Gazprom-RusVelo out of Trofeo Laigueglia as Russian ban bites

The Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli in the special #nowar jersey before the start of the race
The Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli in the special #nowar jersey before the start of the race (Image credit: Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli)

The UCI’s decision to suspend all Russian and Belarusian teams after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had an immediate effect, with the Gazprom-RusVelo team not starting the Trofeo Laigueglia race in Italy on Wednesday morning. 

The Russian ProTeam was listed on the official start list on Tuesday but did not line up for the Italian one-day race. The team had selected Russian riders Sergei Chernetski, Nikolay Cherkasov, Italians Giovanni Carboni, Nicola Conci and Alessandro Fedeli, and Czech riders Michael Kukrle and Mathias Vacek, winner of a stage at the UAE Tour last week.

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.