A cyclist gives up his Russian citizenship and defends the colors of France
The British Ineos team announced today that its Russian rider Pavel Sivakov, one of the Russian riders in the Elite World Championship (First Class) in cycling, will defend the colors of France.
"I wanted to be French for a while and applied to the UCI, but given what is happening in Ukraine at the moment, I wanted to speed things up," Sivakov said.
Team Ineos said the UCI had agreed to change Sivakov's nationality on Wednesday.
Sivakov, 24, took his stand last week against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as did Alexander Vlasov (Bora), another Russian cyclist in the world elite.
"I was born in Italy and moved to France when I was one year old," Sivakov explained. "France is where I grew up and studied, and where I fell in love with cycling, which led me to compete. It's like I'm at home. I want to thank the Federation The international and the Ineos team for their support in this process."
“It would be a dream to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the colors of France,” said Sivakov, who won the 2019 Tour of Poland and was in the top ten of one of the Grand Prix (9th Giro Italia 2019).
"As I said before, I am totally against this war and my thoughts are with the Ukrainian people. Like most people around the world at this time, I hope for peace and a speedy end to the suffering in Ukraine," he concluded.
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