Sunday, September 17, 2006
La Vuelta final
Final standings of some of our previous Tour de France Lanternes Rouges in the 2006 Vuelta a Espana:
- Leonardo Piepoli, Italian on Saunier Duval, 13th GC, 17th overall (no, I'm not sure of the distinction between the two, other than one is on points and one on aggregate time), 25th sprinter points, 27th climber.
- Sébastien Joly, Frenchman on Francaise de Jeux, 68th overall, 72nd sprinter points.
- Magnus Backstedt, Swede on Liquigas, 111th overall, 57th sprinter points.
- Kjell Carlstom, the Finn on Liquigas who finished the '06 Tour near the bottom of the GC but was never Lanterne Rouge, finished La Vuelta in 120th place in the G.C. and 84th place in sprinter points.
- Danilo DiLuca, Italian on Liquigas, withdrew on stage 18.
- Steve Zampieri, Swiss on Phonak, withdrew on stage 6.
Just for the record, the rider who finished the 2006 Vuelta officially with the most time in the saddle (the Vuelta Lanterne Rouge equivalent) was Cyril Lemoine, a Frenchman on the Credit Agricole team, who finished the course within the limits but 3 hours and 23 minutes longer than the grand tour winner.
