Pavel Sivakov shares emotional message regarding conflict in Ukraine

One of the most prominent Russian pro cyclists Pavel Sivakov has shared a message last night on social media regarding his thoughts on the current invasion of Ukraine by his home country.

On the 24th of February Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine by Russian Armed Forces previously concentrated along the borders Ukraine has from both Russia and Belarus, which has since taken this long-standing conflict to a new stage that is currently on the eyes of the entire world. In cycling the topic has not been widely covered, however all across social media calls of dissatisfaction have been heard regarding the presence of Gazprom - Rusvelo at the UAE Tour, being that it's main sponsor, Gazprom, is a Russian state-owned company. With Mathias Vacek's win yesterday at the race, the debate only seemed to flare up further, with no indication yet on whether any sanction will be applied to the Russian team.

Despite being born in San Donà di Piave, metropolitan area of Venice, and having resided in France for most of his life, Pavel Sivakov is a Russian citizen and has last night shared his thoughts on the ongoing conflict: "First of all I just want to say that I'm totally against the war and can't get around of what's going on with Ukraine, all my thoughts are with the Ukrainian people," he said. "Secondly I also want people to understand that most of the Russians only want peace and never asked for all this to happen, we shouldn't be targets of hate just because of our origin."

Sivakov completed the message by adding: "I know these few lines won't make a big difference to the current situation but I just wanted to share it. Peace."