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UCI to investigate racism complaint against Team Sky rider Gianni Moscon

World cycling's governing body reacts to incident involving FDJ's Gianni Moscon at Tour of Romandie on Friday...

World cycling's governing body, the UCI, says it will investigate a complaint of racism against Team Sky rider Gianni Moscon following an incident at the Tour of Romandie on Friday.

The 23-year-old Italian is alleged to have made racist comments to FDJ's Kevin Reza following the end of Stage 3 of the Swiss race, won by Team Sky's Elia Viviani.

> Team Sky rider Moscon apologises for racially abusive language

Reza can be seen remonstrating with Moscon in a video posted to Twitter by Team Sky showing its riders helping Viviani celebrate his victory.

Swiss rider Sebastien Reichenbach, a team mate of Reza's at FDJ, tweeted in response to that video that he was "Shocked to still hear imbeciles using racist insults in the pro peloton. You are a disgrace to our sport," he added. 

While Reza accepted a subsequent apology from Moscon and FDJ said that it wished to bring the issue to a close in accordance with its rider's wishes, Cycling News said that the UCI had confirmed to it that the it would investigate the incident.

In an email, the governing body said: "The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) expects everyone in its sport to respect the highest standards of ethics and conduct. Racial abuse has no place in cycling or any other sport and any such complaint will be investigated and sanctioned if substantiated."

Moscon was due to attend a formal disciplinary hearing with Team Sky's senior management in Manchester today.

The UCI WorldTour outfit, which confirmed that Moscon had used racially abusive language, said in a statement ahead of the hearing: "This is an issue the team is taking extremely seriously. A formal disciplinary process began immediately."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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JacktheHat | 7 years ago
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But then surely that's saying it's not as bad to racially abuse someone in the heat of the moment than not?  If he hurled a racial slur in any circumstance he deserves at least the three month penalty.

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Jamminatrix | 7 years ago
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Was the confrontation a result of the racial slur, or was it at the confrontation that the racial slur was used? There seems to be almost zero info about what actually happened. If Moscon hurled a slur out of the blue, he needs more than the three months penalty.

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