Any question answered...

IIRC a couple of riders were penalised a few years ago during the world championships for riding in support of a member of their trade team (italy?) rather than their national team. Could someone please remind me who was involved and when this was? It's a bit hard to search for without those tidbits.

Cheers

It was Charly Wegelius and Tom Southam at the 2005 Worlds in Madrid. They rode for the Italians, who allegedly paid them rather well for their services.

There was no penalty imposed during the race, but afterwards there were repercussions within British Cycling which saw them banned from riding for their country again and then team manager John Herety lost his job.