UCI: France's David Lappartient launches bid to oust Brian Cookson from presidency

David Lappartient, a former president of the French cycling federation (FFC) and currently occupying the same role at the UEC, the European confederation of national governing bodies, has launched a challenge to Brian Cookson's leadership of the UCI.

The Frenchman's move has been widely anticipated for a number of months, with Cookson having already said he will stand for re-election at the UCI World Congress in Bergen, Norway, where the Road World Championships are being held in November.

Lappartient became a vice-presdent of the UCI in 2013 after helping Cookson beat the incumbent president, Pat McQuaid.

But he and others have questioned  Cookson's leadership, and in his manifesto, launched today, he said: "I have always voiced my concerns on the various challenges I have witnessed at UCI, and as a vice-president of the organisation, I have been made aware of a number of issues that must be urgently addressed if cycling is to remain a credible sport.

"It is crucial that we have at UCI a President with a real leadership, who is truly engaged and with a clear vision for cycling."

Lappartient went on to outline the key areas of his electoral campaign, as follows:

The programme which I will soon have the honour to present to you will demonstrate a real ambition for cycling.

Cycling is one of the key Olympic sports. I want to make UCI a strong and well-respected federation by improving its governance and regain its capacity of influence in the Olympic movement.

UCI must be at the service of the national federations. It is its primary vocation! And I will endeavour to develop the mission of the World Cycling Centre and to strengthen solidarity programmes.

Together we will make cycling the sport of the 21st Century. It is up to us to develop this sport with such an enormous potential.

Professional road cycling is the highlight of our sport. However, the recent reforms have unfortunately failed to meet the challenges we are facing with, in this discipline. In collaboration with the different stakeholders, I will put in place fundamental and ambitious changes to improve road cycling.

Finally, I will be relentless when it comes to guaranteeing the credibility and accuracy of race results! We must be unshakable when dealing with technological fraud, doping or the potential manipulation of results related to sports betting. It is the mission of UCI to guarantee these core values.

I will be strongly committed to my role as your leader and will make the changes we need in cycling.

Aged 44, Lappartient is active in local politics in his native Britanny, where he has been mayor of the small coastal town of Sarzeau for the past decade and he sits on the departmental council of Morbihan.

He was president of the FFC from 2005 until March this year - his decision not to stand for re-election was interpreted widely as heralding a bid to challenge Cookson - and has led the UEC since 2013.