President of the UCI 2013 - 2017

When, in 2013, I decided to stand for election as President of the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), I did so because the sport’s international governing body was in turmoil. Its credibility had reached rock bottom, thanks to the numerous doping scandals that had captured the attention of the world. The sport’s place in the Olympic Games had even been questioned. It was clear that major changes had to be made to the sport’s governance, and to achieve this it was equally clear that new leadership was needed.

I stood on a clear manifesto of promises and commitments, and I am proud of the achievements made during my period of office from 2013-2017. At the end of my term, the organisation had been stabilised and its reputation rebuilt. Crucial reforms had been made to governance, a major independent review of the doping problem had been commissioned and its recommendations acted upon, a new Code of Ethics had been introduced and our relationship with the Olympic movement had been dramatically improved to the extent that we were granted four new medal events, making cycling the third-largest sport in the Games.

I worked with a highly competent team of staff, led by Director-General Martin Gibbs, supported by some excellent colleagues on the UCI Management Committee, with many superb external contributors to the UCI’s Commissions. Here are the key elements of what we achieved together during that period.

➤ Perhaps the most important of my commitments was a more open and transparent UCI. Many changes were needed to achieve this. To demonstrate maximum accountability, the format of the annual reports was brought into line with the highest Swiss accounting standards, and contained much more information than previously. It was released earlier in the calendar year than before. These reports serve as an excellent record of all the achievements that the UCI and its partners made together over those four years. On the UCI website you can view each of those reports, giving a detailed view of the multi-discipline, multi-faceted, complex ecosystem that is the world of cycling and the UCI.

➤ Another key commitment I made was to prioritise the restoration of the UCI’s credibility – an absolutely essential step, given the disastrous state of our reputation at the time. The period leading up to the 2013 elections was a very difficult one, with accusations of serious wrongdoing concerning anti-doping and a presidential election weighed down by controversies. I addressed those allegations head-on and ensured that a highly respected team of completely independent professionals, the Cycling Independent Reform Commission, investigated them thoroughly. Their report, published on time and on budget, was published in full exactly as the Commission produced it, with no editing or redacting by me or anyone else at the UCI. Most importantly, its recommendations for change were acted upon. You can see the full report here:

➤ CIRC Report to the President of the Union Cycliste Internationale 2015

➤ The UCI announces further anti-doping measures following CIRC report and recommendations 2015


➤ In fact from my very first day in office, I worked very quickly to rebuild relations with the World Anti Doping Agency at every level – Presidential and operational – and ensured that we became a highly trusted partner within the anti-doping community, with agreements in place with numerous National Anti Doping Organisations to exchange information to make our work more efficient.


➤ One of my first decisions as President was to commission a full independent audit of our anti-doping operations by the Institute of National Anti Doping Organisations. Following that audit and the subsequent changes made, we had in place an anti-doping structure regarded as a model for other federations, led by the fully independent Cycling Anti Doping Foundation to which we had delegated responsibility for all testing and investigations. This ruled out the possibility of any conflicts of interest between our role of developing and governing the sport, and the role of policing it in this most important way. Neither I nor any other member of the UCI Management Committee had any role in the CADF and could not interfere in its activities in any way – a model which the IOC and WADA are now pursuing for all sports. Our work in this area was extensive. Other examples of the positive changes we put in place are the creation of the independent Anti Doping Tribunal to ensure consistency and transparency, also close to halving the time taken to deal with doping cases, and the complete overhaul of the process for granting Therapeutic Use Exemption Certificates (TUEs), which was passed to the CADF with a strict requirement for unanimity amongst an independent panel of three doctors - a crucial difference from previous practices.


➤ On my broader commitments to credibility and governance I am proud to have overseen a complete revision of the UCI Constitution. We were one of the first international sporting federations to establish term limits for its president and we put in place a more equal distribution of voting representation, globally. The election process itself was clearly defined and structures put in place to ensure it was transparent and robust. We introduced a new, comprehensive, and far-reaching Ethics Code, and an Ethics Commission made up largely of people who were completely independent of cycling. I also put an end to cash payments for expenses, and insisted on fully audited accounts for the Continental Confederations and any initiative funded by the UCI or its commissions.


➤ To ensure that athletes were properly represented we made a complete change to the Athletes’ Commission, so that the members became directly elected by their peers at the World Championships for each discipline. I appointed at least one athlete to every other commission, and the President of the Athletes Commission was given a seat at the UCI Management Committee.


➤ I committed to make the development of women’s cycling a key priority, and we implemented this across the work of the UCI. I appointed the first ever woman Vice President of the UCI, former professional rider Tracey Gaudry. In governance and administration, through the creation of the Women’s Commission she chaired, we dedicated internal resource and ensured women were present across all our Commissions. I appointed a woman, the excellent Amina Lanaya, as Deputy Director-General, the highest staff position ever held by a woman at the UCI. We brought male/female parity to prize money across our World Championships, and we established dedicated training and education courses for women. A women’s Madison was added to the Track World Championships and gained an immediate place on the Olympic programme. In addition we worked especially hard in an area where gender imbalance was particularly pronounced, elite road cycling. Our commitment and investment began to bear fruit, with the UCI Women’s WorldTour well established and exponential growth in this discipline.

➤ I promised to be a forward-looking President and to embrace change. When I was elected the UCI’s website was outdated and incompatible with how most people use it - on their smart-phones. We had almost no social media presence. That was transformed, giving the UCI a fan base of 2 million, with tremendous unique content at our events to drive audience engagement. In those four years we brought on-board cameras into the racing of our road and track World Championships and more broadly we changed the image of the UCI as regards technology.

