UCI withdraws all status of Russian and Belarusian pro teams, cancels events
The international cycling body has adopted strong measures following the invasion of Ukraine
The UCI has taken some strong measures in the face of the Ukrainian invasion. The Management Committee of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has met at an extraordinary session today to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the measures that the UCI means to take following the Russian invasion. In a statement, The UCI has expressed its concern over the situation and has condemned the aggression of the Russian and Belarusian governments and their non-respect of the Olympic Truce.
The UCI has also offered to its support to the Ukrainian cycling community and has committed to welcoming Ukrainian athletes to the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC), its education and training centre in Aigle, Switzerland.
The governing body has confirmed it will follow the strong decisions taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Feb. 28, and has decided to apply them to cycling.
Although the UCI is a politically neutral organization, they will be putting forth severe sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Effective immediately, Russian and Belarusian national teams and/or national selections are not authorized to take part in any events on the UCI International Calendar.
Furthermore, UCI Team status is withdrawn from all teams under Russian or Belarusian nationality and the UCI shall not consider any further applications for UCI status from teams from these two countries. The withdrawal of UCI Team status concerns the following teams: UCI ProTeam Gazprom – RusVelo, UCI Continental Team Vozrozhdenie, UCI Track Team Marathon – Tula Cycling Team, UCI Continental Team CCN Factory Racing, UCI Continental Team Minsk Cycling Club, UCI Women’s Continental Team Minsk Cycling Club.
Additionally, the UCI is withdrawing all Russian and Belarusian events from the 2022 UCI International Calendar and will not be considering any further registration requests. The Russian and Belarusian National Championships have also been removed from the UCI International Calendar.
Furthermore, the statement also said that the appearance of all emblems, names, acronyms, flags and anthems linked to Russia and Belarus are prohibited at all events on the UCI International Calendar. That effectively means that the Russian and Belarusian National Champions’ jerseys are banned.
The UCI did say that Russian and Belarusian licence-holders are authorized to take part in events on the UCI International Calendar with their respective teams provided they are registered with a UCI Team that is neither Russian nor Belarusian.
