UCI chief McQuaid seeking re-election

Pat McQuaid has been nominated for a third term as president of cycling’s world governing body on the condition he overhauls the UCI, after both he and the organisation were heavily scrutinised following the Lance Armstrong scandal.

The Irish official has been under fire since a US Anti-Doping Agency report last year detailed systematic doping by Armstrong, who subsequently was banned from cycling for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

The report alleged that Armstrong paid $125,000 to the UCI to cover up a positive test from the 2001 Tour of Switzerland.

Doping concerns

But McQuaid’s bid was endorsed by Cycling Ireland late Friday, although it said “anti-doping was a huge, huge issue.”

“All the big points that everybody knows about (were discussed): USADA, just how Armstrong got away with that for so long, why it wasn’t uncovered by the UCI,” Cycling Ireland spokesman Anthony Moran said.

The Irish body didn’t disclose McQuaid’s answers to those questions, but he has previously denied any improper collusion with Armstrong.

And McQuaid pledged Saturday to commit himself to “combating the scourge of doping.”

“I have set an ambitious agenda to continue developing the sport and to ensure that it remains at the forefront of the fight against doping in sport,” McQuaid said in a statement.

“I look forward to presenting myself for election.”

No rivals have emerged yet ahead of the September election.

Moran said McQuaid’s nomination came with “caveats regarding governance attached.”

McQuaid was asked to support a rule change that would restrict future UCI presidents from serving more than two four-year terms, and prevent anyone sitting on the organisation’s management board for more than 16 years.

McQuaid has been embroiled in a long-running spat with the World Anti-Doping Agency after the UCI shut down its independent doping panel to set up a separate amnesty-style “truth and reconciliation commission.”

The Irish body wants “an independent review of the system of internal controls and processes at the UCI, with the findings to be published and the recommendations implemented.