The UCI ProTour second-tier team began legal proceedings against the UCI at CAS on September 1, claiming their suspension was a "political decision" and that there was "no logic in it."

A date for CAS’s decision has not yet been set, but similar cases involving other sports have usually had a result after six months, meaning that both parties are expecting the decision imminently.

"It’s about how legal the decision was, and if the management of the UCI made the decision according to their emotions or because they wanted to do something in favour of the International Olympic Committee’s [IOC] recommendations," the team’s general manager Renat Khamidulin, explained to Cycling Weekly via a translator.

"Was it legal?

"Was it fair?

"We wanted to participate in a completely white team kit with no sponsors.

"That would have been a real display for a new potential sponsor but this idea was rejected by the UCI.

"We clearly understood that it was about destroying our organisation."

To date, only 11 riders have found new teams, and only one of the nine Russian riders.

The team - whose principal sponsorship came from the German arm of Russia’s majority-state owned largest public business - are not seeking "really huge sums of money."

"It’s mostly taking into account the whole structure that we had with a lot of contracts, liabilities, transfer leasing," added Khamidulin, who said he was confident CAS would rule in the team’s favour.

"These losses in eight months were somehow covered and negotiated; if the CAS decision is in favour of the ex-team then it will cover that."

The UCI defended their handling of the process in a lengthy statement last May claiming that it offered a viable route to continue racing in the third tier and assisted the team and its riders at all times.