Bologna city councillor Roberta Li Calzi expressed support for the organizers’ decision to exclude the Israeli-sponsored squad from the single-day Italian competition. “We believe that sport is a vehicle of universal values of sharing, fair competition, solidarity between people,” Li Calzi stated Saturday, according to CBC Sports. Race organizers had formally confirmed to city officials that the Israeli squad would not participate in the upcoming Giro dell’Emilia. “I thank them for this sensitivity, which I believe is shared by a large part of our community,” Li Calzi added in her statement to CBC Sports.
