Movistar Team Women announced Monday that Sofia Bertizzolo will not be able to compete for the Spanish team in 2020 due to legal restrictions.The 22-year-old Italian had signed a two-year contract with Movistar, but because of her contract with the Italian National Police, she has a full-time He is legally unable to hold two jobs.

Movistar, which is registered in Spain, is obligated to pay its players a minimum annual salary of €15,000 (employed) or €24,600 (self-employed) because it has applied to be the top team on the Women's World Team next year.

"In fact, Bertizzolo cannot in fact start a contract with the Blues on January 1, because the regulations regarding the UCI Women's WorldTour Team, the category that the Movistar team is aiming for in 2020 through its WWT license, prevent the existence of dual labor contracts." the statement from Movistar reads.

"After considering all options, the Movistar team can only wish Sofia success in her future sporting endeavors, as it has proven impossible to properly combine both situations."

Although riders are not allowed to work for other teams or advertise for other sponsors outside of their Women's World Team affiliation, Cycling News understands that there is no direct rule prohibiting riders contracted to the Women's World Team from having a secondary source of income, as UCI has not been issued by the UCI.

Cycling News understands that riders from countries with paid full-time contracts through their governments, such as Italy, Germany, and France, are not permitted to simultaneously have paid full-time employment contracts elsewhere.

Bertizzolo will either give up her government contract to sign with the Women's World Team, or instead compete for a second UCI Continental team that is not obligated to provide a base salary to its athletes.

Bertizzolo took to social media to confirm her situation, claiming that Italian law prevents women cyclists from signing professional contracts. She stated that while there are exceptions to this rule in Italy, such self-employment contract adjustments are not legal under Spanish employment law.

Movistar announced in August that Bertizzolo had signed a two-year contract through 2021. She is currently with Team Virtue Cycling, but was without a team for next season after Bjarne Riis announced that he would be terminating the women's program at the end of this year.

Movistar coach Sebastien Unzue said she was a priority signing for the team and would have been given the opportunity to develop her talent in the Classics finals and the sport's biggest stage races.

Bertizzolo, 21, finished the season third in the Women's World Tour Youth Class. This season she finished fourth in the Tour of Flanders, second in the opening stage of the Emmacmen Vila, and in the top 10 in the OVO Energy Women's Tour and Giro Rosa.

The women's roster for the 2020 Movistar team now includes 11 riders: three from the 2020 team, Katrine Allerud, Jelena Elich, and Barbara Guariski, and eight from the 2019 team: Ode Biernik, Alicia González, Shayla Gutierrez, Aider Merino, Lourdes Oyarbide, Paula Patiño, Gloria Rodriguez, and Alba Teruel.