Napolitano, setting up a competition for the top sprinter's spot on the team. Bennati started the 2006 season with two second places in the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi (behind Alessandro Petacchi, who had taken over Cipollini's mantle as the dominant Italian sprinter), and then took his first win of the season in February's Volta a la Communitat Valenciana, four seconds ahead of the peloton, led home by Napolitano. In March, Bennati was due to be the team's leader for the important races. He probably was not at his best form when he started the Tour of Flanders, and he had to drop out. He was then unable to start the Gent–Wevelgem race. Ten days later, however, a fully recovered Bennati won the final stage of the Giro del Trentino, won overall by teammate Cunego. The next week, he competed in the Tour de Romandie, where Robbie McEwen showed that Bennati was not quite at the top level. The Lampre team for the Giro d'Italia was again built around the overall competition, and Bennati was not included. Instead, he participated in the Volta a Catalunya, winning the final stage ahead of Erik Zabel. In early June, he outsprinted his two breakaway companions to win the Memorial Marco Pantani. Although he could only manage 2nd and 3rd places in the Tour of Switzerland, he did wear the leader's jersey for one day and won the points jersey. July brought Bennati to his first Tour de France; he was among the top ten finishers in eight stages, including a 2nd place behind McEwen. He dropped out after a fall during the 16th stage; he was third in the points jersey competition at the time. Two months later, Bennati returned to the Tour of Poland, where he won two stages and wore the leader's jersey for two days. The following weekend, he won two more races: the GP Citta di Misano-Adriatico and the Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato, but was not chosen for the Italian UCI Road World Championships team, as selector Franco Ballerini opted to do without any sprinters. Although his result in the sprinters' classic, Paris–Tours, was disappointing (37th), Bennati ended his season with a victory at the Giro del Piemonte. This brought him to a total of 9 victories in 2006, but he dropped to 87th place in the Pro Tour standings – largely due to his absence