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Team ONCE
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 road bicycle racing, competed in the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI UCI ProTour, ProTour circuit. On 25 May 2006, Liberty Mutual ("seguros" means "insurance" in Spanish) pulled out of primary sponsorship due to a Operación Puerto doping case, doping scandal involving the directeur sportif, Manolo Saiz. On 2 June 2006, the team acquired a primary sponsor named Astana, after the capital of Kazakhstan. Würth was co-sponsor until 3 July 2006, withdrawing at the end of the 2006 Tour de France, in which didn't compete. At the end of the season, Astana also withdrew due to the non-participation in the Tour. On 16 December 2006, the UCI withdrew the ProTour licence of Saiz's company, Active Bay. Some riders and staff formed the Kazakhstan-based Astana Team. History ONCE The team traces its lineage to the Span ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johan BRUYNEEL
Johan Bruyneel (born 23 August 1964) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and a former directeur sportif for UCI ProTour team , and (later known as Discovery Channel), a US-based UCI ProTour cycling team. On 25 October 2018, the World Anti Doping Agency imposed a lifetime ban on Bruyneel for his role in a doping scandal that also saw Lance Armstrong stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. History Professional cyclist Born in Izegem, Belgium, Bruyneel was a successful professional cyclist. Early wins included the 1990 Tour de l'Avenir, the 1991 Rund um den Henninger Turm, the 1992 Grand Prix des Nations and Coppa Placci, and stage 6 (Évreux > Amiens) and finishing 7th at the 1993 Tour de France. His stage win set the record for fastest stage at 49.417 km/h, since then only broken by two cyclists. His greatest successes as a pro cyclist came in 1995. At the 1995 Tour de France, he won stage 7, which began in Charleroi and ended in Liège, Belgium, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris–Nice
Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlooking the city. The event is nicknamed ''The Race to the Sun'', as it runs in the first half of March, typically starting in cold and wintry conditions in the French capital before reaching the spring sunshine on the Côte d'Azur. The hilly course in the last days of the race favours stage racers who often battle for victory. Paris–Nice is part of the UCI World Tour and is the competition's first stage race in Europe each season, starting one day before its Italian counterpart, the Tirreno–Adriatico, Tirreno-Adriatico/Race of the Two Seas. It is organized by Amaury Sport Organisation, ASO, which also manages most other French World Tour races, most notably the Tour de France and Paris–Roubaix. The roll of honour fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tour Down Under
The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour. The event was established in 1999 with the support of then Premier of South Australia John Olsen as part of an effort to strengthen the state’s sporting calendar after the Australian Grand Prix moved from Adelaide to Melbourne, Victoria. Since that time it has been owned and managed by the South Australian Government through Events South Australia, the events division of the South Australian Tourism Commission. It experienced rapid growth in its first two decades, becoming the first race granted UCI ProTour status (now UCI WorldTour) in 2008 and the first event of the UCI World Ranking calendar in 2009. The Tour Down Under takes place each January and features stages suited to sprinters, climbers and all-rounders. Like other UCI Wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tour De France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. The race was first organized in 1903 Tour de France, 1903 to increase sales for the newspaper ''L'Auto'' (which was an ancestor of ''L'Équipe'') and has been held annually since, except when it was not held from 1915 to 1918 and 1940 to 1946 due to the two World war, World Wars. As the Tour gained prominence and popularity, the race was lengthened and gained more international participation. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams, with the exception of the teams that the organizers invite. Traditionally, the bulk of the race is held in July. While the route changes each year, the format of the race stays the same and includes time trials, passage through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igor González De Galdeano
Igor González de Galdeano Aranzábal (born 1 November 1973) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer and most recently, the team manager of UCI ProTeam . Following a promising start to his career at Vitalicio Seguros, where he finished the 1999 Vuelta a España in second place, González de Galdeano became a key rival of Lance Armstrong in the middle of his Tour de France supremacy. In the 2002 Tour de France, González de Galdeano wore the yellow jersey for seven days and in the 2003 Vuelta a España wore the gold jersey for one day. At an average speed of 55.17 km/h, González de Galdeano also holds the record for the fastest stage win in the Vuelta a España, a feat which earned him the nickname ''Speedy González''. Early racing career González de Galdeano turned professional in 1995 with the Basque team , which at the time was only in its second year of racing and suffering from financial hardship. During his three seasons at Euskadi, González de G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roberto Heras
