2006 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race

The 2006 edition of the men's UCI Road World Championships Road Race took place on September 24, 2006, in the Austrian city of Salzburg. Reigning Olympic champion and Italian Paolo Bettini captured the gold medal and the rainbow jersey as the 2006 World Cycling Champion. The 36-year-old German sprinter Erik Zabel took the silver medal and UCI ProTour winner Alejandro Valverde of Spain captured third place for the bronze medal. A total of 136 cyclists actually finished the race, with Slovakia's Roman Broniš in last place (+ 13'38").

Selected riders
Based on the results of the riders in the UCI ProTour and UCI Continental Circuits in 2006, all nations have received a number of riders they can send to the championships. The number of allowed riders is different for each continent:
 * Qualified Nations by the UCI Protour: Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain and Switzerland get 9 starters. Canada, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania and Luxembourg get 1 starter.
 * Qualified Nations by the UCI Africa Tour: South Africa gets 6 starters. Burkina Faso gets 3 starters.
 * Qualified Nations by the UCI America Tour: Brazil and Colombia get 6 starters. Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela get 3 starters. Costa Rica and Cuba get 1 starter.
 * Qualified Nations by the UCI Asia Tour: Iran gets 6 starters. Kazakhstan and Japan get 3 starters.
 * Qualified Nations by the UCI European Tour: Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Ukraine get 6 starters. Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Great Britain, Ireland, Latvia and Norway get 3 starters. Sweden gets 1 starter. Note: Because Austria is the host nation, they are given 3 extra starters to give them 6 riders in total.
 * Qualified Nations by the UCI Oceania Tour: New Zealand gets 3 starters.

All nations are allowed to select reserves too, 5 reserves for nations with 9 riders, 3 reserves for nations with 6 riders, 2 reserves for nations with 3 riders and 1 reserve for nations with 1 rider.

Australia
On September 14, the selection was released:
 * Cadel Evans,
 * Nick Gates,
 * Simon Gerrans,
 * Mathew Hayman,
 * Robbie McEwen,
 * Bradley McGee,
 * Stuart O'Grady,
 * Michael Rogers,
 * Matthew White,

Belgium
National Coach: Carlo Bomans

On September 11, the selection was released:
 * Serge Baguet,
 * Tom Boonen,
 * Stijn Devolder,
 * Philippe Gilbert,
 * Leif Hoste,
 * Kevin Hulsmans,
 * Nick Nuyens,
 * Jurgen Van Goolen,
 * Johan Vansummeren, Vansummeren was replaced by Thierry Marichal from, because he severely injured his shoulder in a crash on training just days before the event.

Also 5 reserves were appointed:
 * Björn Leukemans,
 * Thierry Marichal,
 * Kevin van Impe,
 * Geert Verheyen,
 * Frederik Willems,

France
Selection released on September 12:
 * Sylvain Calzati,
 * Sylvain Chavanel,
 * Cyril Dessel,
 * Samuel Dumoulin,
 * Anthony Geslin,
 * Sébastien Hinault,
 * Sébastien Joly,
 * Christophe Le Mével,
 * Thomas Voeckler,

Germany
On September 11, the first selection was released, but since then many things have changed. Matthias Kessler and Jens Voigt have refused their selection as they claim to be "too tired after a long tiring season". Andreas Klöden has declared he only wants to ride in the Time Trial World Championships 2006.

Current Selection:
 * Linus Gerdemann,
 * Christian Knees,
 * Ronny Scholz,
 * Stephan Schreck,
 * Stefan Schumacher,
 * Marcel Sieberg, Team Wiesenhof
 * Patrik Sinkewitz,
 * Fabian Wegmann,
 * Erik Zabel,

Italy
National coach Franco Ballerini selected the following riders:


 * Alessandro Ballan,
 * Paolo Bettini,
 * Marzio Bruseghin,
 * Danilo Di Luca,
 * Rinaldo Nocentini,
 * Luca Paolini,
 * Filippo Pozzato,
 * Davide Rebellin,
 * Matteo Tosatto,

Netherlands
National coach Egon van Kessel selected the following riders:
 * Michael Boogerd,
 * Jan Boven,
 * Bram de Groot,
 * Karsten Kroon,
 * Gerben Löwik,
 * Joost Posthuma,
 * Bram Tankink,
 * Maarten Tjallingii,
 * Max van Heeswijk,

Russia

 * Alexander Arekeev,
 * Alexandre Bazhenov, Naturino–Sapore di Mare
 * Alexander Bocharov,
 * Alexander Efimkin,
 * Vladimir Efimkin,
 * Vladimir Gusev,
 * Vladimir Karpets,
 * Alexandr Kolobnev,
 * Alexei Markov,

Spain

 * Íñigo Cuesta,
 * Juan Antonio Flecha,
 * Xavier Florencio,
 * Luis Pérez Rodríguez,
 * Joaquim Rodríguez,
 * Samuel Sánchez,
 * Alejandro Valverde,
 * Francisco Ventoso,
 * Carlos Sastre,

Switzerland
Selection released on September 14:
 * Michael Albasini,
 * Fabian Cancellara,
 * Aurélien Clerc,
 * Martin Elmiger,
 * David Loosli,
 * Grégory Rast,
 * Steffen Wesemann,
 * Oliver Zaugg,
 * Beat Zberg,