➤ Following many discussions, through the Commissions and elsewhere, we were no longer seen by the cycle industry as a conservative barrier to change but as a governing body that wanted to enable development, whilst of course retaining the basic principles and primacy of human athletic performance.


➤ Our co-operative relationship with the industry was also key in developing the systems we devised and employed to check large numbers of bikes at races for technological fraud, sometimes known as motorised doping. Where before the UCI actually had no rules governing this, nor any significant detection plans, I left the UCI with clear rules and sanctions coupled with efficient and widely deployed methods of detection.


➤ We looked closely at all our disciplines to make the changes necessary to make them as engaging as possible to fans. Significant rule changes were implemented in BMX and Track where we also made major changes to the structure of the World Cup. The integration of BMX Freestyle and the establishment of the UCI Urban World Championships were examples of my readiness to change and modernise, opening up newer forms of competitive cycling to the wider world. In recognition of this, the IOC added BMX Freestyle to the Olympic programme.


➤ Another significant success in modernisation was the changes we made to the UCI Hour Record, which had stagnated under a confusing set of rules for many years. We simplified the rules in 2014, following which we had multiple attempts by high profile champions, the first by Jens Voigt restoring this record to the iconic status it held historically.

➤ The UCI’s portfolio of World Championships and World Cups across our different disciplines produced consistently spectacular racing and distinguished champions, with the prestige of each of these events and the rainbow jersey ever stronger.


➤ These many initiatives, supported by a complete overhaul of our financial reporting and controls, and by our revitalised brand and new digital platforms, enabled us to strengthen the financial position of the UCI.


➤ We transformed the financial viability of our MTB and Cyclo-cross properties, positioning both for future growth.


➤ We strengthened our relationships with our partner family, bringing in more resources to the UCI, and entered into a long-term broadcast rights agreement with EBU and IMG, bringing not only greater revenue but ensuring the widest audience for our growing portfolio of events.


➤ This combination of strong cost control and increased revenue provided a robust platform from which the UCI could invest in the development of cycling.


➤ Even removing the impact of the revenues from the Olympic Games, the UCI’s financial performance improved during my period as President, and that despite the significant negative impact of the strengthening of the Swiss Franc. Looking ahead after four years in office, the agreements we put in place, and the changes we made, gave every reason for an optimistic financial outlook.


➤ I promised to concentrate on growing cycling worldwide. By committing an extra 1 million CHF (Swiss Francs) investment in the UCI’s Continental Federations for National Federation development, I demonstrated the importance of cycling’s grassroots structures. To manage this effectively, I established a new International Development Department to create closer links with our Federations, initiated regular communications via our National Federations Newsletter and ensured regular knowledge sharing platforms on all continents.


➤ Investment in the UCI World Cycling Centre was increased and the number of young athletes from around the world, particularly developing nations, was consequently boosted. We had had a similar increase in the number of coaches and for the first time ever we had all female training camps, para cycling camps, new cyclocross camps and more courses for mechanics and commissaires.


➤ We also invested in bringing over nations that would otherwise not have been able to compete at the 2016 UCI World Junior Track Championships for a special camp prior to that event.


➤ To reach out further across the world and build talent pathways to the UCI WCC we continued to develop satellite centres. The Delhi satellite opened in 2016 and as part of our partnership with Wanda Sports in China a new Chinese satellite was agreed and planned to transform the opportunities for athletes from that region.


➤ The success of this work to develop cycling across the world was demonstrated by the fact that a record number of nations participated in the cycling events at the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games.


➤ By 2017, 11 riders in men’s WorldTour Teams were graduate trainees of the UCI World Cycling Centre, while we also saw Olympic and World Championship medals won by our graduate trainees in Track, BMX and Mountain Bike disciplines, and I was optimistic that this number would grow.


➤ We worked hard to develop men’s elite road cycling as one of the flagships of our sport. For many years this has been a complex area, with many entrenched and sometimes differing views among the stakeholders of this discipline. But the changes which were introduced during my period in office moved us substantially in the right direction, and we saw exciting and dramatic racing in events both new and old. The UCI Men’s WorldTour finally began to earn its name as a genuinely global series, bringing in new exciting races across the world, in addition to the predominantly European monuments and grand tours, all of which thrived.


➤ New operational standards were introduced for both organisers and teams, with a particular emphasis on rider safety, and with it came enhanced stability to stakeholders through our regulations to encourage investment.


➤ All this was underpinned by the ceaseless work to protect the credibility of our sport, so crucial for the continued growth and investment needed to compete for the attention and passion of fans.


➤ And finally, whilst the primary role of the UCI will always be as the international governing body for competitive sport, the UCI’s role was broadened, revitalised and enhanced, through our new Advocacy and Mass Participation Events Commissions, as a promoter and enabler of cycling for all levels of ability, as a means of transport and as a simply pleasurable and healthy activity. In 2015, the UCI Bike City label was relaunched and 8 new cities and regions were awarded the status by 2017.

So, compare the above with the promises and commitments that I made in 2013, remember the disastrous and controversy-ridden state of the UCI at that time, and I believe that you will see that great progress was made in those four years. The UCI was transformed.

Of course, at the end of that period there remained things I wanted to achieve. Four years was not enough time to see through all the changes and make the progress that I would have liked to have made. But at the 2017 UCI Congress the majority of the 45 voting delegates decided otherwise. Politics in sport can be as challenging as politics in any other environment. For whatever reasons, sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. I am proud that in those four years my colleagues and I put in place many changes which will benefit the sport and the UCI for years to come, and I wish my successor as UCI President every success in his endeavours.