Cyclist Rikunov: “We were expelled from the Trans-Himalaya after a complaint from a Colombian”

Russian cyclist Petr Rikunov told that the reason for his disqualification from the Trans-Himalaya stage race was his registration in a team with which he did not have a contract, something the Colombian rider complained about to the Cycliste Union International (UCI).

Rikunov and Andrey Stepanov compete for Yunnan Lvshan Landscape at the Trans-Himalaya. They started for Chengdu CCN, but were disqualified after the first stage.

— We finished the first stage, moved to another hotel and at half past midnight the team chat started to break up. It turns out that a Colombian rider filed a complaint with the UCI about why we were going to the race.

– You have the right? Or is there something wrong with neutral status?

– That’s not the problem. We have a contract with a Chinese team, and we started for the second part, there is a different sponsor in the name. The Federation gave the green light, there were no problems, but the Colombian rider wrote a letter. Out of frustration or something else, because we were competitors. We have been informed that it is impossible to compete with a team’s valid contract even in such a situation. The UCI quickly reviewed this letter, the commissioner contacted the team during the night and at breakfast he met us and told us that the rules are the rules and that we were excluded from the race. It’s a shame, we could have fought for the general classification.

— They didn’t tell you that they would apply additional sanctions?

– No. The result was simply canceled. Surprisingly, another rider, a Chinese, was not eliminated in exactly the same situation,” Rikunov told .