cyclezen

... Hoping that the Mods do understand that this is more than Politics and that the Ukrainian situation has major implications worldwide for everyone's life and certainly cycling as an activity and lifestyle... Felt this broader than just the 'Pro Cycling Fans' forum...
Because the UCI has been silent about the situation (given so many other worldwide organizations had already chimed in and taken action), I sent an email to the UCI Director of International Affairs - Jacques Vincent. asking why the silence and offering my view of what an appropriate stance for competitive cycling's worldwide umbrella might be.
I was surprised to get a response, just received...
He included this URL which is the now published Official UCI Response, Stance and Actions with Regards to the Ukrainian Invasion'
.turns out we have been thinking along the same lines...
Cycling, in all it's aspects, represents the greatly positive side of Human nature - I'm glad to see that clearly represented, always...
Ride ON
Yuri
EDIT: My error here, the Director is Vincent Jacquet (I did get it right in my emails to him; just not here... LOL!)

chaadster

Yes…

mstateglfr 

Sucks to see UCI teams that have nothing to do with this bloody power play are punished.
Gazprom RusVelo has 12 riders who aren't even Russian.

Not saying the decision is bad, it is just unfortunate to see people negatively affected that aren't involved in the invasion.
Since someone could interpret the above in a way that it isnt meant, I will clearly state that obviously the people in Ukraine are hurt and affected more.

63rickert

This is purely politics and does not belong here.

In his letter M. Jacques states the UCI is obliged to be politically neutral. Then goes on to do something purely political.

Any time in past 75 years the same allegations could have been made against the US and it’s serial foreign adventures. It is a good thing that sport continued regardless.

When the herd stampedes and the political consensus has a 1000 to 1 plurality it is still political.

livedarklions

There's no being neutral, allowing Russian teams to participate and various events in Russia to remain on the UCI calendar would have been just as political.

livedarklions

War is hell.

wolfchild

The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with cycling and should of been posted in P & R. or some other website on internet which discusses world politics.

mstateglfr 

Would it be just as political?

Why shouldnt a team licensed in Russia still race in other countries, especially when a dozen members of the team arent even Russian?
I understand if the UCI says 'we are not holding races in Russia right now due to security concerns', but if a race is in Spain, why shouldnt the team get to participate?

Allowing that to happen isnt being neutral. It is simply separating a global sport and individual employment from government decisions. Nobody should hold individual Russians accountable for what their dbag dictator is doing.
To be clear, my comments also stand true for Israel Startup Nation(Premier-Tech) that has only 4 Israelis out of 30 team spots and is run by by a Finn and a Dane. That cycling team should not be punished by the UCI for whatever geopolitical actions Israel may commit in the future.
You can add UAE Team Emirates and into this conversation too since it is based in a historically volatile part of the world and is in a country with well documented abuses of basic rights and safety.



This very much belongs in P&R, if it still existed.

unterhausen

Okay, that's enough politics. Does everyone know that bikeforums dot net isn't the end of the internet? There are other places where you can post your political views regarding cycling actions. For example, cycling twitter is fairly active on the politics front.

closed for moderator review

StanSeven

Thread moved from General. Let’s keep discussions cycling related and avoid politics. Ok?

fishyfishy123

I won't get political, but I do want to thank the OP for posting the UCI message - I've been really curious about what they'd do and appreciate the update. I've been watching the cycling races where all the commentators always mention something and have been wondering what will be happening w/ UCI. Since cycling teams are sponsored for prestige purposes, it makes sense that it's about the ownership of the teams rather than the individual cyclists.

livedarklions

OK, so this isn't an argument about politics, just an explanation of why UCI could not avoid being political no matter which way they decided this, and what they may be able to do to limit the damage to individual athletes.

Basically, UCI was stuck between embargoing Russia or breaking the general economic embargo. I haven't researched this, but I'd suspect that dealing with Russian-owned entities would probably violate EU laws and those of other governments that have been put in place. Apolitical or not, the reality is that the UCI is a hell of a lot more concerned with its relationship with various European governments than it is with any Russian entity of any sort. Running afoul of French law, for example, is really not something UCI can afford. Add to this that I suspect that the non-Russian teams and their athletes might boycott rather than race against Russian teams, and it's then impossible for UCI to stay apolitical whether or not it issued the ban.

Hopefully, the riders for the Russian teams can re-form into teams with different sponsorship. UCI might want to look at ways they can facilitate that. It's an option that the Olympics doesn't have since the athletes can't be expected to change nationality to play for national teams.

GrainBrain

UCI made the right choice.

I'm so frustrated and disheartened to watch gazprom-rusvelo pull off such a wonderful win in the UAE tour only to have the world drop out the next day.

Can we get one year without an existential crises?

livedarklions

Be careful what you wish for! I can think of only one way to guarantee there won't be future existential crises.

