Following the recommendation of IOC and the actions of AusCycling, UCI has finally decided to ban Russian and Belarusian Teams from competitions till “further notice”. The decision has been implemented after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. UCI is not the only sports organization that has banned teams from these countries as FIFA and UEFA decided to ban teams from Russia and Belarus from their competitions.
There is a slight modification to this restriction though, Russian and Belarusian teammates that don’t belong to native Russia and Belarusian teams will still be allowed to complete. This ban, however, is only applied to teams that are native to the following countries. We discussed this point before as banning only Russian and Belarusian athletes will be harder than previously thought.
UCI even went on and made the statement:
All emblems, names, acronyms, flags and anthems linked to Russia and Belarus are prohibited at all events on the UCI International Calendar.
According to the emerging World Situation, an exemplary committee was held by UCI, where they announced the decision. As this decision goes into effect, many Russian and Belarusian teams like Continental outfit Vozrozhdenie, Gazprom-Rusvelo, CCN Factory Racing, and Minsk Cycling Club will be banned.
You can read UCI’s official tweet here:
The UCI Management Committee has today decided to bring into effect a number of measures following the IOC recommendations.
Full statement 👇
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) March 1, 2022
This will definitely seem like disappointing news for the team Gazprom-Rusvelo as they were scheduled to compete in the Trofeo Laigueglia, guess that won’t be happening now. Even their wheel suppliers Look and Corima have decided to withdraw their support of the team.
UCI elaborated their historic decision in another statement:
The UCI welcomes the strong decisions taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 28 February and has decided to apply them to cycling.
The UCI, which remains a politically neutral organization, laments that the decisions of their government can impact Russian and Belarusian athletes, but it is necessary to be firm in the defense of the Olympic values.
It is unlikely that this will be the last of sports federations banning Russian and Belarusian Professional teams. Let’s hope that this situation eases down and further escalation is halted. Our prayers go to the people of Ukraine! Stay tuned for more updates!
Also Read: AusCycling Bans Russia And Belarus Teams From UCI Road World Championships
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