Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, was a professional

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional sport, professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and ...

team based in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal.

History

Cycling was the main sport of the original ''Grupo Sport Benfica'' formed in 1906. Upon the merger with ''Sport Lisboa'' in 1908, a cycling department established within the new Sport Lisboa e Benfica, and along with

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, is one of only two sports referenced in the club's logo. The sport was in activity from 1906 to 1941, 1947 to 1978, 1999 to 2000, and once again for two seasons in 2007 and 2008. In 1931 the Portuguese cycling legend

José Maria Nicolau José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

won the Volta a Portugal and helped Benfica to win the Volta as a team. Benfica won the Volta once again in 1932. In 1934, Benfica won the Volta for the third time with Nicolau being the overall winner, beating his rival

Alfredo Trindade Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

from Sporting of

. After some years without success, Benfica won another Volta as a team in 1939. The benfiquistas had to wait until 1947 (due to the end of the cycling section in 1941) to see once again one of their cyclists winning the Volta. It was José Martins, who also helped Benfica to win the Volta as a team. In 1963, Benfica won its sixth Volta a Portugal, but had to wait two more years to see a Benfica cyclist winning the Volta. It was

Peixoto Alves Peixoto is a Portuguese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Alvarenga Peixoto (1743–1793), Brazilian poet, born in Rio de Janeiro *António Augusto de Rocha Peixoto (1866–1909), naturalist, ethnologist and archaeologist *César ...

, who was succeeded by Francisco Valada one year later and another team win. In 1968

Américo Silva Domingo Jhonny Vega Urzúa (born December 24, 1977, in Arica, Chile), commonly known as Américo, is a Chilean singer. He became known as the lead artist of Américo y la Nueva Alegría. He is the son of a locally known boleros singer, Melvin ...

won the Volta, but Benfica failed to win it as a team. That happened in 1974, when Benfica won its eighth Volta (and due to the cycling section's end in 1978 the last one for a long time) and its cyclist Fernando Mendes the seventh individual Volta for Benfica. Two years later, in 1976,

Firmino Bernardino Firmino Bernardino (born 19 March 1950) is a Portuguese racing cyclist. He rode in the 1975 Tour de France The 1975 Tour de France was the 62nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 26 June and 20 J ...

won the last Volta for Benfica before its end in 1978. It was the Spanish cyclist David Plaza, the first foreigner to win a Volta for Benfica, who won the last individual Volta for Benfica in 1999. It was the same year that Benfica won its ninth and so far last Volta a Portugal. Another Spanish Benfica cyclist, Melcior Mauri, won the Volta ao Algarve. In 2007, the newly created Benfica cycling team around superstar José Azevedo ended the 2007–2008 UCI Europe Tour in 27th with 622 points. In 2008,

Rubén Plaza Rubén Plaza Molina (born 29 February 1980) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2019 for the , S.L. Benfica, , (over three spells), , and teams. During his career, he recorded a to ...

won the

Vuelta a Valencia The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (; en, Tour of the Valencian Community or Tour of Valencia) is a road cycling stage race held in the Valencian Community (''Comunitat Valenciana''), Spain. Its position in the cycling calendar means it is often ...

Titles

National

* Volta a Portugal: 9 ** 1931, 1932, 1934, 1939, 1947, 1963, 1966, 1974, 1999 * Volta ao Algarve: 1 ** 1999

International

2007-08 UCI Europe Tour Teams Results * 2007 Tour de Luxembourg: 5th * 2008 Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas: 5th * 2008 Volta a Portugal: 3rd * 2008 GPCI Torres Vedras - Troféu Joaquim Agostinho: * 2008 Volta ao Alentejo: 13th * 2008 Grande Prémio Internacional CTT Correios: 6th * 2008 GP Rota dos Móveis: 11th 2007-08 UCI Europe Tour Individual Wins *

2008 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana The 2008 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana was a road cycling stage race that took place in the Valencian Community between 26 February and 1 March 2008. The race was won by Rubén Plaza. Stages Teams Standings General classification ...

UCI 2008

References

{{S.L. Benfica S.L. Benfica (cycling), Cycling Cycling teams based in Portugal Defunct cycling teams based in Portugal Cycling teams established in 1906 Cycling teams disestablished in 2008 1906 establishments in Portugal 2008 disestablishments in Portugal