Brian Cookson was humiliated and sneaked out of the conference room of the conference hotel in Bergen’s historic Hanseatic quarter, after the Frenchman David Lappartient had swept him off the UCI throne.Particularly surprisingly, Cookson was deprived of power on the fringes of the road cycling World Championships in Norway, and the World Cycling Federation is now in French hands.
For the UCI, a new era is dawning after Cookson was widely rejected for his work in the four-year term of office. Lappartient received 37 votes from the 45 electoral delegates and only eight votes for the 66-year-old Briton – a crushing defeat.
“It’s an honor, I’m very grateful.It is a great responsibility, I will show myself to be worthy of this,”said the 44 year old former chairman of the European Cycling Union UEC:” This was not a photofinish, the message is clear and unequivocal.
Initially, Lappartient had not been expected to be able to prevent Cookson from holding a second term in office, and the former UCI CEO was confident that he would win, but apparently underestimated the influence of his more than 20 years younger rival.On Wednesday evening, there were more and more signs among the officials in Bergen that there would at least be a very close race.
“I am extremely disappointed, but proud of what has been achieved,”said Cookson after his re-election.Cycling is seen in a completely different light from the beginning of his presidency, he added:”I congratulate David Lappartient and hope that he will continue to develop cycling in the right direction”.
Cookson took over the UCI presidency in 2013 from the scandalous Irishman Pat McQuaid.The former head of the British association had planned to improve the badly damaged image of the association.At least on this point, Cookson was able to show some success, even though he could never dispel all remaining doubts about the independence of the World Federation’s Anti-Doping Agency.
Cookson also received a lot of criticism from other German cycling professionals such as Tony Martin.He neglected the important safety concerns in road cycling, was a reproach.The World Tour, the first league in cycling, is also an opaque chaos.No one could understand the racing series any more.
In his speech, Cookson was also more concerned with the globalisation of cycling and fundamental aspects of popular sport than with the association’s figurehead.Lappartient also criticized the UCI’s efforts to track down so-called engine doping as insufficient.The former head of the French federation promised to intensify efforts in the hunt for dopers, and he also said that corruption was fighting.
With its fresh and jovial style, the smart Lappartient is more convincing than the pale Cookson, who now embodies the knight’s aura of sadness rather than that of hope, which he was in 2013 after the memorable election at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.
One aspect, however, will also be closely observed at Lappartient: Are the rumours of an unhealthy proximity to the powerful French tour operator ASO only constructed – or will they prove themselves in the future?”I have a good relationship but no connection to the ASO,”Lappartient stressed.