He had promised an intense and offensive campaign. He keeps his word. Candidate for the presidency of the International Cycling Union (UCI), David Lappartient (photo above) opened hostilities on June 30 with a press conference in Düsseldorf, Germany, on the eve of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. France. The Frenchman detached the second stage of his rocket on Tuesday July 18. He presented his candidate program in detail.
In Düsseldorf, David Lappartient used irony by explaining, for his first outing to the international media, that his decision to launch the campaign had been partly motivated by a letter from his rival, the Briton Brian Cookson, president of the UCI since 2013 (photo below). “He sent me a letter inviting me to become a candidate for president if I thought I could better lead the UCI. I followed his invitation,” said the Breton.
In unveiling his program, David Lappartient chose a more sober tone and approach. The Frenchman does not directly cite his British rival in his introductory text, titled “The cycling of tomorrow is imagined today”. But he places at the top of the list of the document, 32 pages long, his desire to “strengthen the authority of the International Cycling Union with a president providing real leadership”. A direct criticism addressed to Brian Cookson, whom David Lappartient has long criticized for having left the keys of the house to the UCI administration.
For the rest, candidate Lappartient's program is structured around four axes, some taking up the themes developed by Brian Cookson in 2013, during his victorious campaign for the presidency of the organization.
The Frenchman wants to “put the International Cycling Union at the service of national federations” (axis 2). He wants to “make cycling the sport of the 21st century”, through the development of women’s cycling, the practice in society and all disciplines (axis 3). He promises to “have a real ambition for professional cycling” (axis 4). Finally, David Lappartient undertakes to “guarantee the credibility of the result and protect athletes” (axis 5).
Basically, the French and the British appear to be very close. The two applicants agree on the issues of women's cycling, urban practice, and the credibility of a sport that has been shaken for too long by doping cases. Both want to strengthen the place of the discipline in the Olympic Games.
Over the next two months, the battle should not linger long in the field of ideas. Before the UCI vote, scheduled for September 21, 2017 in Bergen, Norway, the campaign could move towards a duel of personalities. Brian Cookson will highlight his results at the end of a first mandate considered positive. The Briton presented his program at the beginning of June. He assures that the UCI has become “stronger, cleaner and more transparent” since his election in 2013. Opposite, David Lappartient will attack him on his discreet and measured way of embodying power.
At 44, the Frenchman imagines the presidency of the UCI as the next level in a career as a man in a hurry. Joining the UCI steering committee in September 2005, at the age of 32, he took over the office of president of the French Cycling Federation (FFC) four years later. He was re-elected this year, by acclamation, for a second term as president of the European Cycling Union.
At 66, Brian Cookson confided that a second term at the head of the UCI, in the event of victory at the Bergen Congress, would be his last. The Briton recruited an English public relations agency, Calacus, specializing in sport, to support him in his campaign.
