Cookson To Stand For Uci Presidency
The president of British Cycling, Brian Cookson, has announced he will stand to be the new president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), challenging Pat McQuaid for the role. Cookson claimed he wanted to restore credibility to the sport, which has been tarnished by a range of doping scandals in recent years.
Cookson said he made the decision following ‘widespread absence of confidence in the integrity of the organisation.’
He added: ‘The stakeholder consultation exercise held this year by the UCI has clearly demonstrated that there are many excellent aspects to the UCI, with much good work underway, but all of this has been severely compromised by the widespread absence of confidence in the integrity of the organisation.’
‘Against this backdrop, and after careful consideration, I have decided to stand for the Presidency of the UCI. This is because I passionately believe that the UCI needs to embrace a new way of doing things, and address, head on, some of the critical challenges facing our sport. We must restore cycling’s credibility. The first priority for the new UCI president must be to change the way that anti-doping is managed so that people can have confidence in the sport. We must also urgently carry out a fully independent investigation into the allegations of corruption in this area which have so damaged the UCI’s reputation.’
Cookson has been credited as the engineer behind Britain’s recent success in both track and road cycling and has promised a full investigation into the UCI’s reported involvement in a cover-up over the allegations surrounding Lance Armstrong: ‘Cycling is not the only sport with problems but if we don’t have a sport that parents can send their children to with absolute confidence then we are failing.’
The election for the position is due to take place this September during the UCI Congress.