But you know the Chinese curse about "interesting times", right? Pretty sure we're living that one right now.

cyclezen

It will be interesting to see HOW and IF the current PRO cycling community deals with, and supports the UCI stance AND supports riders/staff who are directly affected by the Stance and prohibitions.
My own view is greatly colored by a long history/view back to when I first started racing in the later 60's. A tight community of riders, supporters, some fans, and parents of younger riders, many immigrants. We competed, we helped each other, we made/joined clubs/teams, held races (A UCSF rule for all registered clubs - each club had to host 2 races a year), became officials to 'work' races.
A rider needed a wheel to ride a race - they got a wheel. A Junior needed another bike because they were growing fast, somehow got a bike.
Pro Cycling is big; but in many ways still 'small'. The 'Stars' will certainly have a 'soft' landing... this may test how the staff and domestiques are 'covered' by the community. Some teams are constantly living hand to mouth, some quite secure.
Will be interesting to see the development...
Politics: As a younger person, I always tried to think that one could be a-political... Life, living and not being the ONLY living thing on the planet means that ain't gonna happen or be...
Any time there's 2 or more, there's 'politics'.
BF is not and can not be insulated from all politics; as in this case the UCI stance will have a great affect on the 'racing' side of Cycling. A worthy discussion, with opinion without creating contention.
Sticking our heads in the sand is way more problematic than the slight discomfort which has us in avoidance.
... so, Ride On, thoughfully...
Yuri
EDIT: and yes, living in interesting times is inevitable... LOL! making ti work, is the project...

mstateglfr 

https://assets.ctfassets.net/761l7gh...ONGRESS_EN.pdf
I understand the embargo concept. Based on the UCI's rules, the Russian Cycling Federation should not be excluded by UCI Congress. At least not based on the info above(and it isnt purposely cherry picked).
It is odd to think that in a global sport, where all contests at the highest level are run outside of Russia(often thousands of miles away), a team that happens to be based in Russia cant participate in the global events.

livedarklions

You missed the UCI constitutional justification for enforcing this embargo, and it's cited in the OP-linked statement. One of the constitutional objectives of the UCI is

"to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee in particular as regards the participation of cyclists in the Olympic Games"

The IOC Executive Board just determined that because the actions of Russia and Belarus have violated the Olympic Treaty by making it impossible for many Ukrainian athletes to compete internationally, a banning of Russia and Belarus is appropriate. The IOC EB even goes further and recommends not inviting Russian athletes to any international competition.

https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-eb...-and-officials


BTW, the first and last sentences of your post don't gibe. If you understand the embargo concept, it is not at all odd that the other members of the global sport would exclude Russian-sponsored teams. The odd part of it is that the embargo does not extend to riders who happen to be Russian citizens, and that's a reasonable compromise to minimize the harm of the embargo to individual athletes.

The UCI really had no choice in this. If they chose to defy the economic embargo policies of the countries who host their major events, odds are quite high they would've found those events taken away from their authority. Care to find out if the TdF could be nationalized, for example? If they defy IOC policy, they are likely also at risk at maintaining their authority within the international sports community.

mstateglfr 

One can understand a concept and still find it odd when that concept is applied to a specific situation.
2/3 of the team I mentioned earlier is not Russian, they dont race in Russia, and have nothing to do with the Olympics much less keeping Ukrainian athletes from competing.

I understand why the rule applies- the UCI cited Olympics as justification and since cycling is an Olympic sport, it impacted this pro team. I think decisions for the Olympics should be separate from Pro Cycling, and vice versa. The UCI disagrees and thinks they should be connected.
Ok then.

livedarklions

Then that team should quit their current Russian affiliation and get a new sponsor. Problem solved.
UCI is doing their best to aim this at Russia and Russian entities, I'm really not too worried about the sanctity of allowing Gaszprom to be represented in international competition.

BTW, if UCI loses its connection to the IOC, UCI will likely lose everything, and some other organization will take its place as the sanctioning body.

mstateglfr 

noted.

prj71

What implications does this have on me as a cyclist?

SpeedyBlueBiker

Russia, and all Russian Cycling organizations, should be banned from all international competitions and meetings.
All Russian athletes should be banned from international competition.
All Russian sponsored cycling teams should be banned regardless of the countries that the athletes are from that make up the team.
All cycling events scheduled for Russia should be moved out of the country to another location.

livedarklions

That's a pretty good summation of the IOC's position. The UCI is slightly different in that it is allowing Russian athletes in competition as long as they don't ride in affiliation with Russia or Russian entities. Also, they're banning any national championship jerseys and flags from Russia.


​​​​​​If the precedent here is that a country is banned from international competition when it wages an illegal aggressive war on another Olympic Treaty country, I think that makes a lot of sense. The whole Olympics movement is based on the promotion of world peace through international games.