MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/. Five Russian track cycling racers have been invited to participate in the 6 giorni delle Rose (the Six Days of Fiorenzuola) race this month performing for the Spanish club, Barcelona Road Cycling Group, Vyacheslav Yekimov, the president of the Russian Cycling Federation, told TASS on Monday.
Invitations to participate in the 6 giorni delle Rose race, which runs this year between August 1 and 6, were extended to Russian cyclists Denis Denisov, Lev Gonov, Ivan Novolodsky, Vlas Shichkin and Ilya Shchegolkov. All Russian athletes must participate in the tournament under a neutral status.
"Our racers will be participating as part of the Spanish club Barcelona Road Cycling Group," Yekimov said. "They have filed applications and the organizer invited them. There will be a technical commission’s evaluation later with a UCI [the International Cycling Union] commissioner in charge."
"I see no problems here as there are no violations in regard to regulations defined by the world’s governing body of cycling sports [UCI]," Yekimov stated. "Yes, indeed, the athletes are racing for the Spanish club and, yes, indeed, they are Russians, but there are no contradictions within the present-day regulations."
On February 28, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments referring to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
Following the IOC recommendations in late February, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
In early March, the UCI ruled to suspend all Russian teams of cyclists from its international tournaments. However, the world’s governing body of cycling sports announced later that Russian and Belarusian athletes had the right to participate in international tournaments under a neutral status as part of professional teams.