Ineos Grenadiers rider Pavel Sivakov has changed his cycling nationality from Russian to French.
The move has been approved by cycling’s world governing body the UCI.
The 24-year-old, who grew up in France, has made the move amid Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
“I have wanted to become a French national for some time and had made the request to the UCI. Given what is happening in the Ukraine at the moment, I wanted to fast track this,” he said.
“I was born in Italy and moved to France when I was one year old.
“France is where I grew up and was educated and where I fell in love with riding my bike which led me to racing. It feels like my home.”
The UCI has banned Russian or Belarusian national teams from taking part in any event on the UCI calendar and stripped UCI status from six teams from those countries.
However, the UCI has said that riders from those countries on other teams can compete as neutrals.
The UCI added: “The UCI management committee has decided to introduce a specific regulation enabling Russian and Belarusian licence-holders with multiple nationalities to request a change to their sporting nationality without any restriction.
“It will be possible to accelerate the procedure concerning this measure, which already exists in the UCI regulations.”
Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
“As I have previously said, I am totally against this war and all my thoughts are with the Ukrainian people,” said Sivakov.
“Like most people around the world right now, I hope for peace and a swift end to the suffering happening in Ukraine.”
