ONCE (cycling team)

ONCE

The team at the 1993 Tour de France
Team information
UCI code	ONC
Registered	Spain
Founded	1989 (1989)
Disbanded	2006
Discipline(s)	Road
Status	ProTour
Key personnel
General manager	Manolo Saiz
Team name history
1989–1998 1999–2000 2001–2003 2004 2005–2006 2006 2006 2006	ONCE ONCE–Deutsche Bank ONCE–Eroski Liberty Seguros Liberty Seguros–Würth Würth Team Astana–Würth Team Astana Team

ONCE cycling team, (UCI team code: ONC) 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 ("seguros" means "insurance" in Spanish) pulled out of primary sponsorship due to a 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 Astana–Würth didn't compete.^[1][2] 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.^[3]

Some riders and staff formed the Kazakhstan-based Astana Team.