Netherlands joins Australia in banning Russian, Belarusian riders from racing in national territory

After all Russian and Belarusian teams and events were excluded of their UCI status, the list of sanctions to people from those two nations is tightening as they will not be allowed to race in the Netherlands and Australia until further notice.

The Royal Dutch Cycling Union as joined the strong measures that the IOC has recommended and, like Australia, has announced that riders from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to race in their territory. This can have consequences in the plans of the likes of Pavel Sivakov and Aleksandr Vlasov, to name a few, who will not be able to race the World Championships in Wollongong this year, but also the Vuelta a España as the three opening stages take place on Dutch territory. Adding to that, races like Amstel Gold Race and ZLM Tour are also out of boundaries, whilst in the women's field the Ronde van Drenthe and Simac Ladies Tour are also to have that rule.

"Meanwhile, our thoughts are first of all with everyone in Ukraine affected by this war. We hope that this terrible situation will come to an end soon," the KNWU - it's original acronym - stated.

Whether this measure will be followed by other nations is to be understood over the course of this week. All Russian and Belarusian athletes racing for teams of other countries are allowed to resume competition in all countries who do not follow this rule.