The Liberty Seguros Continental

professional cycling team A cycling team is a group of cycle sport, cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle racing, bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important i ...

was a Portuguese team based in

Bombarral Bombarral () is a municipality in the District of Leiria in Central Portugal. The population in 2011 was 13,193, in an area of . It includes four civil parishes ( pt, freguesia) that provide local services. History It is known that the area of ...

. It was one of the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an teams in UCI Continental Tour, but it was dismantled at the end of 2009 due to a doping scandal.

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 Maia (; Ancient Greek: Μαῖα; also spelled Maie, ; la, Maia), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, one of the major Greek gods, by Zeus, the king of Olympus. Family Maia is the daugh ...

, another great Portuguese team. The team participated in the

2000 Vuelta a España The 55th edition of the ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 26 August to 17 September 2000. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Robe ...

and Andrei Zinchenko won the 14th stage, which ended in

Lagos de Covadonga The Lakes of Covadonga (el. 1134 m.) are composed of two glacial lakes located on the region of Asturias, Spain. These lakes, often also called Lakes of Enol or simply Los Lagos, are Lake Enol and Lake Ercina located in the Picos de ...

. 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 The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...

, 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 The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

category (below categories

ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, ea ...

and

UCI Professional Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

, the first and second highest categories, respectively). Also that season the team received a new sponsor, the multinational

Liberty Seguros Liberty Seguros is an international subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Group, a Boston-based insurance company. Sponsorships Liberty Seguros sponsored the UCI ProTour cycling team, Liberty Seguros – Würth, but dropped the sponsorship on 25 May 20 ...

, as part of the agreement, cyclists

Nuno Ribeiro Nuno Jorge Ribeiro Gaspar (born 9 September 1977 in Sobrado, Valongo) is a Portuguese former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2014 for the , , (two spells), and teams. He now works as a directeur spo ...

and

Sérgio Paulinho Sérgio Miguel Moreira Paulinho, ComIH (born 26 March 1980) is a Portuguese road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI Continental team . He was a domestique in the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Tour de France and won the silver medal for Portugal ...

moved to the Spanish team

Liberty Seguros-Würth ONCE cycling team, () also known as Liberty Seguros, Liberty Seguros–Würth and in succession in its final year, Astana–Würth and Astana was a Spanish cycling team. It competed in the UCI ProTour circuit. On 25 May 2006, Liberty Mutual ( ...

, a

cycling team run by Manolo Saiz. In 2006, as a result of Operación Puerto,

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

had tested positive for CERA at the

2009 Volta a Portugal 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

. 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.

Honors 2006

2007 team

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Cândido Barbosa Cândido Joaquim Venda Moreira Barbosa (born December 31, 1974, in Rebordosa, Portugal) is a former professional road racing cyclist from 1995 to 2010, where he decided to end his career as a professional road racing cyclist due to a serious i ...

, , 31 December 1974 , , , - ,

Hernani Brocco Hernani may refer to: *Hernani, Eastern Samar, a municipality in Eastern Samar, Philippines *Hernani, Gipuzkoa, a town in Gipuzkoa, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain * ''Hernani'' (drama), a Romantic drama by Victor Hugo *Hernani CRE, a Spanish ru ...

, , 13 June 1981 , , , - , Filipe Cardoso , , 15 May 1984 , , , - , Jordi Grau Sogas , , 31 July 1981 , , , - , Héctor Guerra , , 6 August 1978 , , , - ,

António Jesus António de Jesus Pereira (11 February 1955 – 27 September 2010), known as Jesus, was a Portuguese football goalkeeper and manager. Club career Born in Espinho, Jesus finished his youth career at FC Porto, but never appeared for the team as ...

, , 20 January 1984 , , , - ,

Carlos Nozal Vega Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

, , 15 May 1981 , , , - , Luis Pinheiro , , 5 June 1980 , , , - , César Antunes Quiterio , , 20 July 1976 , , , - ,

, , 9 September 1977 , , , - , Vitor Rodrigues , , 9 March 1986 , , , - , Rui Sousa , , 17 July 1976 , , , - ,

Pablo Urtasun Pablo Urtasun Pérez (born 29 March 1980) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2016. He now works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team . Career Urtasun was born in Urdiain, N ...

, , 29 March 1980 , , {{ESP LA Aluminios Liberty Seguros Defunct cycling teams based in Portugal Cycling teams established in 2006 Cycling teams disestablished in 2009