Sporting Lisbon has reached an agreement with the Clube de Ciclismo de Tavira to return to cycling next season. The Portuguese football club will reach its goal after their plans to join the W52 team failed when the squad reached an agreement with Porto. The historic rivalry between the two football teams will now continue in the cycling peloton.

Sporting announces that the commitment to the CC Tavira will be signed on December 28, with the goal of promoting cycling in Algarve. The Portuguese team returns to elite cycling almost 30 years after skipping its cycling section in 1987.

In 2015 the Team Tavira had riders like Manuel Cardoso, Ricardo Mestre and Rafael Reis in its ranks.

Like many other football clubs at the time, Sporting Lisbon started in cycling in 1911 under the leadership of António Soares Junior who would later become club president. With good infrastructure, including the Lisbon Stadium and the José Alvalde velodrome, the team was led by the legendary Joaquim Agostinho in the Tour de France and has nine victories in the Volta a Portugal on its palmares.

On December 6, FC Porto reached an agreement with the W52 team for five years the announced agreement with Sporting Lisbon was never signed.