a rider, he specialized in the spring classics, having himself won the 1988 editio ...

, sports director of

Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team was a United States-based professional road bicycle racing team. On June 15, 2004, the Discovery Channel signed a deal to become sponsor of the team for the 2004–2007 seasons and its name changed to Disc ...

: "If you look at the replay, you can clearly see that George Hincapie was surely going to end in second or third place. Even if he was going to be beaten by Schumacher in the sprint and end third, he would still be first in the overall standings. Surely we will issue a complaint." *

: "I'm not happy right now, it's a shame it has to end this way. For my career it's a big step, because it's my biggest win so far, but still I'm not happy right now. *

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n jury president Bruno Valcic: "It was a tough decision for us, but Schumacher clearly got hit by a supporter and surely did not bring George Hincapie down on purpose."

General classification

The leader of the

general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...

(ENECO ''Energie leiderstrui'') wears a red jersey.

KOM Classification

There was no King Of the Mountains jersey this year. Instead, during some of the climbs bonus seconds were handed out in stages 6 and 7.

Points Classification

The leader of the points classification (Lotto ''Puntenklassement'') wears a white jersey.

Best Young Rider

The leader of the Best Young Rider Classification (Topsport ''Vlaanderen jongerenklassement'') wears a yellow jersey.

Best Team

Jersey progress

UCI ProTour Points

The Eneco Tour 2006 is part of the

UCI ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, e ...

and so the riders can earn UCI ProTour Points. Below is states which riders won points and where. Because the Eneco Tour 2006 is a smaller stage race the points given are 3, 2 and 1 for the first three in each stage result. At the end of the tour, the top 10 in the standings receive points accorded as follows: 50, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 and 2.

External links

Race websiteEneco Tour 2006
on cyclingnews.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Eneco Tour, 2006 2006 UCI ProTour

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Eneco Eneco, the trading name of Eneco Groep N.V., is a producer and suppliers of natural gas, electricity and heat in the Netherlands, serving more than 2 million business and residential customers. Eneco headquarters are located in Rotterdam. It ...

2006 in Dutch sport

2006 Eneco Tour The 2006 Eneco Tour road cycling race took place from 16 to 23 August, two weeks later in the season than the year before. The second edition of the Eneco Tour covered parts of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. As in 2005, 23 teams took part in ...