Alessandro Fedeli had a completely different birthday in mind. The day was for him to play his chances in the Trophy Laigueglia and used it as a launch pad towards the Tirreno-Adriatico , Milan-Sanremo, the two main objectives of his season. The Gazprom-RusVelo she was not invited to the Giro d'Italia, therefore RCS's spring races would have been one of the key points of 2022. The way to shake off the Delko bankruptcy and relaunch his career.
Team stopped
The Russian war in Ukraine forced him to revise his plans: team suspended, impossible to know until when. As soon as the world began to close its doors to Russian banks, companies, interests in the world, it began to be understood that also the team of Renat Khamidulin could have some problems.
«The other day – says the Veronese – I did 7 hours and 20 minutes of training preparing for the SanremoI'm starting to think I'll never become what I hoped I would. My dreams are shatteredI turned 26, which is quite a feat in cycling these days. Maybe younger riders have time to get back on track, but I don't know at this point. Even if they let us start again, the most important races of our season are gone».
Remove the writings
Yesterday morning, following the news that Look would withdraw its sponsorship from the team, The mechanics rushed to remove all the writing from the team cars and the bikesThe Gazprom-RusVelo athletes were on their way to Laigueglia, while others were at home. Malucelli, for example, was working for the Milan-Turin match and had the first inkling of trouble upon returning from training.In the meantime, the team has taken steps to buy white, plain clothing, brought to Laigueglia by a masseur, to ensure that at least non-Russian riders could race. The sponsor had given the green light, but not the International Cycling Union..
«They didn't use the slightest tact – Fedeli continues – I would like to know at this point why Russian riders from German or British teams can continue to raceIt's a measure that fuels hatred in an environment that is accustomed to the mixing of nationalities. In our team there are Italians, Russians, and boys from the Czech Republic like Vacek who won in UAE and also Costa Rica. The headquarters are in Italy, the flagship cars have Italian plates and the money comes from Germany. I can only say good things about my team. Until last night they were doing everything they could to make us run, they would have agreed to go the whole year without writing on shirts, cars and bikes. And while we were there trying to understand, at 4:30 pm the UCI met and at 7 pm they told us to leave."
Out of everything
With a statement issued yesterday evening, in fact, the team was stripped of its UCI team status, being effectively banned from all official demonstrations. The text does not allow for major replies. It is foreseen the ban on displaying writings and graphics of sponsors attributable to Russia and Belarus, so the team's makeshift look would have been in line with the measure. However, the team's exclusion from the UCI rankings puts a damper on any negotiations.
The situation is different for Russian athletes registered with foreign teams, such as Vlasov at Bora and Sivakov at Ineos. At that point the birthday stopped being a priority, Fedeli got back in the car and returned home at four in the morning.
Disappointment to understand
Regardless of the causes that triggered it, What is happening in Ukraine is despicable and in our opinion there are no mitigating circumstances that can alleviate the gravity of the situation. of actions. In recent days, Van Aert and Jakobsen, as well as Sivakov today, said important words of solidarityBut it's one thing to talk when you're far from the front, it's another to be there.
«I'm on the team's side – says Fedeli – and I can't say anything about the warWe were ready to run, but now the desire to train has passedLet's see what happens. I came back from the Tour of Antalya with Covid. As soon as it was over, the team spent a lot of money to send four of us to Teide. All wasted! If the prospect is of not racing for a long time, it's worth disconnecting and recoveringI'm fine, I was fine. But of course, for my birthday, I imagined a very different ending."
