Team KATUSHA has decided to take its rider Alexey Tsatevich out of the Giro d’Italia 2016 after yesterday’s incident at the individual time trial around Chianti. Alexey Tsatevich seriously violated the rules of riding an individual time trial by drafting on the wheel of another rider for a very long time.

The UCI race commissaires decided to penalize Alexey Tsatevich, according to UCI Article 12.1.040/40.1 (Failure to respect regulation distances and gaps between riders [slip-streaming]) with 100 CHF fine and 6 minutes 48 seconds penalty in the stage classification. Team KATUSHA however judged that this measure was not enough for such poor and unacceptable behavior and pulled the rider out of the race.

"First of all, on behalf of Team KATUSHA, I would like to apologize for Alexey Tsatevich’s behavior during the time trial. The way Tsatevich rode yesterday’s stage was absolutely unacceptable. First of all, he broke the clear rule, known by every professional rider. In addition, he also showed a great lack of respect for his rival, the rider who caught him on the course. Moreover, he absolutely ignored the team plan for the day, provided and requested by the sports director. His behavior has a huge and negative impact on the image of cycling in general and Team KATUSHA in particular. Accepting the commissaires penalty was not enough for us; we had to take more severe measures. It is not easy to enter the second week of the race with just 8 riders, but I am convinced we’ve made the right decision," said sports director Dmitry Konyshev.