Breaking: Rusvelo team looking for new sponsor as they officially part ways with Gazprom

In a series of posts shared on social media this morning, the former Gazprom-Rusvelo team - who have had their UCI license removed - have officially announced to have parted ways with Gazprom and are looking to return to competition with a new title sponsor and nationality.

The team had previously stated they were prepared to race with neutral jerseys with no sponsorship or nationality representation, but there wasn't an agreement reached with the UCI. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, all teams of Russian and Belarusian nationality had their UCI license revoked, and some federations such as the Netherlands and Australia have prohibited athletes of those nations to compete in their territory.

As the highest profile team from those nations, and fresh off a widely successful UAE Tour which included a stage win from young Czech talent Mathias Vacek, Gazprom-Rusvelo were the team that took the biggest hit. Gazprom Germania, the team's main sponsor hails from Germany but has deep ties with the Russian state-owned oil company. The team have officially cut ties with the company, and have rebranded their social media name as 'Professional Cycling Team'.

This however does not mark the end of the team's existence, as they confirm to be "searching for a new team title sponsor", whilst some of their Italian riders have been racing in Italy under the national colours, and athletes resume their training albeit with little racing possibilities.

The team states once again that it "could be a messenger of peace", and that it "will continue searching for a new title sponsor. Together with a new team partner we will be able to return to immediately come back to racing under a new name and together decide which country our international team will be representing."