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The UCI has stripped the Tour du Faso of its ranking status as a result of the participation of a Russian team in the event.
As pointed out on social media, the CSKA Moscow team featured riders bearing the words ‘Russian Army.’
The UCI previously banned Russian and Belarusian teams from competing in its events due to the invasion of Ukraine.
The governing body reacted swiftly, setting out its position soon after the situation became clear.
“The organizers of the Tour du Faso, a class 2 event on the UCI International Calendar, invited the Russian team CSKA Moscow on their own initiative, without prior notification to the UCI,” it wrote on Friday.
“After being informed, the UCI immediately sent the organizers an official letter requesting them to prohibit the team’s participation, in accordance with the UCI Ad Hoc regulations on measures against Russia and Belarus. However, despite this directive, the team started the event this morning.
“Consequently, the UCI has immediately withdrawn the event from the UCI International Calendar and is currently examining the disciplinary consequences relating to the participation of this team. No further comments will be made on this subject at this time.”
A political dimension beyond bike racing
So Burkina Faso talks military cooperation with Russia in recent news. Russia spent military team to Tour du Faso. They even had bib numbers but @UCI_cycling stopped it at very last moment?https://t.co/Y9msRS7QVj https://t.co/imHNzNPI1b pic.twitter.com/qpefezxcf9
— ProCyclingStats.com (@ProCyclingStats) October 25, 2024
Earlier this month Russia and Burkina Faso discussed expanding their military ties. According to Reuters, Russia’s Defence Minister Andrei Belousov and prime minister of Burkina Faso, Apollinaire J. Kyelem de Tambela, met in Moscow to talk about the subject.
Russia is the second-largest supplier of weapons to sub-Saharan Africa. Last year Vladmir Putin said that Moscow had inked military-technical agreements with 40 African countries.
The Tour de Faso is ten stages long, running from Friday October 25 until November 3. A rider from the CSKA Moscow team was third on Saturday’s second stage.
The race had been held since 1987. It was ranked 2.2 on the UCI calendar but now no riders will receive ranking points.
