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On 2 May Quick-Step announced their roster to take part in the first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d'Italia. [4] The team was built around Paolo Bettini who would be there for the sprints and Juan Manuel Gárate who was the current Spanish road champion. Robbie McEwen and Alessandro Petacchi were considered the favorites for the cyclamen colored Points classification.[5] Stage 1 was a 6km time-trial where Remmert Wielinga placed the best for the team finishing 27s down on winner Paolo Savoldelli. [6] Stage 2 provided the first opportunity for the team, being a flat stage most of the riders reached 1km to go together. Olaf Pollack launched his sprint first with McEwen jumping past him through the line, Bettini was able to beat Petacchi to take third.[7] Bettini was considered a favorite for Stage 3 as it had a punchy finish. With 3km to go Bettini was up there with other favorites Davide Rebellin and Philippe Gilbert. With 1300m to go Stefan Schumacher attacked and was never caught, 6s down the road Bettini sprinted to take fourth. Petacchi, the rival of Bettini, pulled out of the stage with a broken knee-cap. [8] Coming into Hotton Bettini took second in the sprint behind McEwen to move him up to second on the points classification on the same total points as McEwen.[9] Stage 5 was a Team time trial, the team finished 1 minute down on stage winners Team CSC.[10] With McEwen winning Stage 6, Bettini now had a 25 point deficit to catch up. Stage 7 allowed Bettini to gain four points in the points classification. Gárate managed to get 14th in the stage moving him to 15th Overall behind current leader Serhiy Honchar.[11] Stage 8 came with the next opportunity for the team with a sprint finished expected. Unfortunately bad timing by Bettini meant when he celebrated winning the stage, Tomas Vaitkus was able to pip him on the line and steal the stage from his hands. Although he didn't win he was now within 6points of McEwen in the points classification.[12] It wasn't until Stage 11 where Bettini was able to close the lead to McEwen to only 3 points.[13] With McEwen being a non-starter in Stage 12 Bettini moved into the Purple jersey as Leader of the Points classification he held a lead of 7 points to Paolo Savoldelli.[14] As stage 14 approached the pressure was on Bettini to take a win while in purple. The team controlled the peloton the whole race, in the final 10km they set the pace so high that no riders could attack. This allowed them to position Bettini in the perfect position to win the stage and solidify his lead in the Purple jersey.[15] Stage 16 brought some disappointment to the team with Race leader Ivan Basso taking the lead of the points classification off Bettini by 2 points. A breakaway won Stage 17 but Bettini led the peloton home in 6th placing him back in the Purple jersey.[16] Gárate was in the main breakaway of the day. The breakaway had 2'30" on Basso with 3km to go. With 1km to go Garate spoke to fellow companion Jens Voigt, when it came to the final few meters Garate went up the road pointed to Voigt and thanked Voigt for not contesting the stage. Being in the breakaway on the mountain stage allowed Garate to move up to third in the Mountain classification. He also moved up to 8th Overall.[17] The penultimate stage of the Giro was a mountainous stage won by Basso with Garate moving up to 7th Overall and first on the Mountain classification. Bettini was relegated to second place in the Points classification with Basso holding a lead of 11 points going into the final stage.[18] With the Team holding one jersey going into the final stage, they wanted Bettini to also take the Points. Bettini managed a fourth on the stage to take his second Points classification win in the Giro d'Italia.[19]
The 2006 Tour de France started just as the Operación Puerto doping case was in full swing. This meant that throughout the tour many riders were under the scrutiny of the media. None of the Quickstep team were under investigation.[20] The race started with a 7.1km individual time-trial where Thor Hushovd became the first to wear yellow. With Tom Boonen finishing in 12th position 11s down.[21]Stage 1 provided the first opportunity for Boonen to go for a stage win, sadly as the world champion all eyes were upon him and best he could achieve was 13th. Stage 2 was a much better day for Boonen finishing second behind Robbie McEwen, this effort also moved hi into second in both the Overall and points classifications.[22] Stage 3 had an undulating route and many of the sprinters got dropped except for Boonen. This meant when he crossed the line in 4th, although 5s behind the leader he gained enough points to take the Green jersey and enough time to wear the Yellow leaders jersey.[23] Boonen's first day in Yellow was another sprint stage and an opportunity to increase his lead. Unfortunately he only managed 5th with McEwen taking back the Green jersey and the stage.[24] Boonen's second day in Yellow consisted of a second place in a bunch sprint behind Óscar Freire this moved him once again into second place in the points standings.[25] Third for Boonen in Stage 6 kept him in second behind McEwen in the points classification.[26] The first time-trial of the tour arrived on Stage 7 unfortunately Boonen finished 39th on the Stage losing the lead of the tour and dropping to 21st Overall. [27] Stages 8 and 9 were the last sprint stages before the hills began, 8 was won by a breakaway with Boonen taking 8th[28] and 9 with Boonen pipping another 4th.[29] With the first hilly stages next to come the team placed Cédric Vasseur in the break of the day. While out in front fellow breakaway riders Juan Miguel Mercado and Cyril Dessel attacked forcing Vasseur and other riders to chase. By the time they had caught the duo out in the front they were on the final hill and could only sit on and try to limit their losses.[30] An undulating route on Stage 12 allowed the stage to be contested by a breakaway of 4 riders with Boonen leading the peloton home 4 and a half minutes down.[31] Unfortunately on Stage 15 Tom Boonen struggled throughout the Stage losing contact with the "Grupetto" and eventually abandoning during the feed zone.[32] Stage 18 brought the next sign of hope for the team with Matteo Tosatto joining a rather large breakaway of 15 riders. They stayed together until 18 kilometers to go when the riders were constantly attacking each other and eventually the break split up with Tosatto being joined out the front by Cristian Moreni and Ronny Scholz. With 200m to go Tosatto launched his sprint and brought the team a Stage win in what had been a disappointing Tour so far.[33] The Tour concluded in Paris with Filippo Pozzato taking 14th and Juan Manuel Gárate being the best placed rider overall at 71st.[34][35]
Sergio Henao (COL)
Michał Kwiatkowski (POL)
Gianni Moscon (ITA)
Servais Knaven (NED)
Qatar
France
Johan Museeuw (BEL)
Aurélien Clerc (SUI)
Michael Rogers (AUS)
Germany
Pedro Horrillo (ESP)
Austria
Denmark
László Bodrogi (HUN)
Canada
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Vuelta a España
Giro d'Italia
Paris–Nice
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Tirreno–Adriatico
Volta a Catalunya