The British often have a taste for the symbolic. Brian Cookson is no exception. The English leader, boss of British Cycling for sixteen years, chose Paris to unveil his electoral program for the presidency of the International Cyclist Union. He did it in the very rococo living room of a hotel on Boulevard Haussmann, located a stone's throw from the building where the UCI was created one day in 1900.
In broad terms, the “manifesto” of Brian Cookson, 61, holds few surprises. Candidate to succeed Irishman Pat McQuaid, the Briton has built his program around a dual mission, “Restore trust, lead change”, and six promises:
Restoring confidence in the UCI
Transforming cycling’s anti-doping policy
Develop cycling all over the world
Develop women's cycling
Restructuring elite road cycling
Strengthen the credibility of cycling and its influence within the Olympic movement.
Unifying but expected. Precise but quite classic. In detail, the Briton turns out to be more daring. He is, in fact, committed to creating a completely independent anti-doping unit, managed and governed outside the UCI, in close collaboration with WADA. This unit would be physically and politically separate from the UCI, responsible for all aspects of anti-doping and would report to a Council completely independent of the UCI. Presenting himself as a champion of fairness and transparency, Brian Cookson even swears that he wants to make it his “priority as president. »
In the same vein, the Englishman undertakes to “open an independent investigation into the allegations according to which the UCI helped to cover up infringements of the anti-doping regulations”. And, by the way, “put an end to the UCI’s public feuds with anti-doping bodies such as WADA, AFLD and USADA. » In short, cleaning in front of the door of the institution. With the desire, obvious without being expressed, to put an end to the Pat McQuaid years once and for all.
Brian Cookson also promises to introduce “a series of good governance measures including the disclosure of all my financial interests, all of my remuneration and all potential conflicts of interest in relation to my role as Chairman . » Clever, he swears on the Bible that he wants to increase the budget of the World Cycling Center, to accommodate more riders from developing countries. »
Other projects: trying to obtain the return to the Olympic program of certain excluded disciplines, such as the individual pursuit and the points race, and campaigning for the entry into the Games of new events, such as BMX Freestyle or MTB Eliminator.
Finally, Brian Cookson likes to give himself an image as a resolutely feminist candidate. He promises to create a Women's Cycling Commission, to appoint at least one woman to each UCI Commission, to establish a minimum salary for professional road racers as well as to formalize correct and modern working conditions.
Credible? At first glance, surely. Sufficient ? The future will answer. Brian Cookson has several weeks ahead of him to lead his campaign, before the election for UCI president, scheduled for the world championships in September 2013 in Florence. The Briton should be able to count on the support of A.S.O, the organizing company of the Tour de France, a key player in world cycling. Several of its representatives had made the trip to the 9rd district of Paris, Monday June 24, to listen to its program. Among them, Yan le Moenner, its president.