United States

 * Chris Baldwin,
 * Tyler Farrar,
 * Chris Horner,
 * Jason McCartney,
 * Danny Pate,
 * Fred Rodriguez,
 * Jackson Stewart, Kodakgallery.com–Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling
 * Guido Trenti,
 * Christian Vande Velde,

Austria
The home nation was represented by:
 * Bernhard Eisel,
 * René Haselbacher,
 * Bernhard Kohl,
 * Christian Pfannberger,
 * Georg Totschnig,
 * Peter Wrolich,

Brazil

 * Murilo Fischer, Naturino–Sapore di Mare
 * Soelito Gohr, Scott–Marcondes Cesar–São José dos Campos
 * Márcio May, Scott/Marcondes
 * Pedro Nicacio, Scott–Marcondes Cesar–São José dos Campos
 * Luciano Pagliarini,

Colombia

 * Mauricio Ardila,
 * Alex Caño, Unknown
 * Félix Cárdenas,
 * Luis Felipe Laverde, Ceramica Panaria–Navigare
 * Marlon Pérez Arango, Team Tenax Salmilano
 * Mauricio Soler,

Czech Republic

 * Petr Benčík,
 * Tomáš Bucháček,
 * Stanislav Kozubek,
 * Roman Kreuziger,
 * Martin Mareš, Naturino–Sapore di Mare
 * František Raboň,

Poland

 * Tomasz Kiendyś, Knauf Team
 * Tomasz Marczyński, Ceramica Flaminia
 * Przemysław Niemiec, Miche
 * Robert Radosz, DHL–Author
 * Marek Rutkiewicz, Intel–Action
 * Kristzof Szczawinski, Ceramica Flaminia

Portugal

 * Bruno Neves, Madeinox–BRIC–AR Canelas
 * Sérgio Paulinho,
 * Nuno Ribeiro, LA Aluminios–Liberty Seguros
 * José Rodrigues, Carvalhelhos–Boavista
 * Rui Sousa, LA Aluminios–Liberty Seguros
 * Nelson Victorino, Duja–Tavira

Slovenia

 * Janez Brajkovič,
 * Borut Božič, Perutnina Ptuj
 * Matej Mugerli,
 * Uroš Murn,
 * Gorazd Štangelj,
 * Tadej Valjavec,

Slovakia

 * Roman Broniš, Dukla Trenčín
 * Matej Jurčo,
 * Maroš Kováč, Dukla Trenčín
 * Martin Prázdnovský, Team Sparebanken Vest
 * Martin Riška,
 * Ján Valach, Aposport Krone Linz

South Africa

 * Ryan Cox,
 * David George, Relax
 * Robert Hunter,
 * Tiaan Kannemeyer,
 * Darren Lill, Schwinn
 * Ian McLeod,

Ukraine

 * Andriy Hryvko,
 * Ruslan Pidgornyy, Tenax Nobili Rubinetterie
 * Yaroslav Popovych,
 * Kyrylo Pospeyev,
 * Volodymyr Starchyk, Mykolaiv
 * Volodymyr Zagorodniy, S. C. Pagnoncelli-NGC-Perrel

Argentina

 * Gerardo Fernández, Viña Magna–Cropu
 * Jorge Martín Montenegro, Unknown

Belarus

 * Aliaksandr Kuscynski, Ceramica Flaminia
 * Kanstantsin Sivtsov,
 * Alexander Usov,

Bulgaria

 * Daniel Andonov Petrov, Maia Milaneza
 * Daniel Petrov, Duja–Tavira
 * Svetoslav Tchanliev, Unknown

Burkina Faso

 * Rabaki Jérémie Ouédraogo, Unknown
 * Abdul Wahab Sawadogo, Unknown
 * Saïdou Rouamba, Unknown

Croatia

 * Matija Kvasina, Perutnina Ptuj
 * Hrvoje Miholjević, Perutnina Ptuj
 * Radoslav Rogina, Perutnina Ptuj

Denmark

 * Lars Bak,
 * Jakob Piil,
 * Nicki Sørensen,

Estonia

 * Mart Ojavee, Kalev Chocolate Team
 * Erki Pütsep,
 * Tarmo Raudsepp, Union Cycliste Nantes Atlantique

Great Britain

 * Russell Downing, DFL–Cyclingnews–Litespeed
 * Roger Hammond,
 * David Millar,

Ireland

 * David McCann, Giant Asia Racing Team
 * Nicolas Roche,
 * Philip Deignan,

Japan

 * Fumiyuki Beppu,
 * Shinichi Fukushima, Cycle Racing Team Vang
 * Hidenori Nodera,

Kazakhstan

 * Andrey Kashechkin,
 * Alexander Vinokourov,
 * Sergei Yakovlev,

Latvia

 * Raivis Belohvoščiks, C.B. Immobiliare–Universal Caffé
 * Aleksejs Saramotins, Rietumu Banka–Riga

New Zealand
New Zealand chose not to send riders to the Road World Championships 2006, as their most important riders are injured and thus unavailable.

Norway

 * Kurt Asle Arvesen,
 * Thor Hushovd,
 * Gabriel Rasch, Team Maxbo Bianchi

Venezuela

 * Manuel Medina, Alcaldia de Cabimas
 * José Ramos, Alcaldia de Cabimas
 * José Rujano,

Canada

 * Ryder Hesjedal,

Finland

 * Kjell Carlström,

Hungary

 * László Bodrogi,

Lithuania

 * Dainius Kairelis, Amore & Vita–McDonald's

Luxembourg

 * Fränk Schleck,

Sweden

 * Marcus Ljungqvist,