LeMond ready to run for UCI precidency

At a press conference held by newly formed organisation Change Cycling Now, Greg LeMond stated that he has been asked to and is ready to challenge Pat McQuaid as President of the UCI.

“Yes, I’m ready. I have been asked and I have accepted,” seven time Tour de France-winner, American Greg LeMond said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde after the Change Cycling Now press conference concluding this weekend’s summit gathering top personalities from cycling and anti-doping work in London.

“It’s now or never,” said LeMond, “…if we want to regain the confidence of the public and sponsors, we have got to act fast and be tough.”

According to LeMond, UCI president Pat Mcquaid should have stepped down from his seat in the international cycling body.

“He [McQuaid] should have said: 'Alright, I have made mistakes, but now I will step down and find another leader for the UCI,'” LeMond said according to Le Monde.

Although LeMond says he is ready to invest himself in the work of making the UCI "more democratic, more transparent", he admits that he might not be the best candidate for the job as president. He names IOC member and former WADA president Dick Pound as a possible candidate who possesses the necessary qualifications of being “beyond reach on the ethical plan, who has real on-the-ground experience of the fight against doping and corruption.”

An independent commission headed by Judge Philip Otton will look into UCI’s role in the Armstrong affair and a report is due by June 1, 2013. Greg LeMond was one several personalities at this weekend’s summit held by Cycling Change Now, an organisation fighting for a cultural and managerial change in cycling, formed on the initiative of Jamie Fuller, chairman of SKINS, the Australian company who hit the news when they launched a suit against the UCI for brand damage in the wake of the Lance Armstrong case.

More information:
Read the entire interview in LeMonde (in French)
Read AFP’s report about the interview
Read more about Change Cycling Now

See also:
"The worst things happen in cycling" Article on Greg LeMond's speech at Play the Game 2009 Watch Greg LeMond's speech at Play the Game 2009