February 24, 2006 — George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel won today’s 169.5K Stage from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara in a bunch sprint over Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner and Christopher Horner (USA) Davitamon-Lotto in second and third respectively. Canada’s Michael Barry (Discovery) was the top Canadian in 34th.

The GC remained virtually unchanged with USA’s Floyd Landis (Phonak) leading over CSC’s David Zabriskie (USA) and Bobby Julich (USA) with Hincapie in fourth.

1 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 3.52.02
2 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner
3 Christopher Horner (USA) Davitamon-Lotto
4 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Davitamon-Lotto
5 Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
6 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner
7 Hayden Roulston (NZl) Health Net p/b Maxxis
8 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance
9 Scott Davis (Aus) T-Mobile Team
10 Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Kodakgallery.Com-Sierra Nevada

34 Michael Barry (Can) Discovery Channel
59 Gordon Fraser (Can) Health Net p/b Maxxis 3.25
64 Dominique Perras (Can) Kodakgallery.Com-Sierra Nevada 6.10
71 Charles Dionne (Can) Saunier Duval-Prodir 6.24
73 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance
DNF Martin Gilbert (Can) Kodakgallery.Com-Sierra Nevada

GC After Stage 5

1 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 16.29.40
2 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 0.29
3 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 0.34
4 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 0.45
5 Nathan O’Neill (Aus) Health Net p/b Maxxis 1.08
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 1.10
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 1.29
8 Thomas Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel 1.49
9 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Team CSC 1.55
10 Jason McCartney (USA) Discovery Channel 1.58

17 Michael Barry (Can) Discovery Channel 2.56
53 Dominique Perras (Can) Kodakgallery.Com-Sierra Nevada 16.35
71 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance 20.30
76 Gordon Fraser (Can) Health Net p/b Maxxis 21.36
95 Charles Dionne (Can) Saunier Duval-Prodir 28.16