The Russian and Belarusian national teams and teams were excluded from the cycling events, The international federation (UCI) announced on Tuesday that it has withdrawn its UCI status from the Russian professional team Gazprom-RusVelo.
The only high-level Russian formation in the international peloton was soon to participate in three events on the world calendar, the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Milan-San Remo in Italy, and the Tour of Catalonia in Spain.
On Friday, the UCI condemned “in the strongest possible terms the violation of international law and Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”
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The body chaired by the Frenchman David Lappartient indicated that it applies “the strong decisions” made by the International Olympic Committee, which recommended on Monday to exclude Russians and Belarusians from sports competitions.
“The UCI, which remains a politically neutral organization, regrets that its government’s decisions may impact Russian and Belarusian athletes, but we must be firm in defending Olympic values,” the body estimated.
Only two Russian cyclists in the WorldTour formations
Russian or Belarusian runners on the payroll of teams from other countries will instead be able to continue running, although without any reference to their countries.
The Gazprom-Rusvelo team, which plays in the second world division, has 21 riders in its ranks, 9 of them Russian. The formation, which participated in the Giro in 2016 and 2017, recently took part in the UAE Tour, with a stage victory for the young Czech Mathias Vacek (19 years old).
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In the WorldTour, the first world division, only two riders are of Russian nationality; Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora) and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos).
SPORTS
With AFP
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