‘Israeli’ cycling team banned from Italian race in Bologna

‘Israel’ Premier Tech have been excluded from the Giro dell'Emilia cycling race on October 4 in Italy for safety reasons, the organisers told AFP on Saturday.

Adriano Amici, president of GS Emilia which organises the one-day race, said the team "will unfortunately not be present at our race. We had to make this decision for reasons of public security".

"It's a decision I regret having to make from a sporting perspective, but I had no other choice for public safety,” said Adriano Amici, president of GS Emilia.

"There's too much danger for both the Israel Tech riders and others. The race's final circuit is run five times so the possibility of the race being disrupted is very high.

This week, Bologna's local government, controlled by the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) called for Israel-Premier Tech's exclusion, citing "the Israeli government as guilty of serious crimes against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip."

The city’s sports councillor welcomed the decision to exclude the team.

"Given what is happening in Gaza it would have been hypocritical to consider the presence of a team linked to this (Israeli) government as insignificant," Roberta Li Calzi said.