On September 12, 2021, a well-legged although somewhat short Pavel Sivakov completed the road race of the European Championships in Trento (Italy), an honorable 9th place at the key. Decked out in the white and red bib with the “Russia” logo, he does not yet know that he has just raced for the last time in official competition under the Russian flag. For years Pavel Sivakov had hoped for French sports naturalization. His request was finally heard by the International Cycling Union (UCI) this Friday: the 24-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider is now registered under a French license.
There is no doubt that the Ukrainian conflict has accelerated the game, as Sivakov himself recalls: “I had wanted to become French for some time and I had already applied to the UCI, but given what is happening in Ukraine at the moment, I wanted to speed things up”, he says on the Ineos website, while thanking “the UCI and the Ineos Grenadiers team of [l’]supporting this process and helping to make it a reality”.
Like his compatriot Aleksandr Vlasov – now the only Russian cyclist in the WorldTour peloton (the first world division) – Sivakov quickly positioned himself against the Kremlin. As soon as Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory, he split an Instagram post: “I just want to say that I am totally against the war and I cannot dodge what is happening in Ukraine. All my thoughts are with the Ukrainian people. […] I also want to make it clear that most Russians only want peace and have never asked for any of this to happen. We shouldn’t be targets of haters just because of where we’re from.”
“We know its potential”
Concretely, this means that Sivakov will now be able to appear on the starting line of the French championships, and above all to represent France at major international meetings such as the world championship and the Olympic Games. Not a small reinforcement, when you know the pedigree of the guy: since he turned pro four years ago, this good climber, specialist in stage races, has already compiled a Tour of Poland (2019), a Tour of the Alps (2019) and a top 10 on a grand tour (9th in the Giro 2019).
The boss of the France team, Thomas Voeckler, is delighted with this “additional benefit” nearby Parisian. “Without betraying a big secret, I had already been in discussion with Pavel for several months, but this acceleration is a very good thing when you know its potential.” Especially since, due to the context, the UCI has relaxed its regulations concerning the change of sports nationality. Russian or Belarusian athletes with another nationality on February 28 can now wear their new colors in the next competitions without waiting for the traditional one-year period.
This is precisely the case of Sivakov, who has had dual French-Russian nationality since 2017. Until now, he has been racing under the Russian flag (he even has a title of junior Russian champion, in time trial) without having ever lived in Russia. He was born in the Venice region in San Donà di Piave, to Russian parents and cycling professionals, like him. His mother, Aleksandra Koliaseva, can boast of a double crown of world champion in the team time trial (in 1993 and 1994) with the Russian selection.
His father, Alexei, displays a more confidential career. However, it was when the latter landed a contract with Saint-Michel-Auber 93, a historic formation in the Parisian suburbs, that the family moved to France. With Pavel Sivakov, just 1 year old. “France is where I grew up and studied, where I fell in love with cycling, which led me to competition. It’s like home,” abounds Sivakov on the Ineos website.
“A dream of racing for France”
He spent most of his childhood in Haute-Garonne. In Soueich, in the family home, and in neighboring Saint-Gaudens, where he acquired his first cycling license, around the age of 13. Several successes in well-known races (the Junior Tour of Flanders and the Junior Tour of Upper Austria in 2015) opened the doors to him for the BMC Development team, the reserve formation of the BMC Racing team, before signing his first pro contract with the juggernaut Sky, in 2018.
Given his young age and his promising results, some observers think that he could, in the future, take part in the big battles in three-week races, such as the Tour de France. Even aim for the general. For the moment, Sivakov has a poor memory of the Grande Boucle: for his first participation on the occasion of the 2020 edition, he fell in the first stage before suffering the rest of the race. Listening to him, he has another ambition: “It would be a dream to race in Paris at the 2024 Olympics for France.” And bring back a medal?