History
Foundation and early years
Although there was a cycling team competing at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, the professional cycling team was founded for the 1996 season with the sponsorship of Portuguese aluminium company, LA Pecol. The group became one of the most important Portuguese squads, developing a great rivalry with Maia, another great Portuguese team.
The team participated in the 2000 Vuelta a España and Andrei Zinchenko won the 14th stage, which ended in Lagos de Covadonga. The victory of the Russian, (winner of three stages in 1998), was the first victory of a Portuguese team in the history of the Vuelta. In 2001 the team was not invited to participate in the Vuelta a España, so it pretty much just competed in the Portuguese calendar. The great rival of the LA Pecol–Bombarral the Milaneza-Maia, raced in the Vuelta (something that had not happened in the previous year). After the 2004 season, the sponsor Pecol left the team, ending the designation LA Pecol.
Arrival of Liberty and departure of LA
With a new organization of cycling teams since 2005, the team was designated as UCI Continental category (below categories ProTour and UCI Professional Continental, the first and second highest categories, respectively). Also that season the team received a new sponsor, the multinational Liberty Seguros, as part of the agreement, cyclists Nuno Ribeiro and Sérgio Paulinho moved to the Spanish team Liberty Seguros–Würth, a ProTour cycling team run by Manolo Saiz.
In 2006, as a result of Operación Puerto, Liberty Seguros withdrew its sponsorship of the Spanish team, and the Portuguese team was the only team sponsored by the insurer. In 2007 the team stopped being sponsored by LA Aluminios (now to the ancient Milaneza-Maia with MSS), with the team leaving the designation LA Aluminium Liberty Seguros and becoming just Liberty Seguros.
Doping and extinction
On 18 September 2009, it was announced that three cyclists, Héctor Guerra, Isidro Nozal and Nuno Ribeiro had tested positive for CERA at the 2009 Volta a Portugal. On 21 October, the UCI announced that the counter-analysis confirmed the positive control for all cyclists. This doping case led Liberty Seguros to withdraw the sponsorship of the team, which led to its extinction as a professional team. The team did continue as an elite level domestic team for a further three seasons before folding in 2012.
Liberty Seguros is an international subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Group, a Boston-based insurance company.
Astana Qazaqstan Team is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated and new management brought in for the 2008 season. The team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, although Astana in this period was very successful. With a lineup including Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador, as well as runner-up Andreas Klöden the results were there, however the team was on the verge of financial collapse in May 2009. A battle for control of the team led to the return of Vinokourov for the 2009 Vuelta a España caused Bruyneel and at least fourteen of its riders to leave at the end of the 2009 season, most for Team RadioShack. Only four Spanish riders, including Contador, and most of the Kazakhs remained with the rebuilt team for 2010. Those four Spaniards all left the team for Saxo Bank–SunGard in 2011.
Sérgio Miguel Moreira Paulinho, ComIH is a Portuguese road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI Continental team LA Alumínios / Credibom / Marcos Car. He was a domestique in the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Tour de France and won the silver medal for Portugal in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
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Geox-TMC was a Spanish-based road bicycle racing team, registered for 2011 as a UCI Professional Continental team. Established as Saunier Duval–Prodir in 2004, the team has had success in one-day races such as Clásica de San Sebastián.
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David Arroyo Durán is a Spanish cyclist, who currently competes in mountain biking for the Primaflor–Mondraker–XSauce team. He is also a former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2018 for the ONCE–Eroski, LA Alumínios–Pecol, Movistar Team, Caja Rural–Seguros RGA and Efapel teams.
Luis León Sánchez Gil is a Spanish road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team. Sánchez's major achievements include winning the overall classifications of the 2009 Paris–Nice and the 2005 Tour Down Under, as well as the one-day race Clásica de San Sebastián in 2010 and 2012. He also has four Tour de France stage victories and is a four-time winner of the Spanish National Time Trial Championships. He is a time trial specialist and has improved his climbing skills over the course of his career.
Carlos Barredo Llamazales is a Spanish former road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional between 2004 and 2012. He was issued a suspension for the first two months of the 2011 season in response to a fight with Rui Costa after a 2010 Tour de France stage, with Barredo claiming that Costa had ridden dangerously in the final stages of the race, but later apologising for his actions.
Rubén Plaza Molina is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2019 for the Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme, S.L. Benfica, Liberty Seguros, Movistar Team, Lampre–Merida, Orica–Scott and Israel Cycling Academy teams. During his career, he recorded a top 5 overall placing in the 2005 Vuelta a España, and won three Grand Tour stages.
Nuno Jorge Ribeiro Gaspar is a Portuguese former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2014 for the Barbot–Torrie, Liberty Seguros–Würth, Liberty Seguros, Efapel–Glassdrive and OFM–Quinta da Lixa teams. He now works as a directeur sportif for his final professional team, UCI Continental team W52 / FC Porto.
Caja Rural–Seguros RGA is a UCI ProTeam cycling team sponsored principally by Grupo Caja Rural, a Spanish banking group. The team participates in UCI Europe Tour races and UCI World Tour events when given a wildcard invitation. The team's administrative offices and management are based in Pamplona, Navarra, Spain, but its service course is in Alsasua, Navarra. It was announced in February 2013 that the team had acquired a co-sponsor in a subsidiary of Caja Rural and would become known as Caja Rural–Seguros RGA from 21 February 2013.
W52–FC Porto was a professional road bicycle racing team, which participated in UCI Continental Circuits races before a doping scandal. This team is based in Felgueiras, Portugal, its title sponsors are clothing brand W52, and sports club FC Porto.
Ricardo Augusto Vilela Afonso is a Portuguese professional racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Continental team W52 / FC Porto. He rode in the 2015 Vuelta a España, and finished in 48th place overall.
Samuel José Rodrigues Caldeira is a Portuguese cyclist who last rode for UCI Continental team W52 / FC Porto.
The 2018 Volta a Portugal was the 80th edition of the Volta a Portugal cycle race and was held on 1 August to 12 August 2018. The race started in Setúbal and finished in Fafe. Raúl Alarcón end the race in first place. However, in March 2021, due to doping all his results obtained between 28 July 2015 and 21 October 2019 were cancelled, including 2018 Volta a Portugal.
The 2018 Troféu Joaquim Agostinho–GP Internacional Torres Vedras was four-stage men's road cycling stage race that took place in the Centro region of Portugal between 12 and 15 July 2018. It was the 41st edition of the Troféu Joaquim Agostinho and was rated as a 2.2 event as part of the UCI Europe Tour.
The 2018 GP Nacional 2 de Portugal was the first edition of the GP Nacional 2 de Portugal cycle race and was held from 18 July to 22 July 2018 as part of the 2018 UCI Europe Tour; it was categorised as a 2.2 race.
