Cookson: A new style of governance

The presidential race between the two contenders for the post as UCI president, Pat McQuaid and Brian Cookson, has been filled with accusations of corruption and bribery, escalating in the months leading up to the congress.

Pat McQuaid’s participation in the race was called in question up until the last vote was cast as he had failed to get backing from both the Swiss and the Irish cycling federation and his backing from the Moroccan and Taiwanese cycling federations needed a constitutional amendment to be legitimate.

Brian Cookson has been criticized for his close ties to head of the Russian cycling federation, Igor Makarov, who has supported his campaign publicly. ‘The Bergen document’, of which a resume was leaked just weeks before the election, claiming corruption stemming from the UCI top and explicitly naming Pat McQuaid and former UCI president Hein Verbrüggen, is supposedly collected by the Russian.

Few days before the election, the Cookson campaign was also hit by accusations of “subversive legal tactics and intimidation” from the head of the St. Lucia Cycling Association, Cyril Mangal. Several hours during the congress on Friday was spent on debating McQuaids eligibility in what Reuters described as a ‘farcical election process’, but in the end, Brian Cookson took the stage and urged the congress to skip to the vote.

The votes turned out 24 to 18 in favour of Cookson.

“Today was pretty disastrous to the image of the UCI,” Cookson said to velonews.com after the congress. “It was mishandled in so many ways. We heard all the arguments. We were going around in circles. I decided it was time to put the matter to the vote,” he said.

In his acceptance speech, Cookson laid forward his hopes to regain the public respect for the UCI:

“I have said throughout my campaign that we must embrace a new style of governance and a collegiate way of working so that a new era of growth and commercial success for the UCI and our sport can begin. Ultimately, that’s how we are going to grow our sport worldwide and get fans into cycling,” he said, writes velonews.com.

“My first priorities as president will be to make anti-doping procedures in cycling fully independent, sit together with key stakeholders in the sport, and work with [World Anti-Doping Agency] to ensure a swift investigation into cycling’s doping culture.”

SOURCES:

Reuters