05-03-2006: Issy-les-Moulineaux â Issy-les-Moulineaux, 4.8 km. (Prologue, ITT)
The prologue stage saw 2005 GC winner
Bobby Julich retain the yellow/white GC leader's jersey after defeating
KazakhAndrey Kaschechkin, who held the best time through most of the stage's duration, by a narrow margin of 1 second.
As the winner of the first stage he also received the green/white points jersey.
The blue jersey for best young rider went to
Alberto Contador.
06-03-2006: Villemandeur â Saint-Amand-Montrond, 193 km. (Stage 1)
By winning the
peloton sprint in
Saint-Amand-Montrond ahead of
Allan Davis,
Tom Boonen (who finished fifth in the prologue stage five seconds down on
Bobby Julich) took over the yellow/white jersey due to the time bonus awarded to stage winners.
He also took over first place in the points classification.
07-03-2006: Cerilly â Belleville, 200 km. (Stage 2)
Stage 2 saw a repeat of
Tom Boonen's victory over
Allan Davis in the first stage, the Belgian finishing first in another bunch sprint.
The polka-dotted mountains jersey changed hands due to a long breakaway by French rider
Nicolas Crosbie, who established a maximum lead of 27'30" after 81 kilometers. Crosbie was caught by the peloton 10 km before the finish line.
The blue jersey for the best young rider was awarded to
BenoĂźt Vaugrenard who took over first place with former leader
Alberto Contador finishing 1'13 behind the pack.
08-03-2006: Julienas â Saint-Ătienne, 168.5 km. (Stage 3)
In the third stage to
Saint-Ătienne, where
Kazakh racer
Andrei Kivilev died after a fall in the 2003 edition of ParisâNice (prompting the
UCI to make the wearing of helmets mandatory during all UCI-sanctioned races), there were some changes to the race classifications as American
Floyd Landis took over first place in the GC, placing second in the stage after
Patxi Xabier Vila Errandonea.
Nicolas Crosbie and
Tom Boonen retained their respective climber and sprinter jerseys, whereas the blue jersey for the best young rider was awarded to
Stefan Schumacher who finished 1'25 behind the winner.
As expected of a hilly stage Stage 3 saw breakaway attempts on the different climbs, the defining break happening on the last climb of the day, the
Col de la Croix de Chaubouret.