Having previously appeared likely to be re-elected unopposed, former head of British Cycling Brian Cookson now has at least one challenger for the role of UCI President.
David Lappartient, currently leader of the Professional Cycling Council, a steering committee within the UCI comprising stakeholders from professional road cycling, has announced his intention to stand.
Lappartient was formerly the president of the French Cycling Federation between 2009 and 2017, a position he may have vacated with the intention of standing for the UCI’s top job.
He certainly doesn't lack for ambition; away from cycling the 44-year-old has already proved a shrewd and popular operator in French politics.
The move isn’t entirely unexpected, with many sources having tipped him as a possible contender. Lappartient has now released a detailed manifesto following the type already published by Cookson.
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However, in a recently circulated document he had already outlined his positions.
While echoing Cookson’s stated aims of restoring confidence in the sport, expanding women’s participation, and growing leisure cycling, he also promised to overhaul the governance of world cycling's governing body.
He stated; ‘My second point of action will be to place the UCI at the service of every national federation. In order to achieve this, the World Cycling Centre will play a key role in implementing a robust cooperative and solidarity programme that is meaningful to the federations.'
As such perhaps the main difference between the two will be that Lappartient appears willing to devolve some of the UCI’s current powers to the individual national federations.
Having so far only served a single term Cookson had proved a popular leader at the UCI. Replacing Patrick "Pat" McQuaid, he billed himself as a reform candidate for an organisation that had for years suffered from allegations of corruption and cronyism.
However, recent months have taken some of the shine off of the incumbent president. Investigations into British Cycling covering the time during which Cookson was in charge have proved damaging, with Damian Collins MP, the former chair of the Culture, Media, and Sport select committee saying he should not be re-elected.
He’ll now have to defeat Lappartient if he wants to retain the role.
Outside of cycling Lappartient is a member of France's Republican party and mayor of Sarzeau, a town in Brittany.
First elected in 2008, he was re-elected to the position in 2014 with 71.31% of the votes. Indeed Lappartient has a pretty good track record of winning elections, never having lost one, either in the field of cycling or conventional politics.
Born 31st May 1973 in north-west France, Lappartient initially trained as a surveyor. He comes from a family of cyclists and has himself raced, while in his twenties he assisted as a timekeeper at the Tour de France.
As a cycling official Lappartient has advocated growing existing races, rather than attempting introduce them to areas with little cycling heritage, as has occasionally happened under the direction of previous UCI presidents.
While head of the French federation he also banned ear pieces at the country’s national championship races.