Roberto Heras Hernández (born 1 February 1974) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer who won the Vuelta a España a record four times. Between 1997 Vuelta a España, 1997 and 2005 Vuelta a España, 2005 he finished in the top 5 of the Vuelta every year except 1998 Vuelta a España, 1998 when he finished 6th. He won a record-tying three times, and then broke the record with a fourth win in 2005, but he was eventually disqualified after being accused of taking erythropoietin, EPO. Heras chose to fight the accusations and this resulted in a lengthy court case and appeal process. In June 2011, Heras successfully appealed the disqualification in the civil court of Castilla y León, and this decision was upheld in the Spanish supreme court in December 2012. The Spanish cycling federation subsequently reinstated Heras as 2005 Vuelta champion. Early career Heras turned professional in 1995 for the Spanish cycling team Kelme (cycling team), Kelme. His first win as a pro c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isidro Nozal
Isidro Nozal Vega (born 18 October 1977) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. Nozal was runner-up in the 2003 Vuelta a España and an instrumental domestique in Roberto Heras' 2004 Vuelta a España win. Doping In 2005, Vega was suspended for two weeks after being tested with a hematocrit level above 50 before the start of Dauphine Libere. In 2006, he was initially implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case, but was cleared of any wrongdoing by Spanish officials. He later admitted his involvement, saying he did three blood transfusions with Fuentes in the season before the 2005 Dauphine Libere, but denying he doped. For the 2008 and 2009 seasons Nozal rode for the Portuguese Pro Continental team of Liberty Seguros. In September 2009 Nozal and two teammates (Nuno Ribeiro and Héctor Guerra) were announced to have tested positive for EPO-CERA in samples taken for the previous month's Tour of Portugal. Liberty Seguros immediately announced that it would cease ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseba Beloki
Joseba Beloki Dorronsoro (born 12 August 1973) is a Spanish Basques, Basque former professional road bicycle racer. Tour successes Beloki turned professional in 1998 with , joined in 2000, and then in 2001. A strong climber in the high mountains and a top performer in individual time trials, he made it to the podium in each of his first three rides in the Tour de France: in 2000 Tour de France, 2000 (3rd place), 2001 Tour de France, 2001 (3rd place) and 2002 Tour de France, 2002 (2nd place). He is the only runner-up during Lance Armstrong's run of seven consecutive Tour wins to have not been found guilty of doping, though he was not retroactively awarded the victory in the General classification in the Tour de France, general classification of 2002 after Armstrong's wins were stripped. In 2001, Beloki also finished first overall in the Volta a Catalunya. Crash and recovery On 14 July 2003, during the 9th stage of the 2003 Tour de France, Beloki was in second place overall (j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage (bicycle race), stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in format, being three-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI regulations: more points for the UCI World Tour are distributed in Grand Tours than in other races, and they are the only stage races allowed to last longer than 14 days, and these differ from major stage races more than one week in duration. All three races have a substantial history, with the Tour de France first held in 1903, Giro d'Italia first held in 1909 and the Vuelta a España first held in 1935. The Giro is generally run in May, the Tour in July, and the Vuelta in late August and September. The Vuelta was originally held in the spring, usually late April, with a few editions held in June in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Olano
Abraham Olano Manzano (born 22 January 1970) is a Spanish retired professional road racing cyclist, who raced as a professional from 1992 to 2002. He won the UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Championship in 1995 UCI Road World Championships, 1995, and the UCI Road World Championships – Men's time trial, World Time Trial Championship in 1998 UCI Road World Championships – Men's time trial, 1998, becoming the first male cyclist to win both. He won Vuelta a España in 1998 Vuelta a España, 1998, was second in 1995 Vuelta a España, 1995, made it twice to the final podium at Giro d'Italia (third in 1996 Giro d'Italia, 1996 and second in 2001 Giro d'Italia, 2001), and placed three times in the top-ten at Tour de France, with the fourth place in 1997 Tour de France, 1997 as his personal best. In total he won six stages in the Vuelta and one in the Tour, all of them Individual time trial, time trials. Olano was also double Spanish Champion in both Spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Individual Time Trial
An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials (TTT). ITTs are also referred to as "the race of truth", as winning depends only on each rider's strength and endurance, and not on help provided by teammates and others riding ahead and creating a slipstream. Individual time trials are usually held on flat or rolling terrain, although sometimes they are held up a mountain road (in Italian: ''cronoscalata'' "chrono climbing"). Sometimes the opening stage of a stage race is a very short individual time trial called a prologue (8 km or less for men, 4 km or less for women and juniors). Starting times are at equal intervals, usually one or two minutes apart. The starting sequence is usually based on the finishing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Team Time Trial
A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of (usually) the fourth-finishing rider in each team (though the relevant finish position can be otherwise specified in advance by the race organisers). This means that each team will try to get their first four (at least) riders across the finish line in a tight group: it is actually a disadvantage for any rider to finish far in advance of the fourth rider, as by staying back a faster rider can help the fourth rider to get a quicker time. Where a TTT is part of a stage race, it is necessary for each rider to be given a finish time that can be cumulated into the general classification timings. Hence, all riders in the team who finish in the leading bunch are given the time of the fourth rider, and any rider who has been dropped is timed ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
