European Cycling Union elects president

The European Cycling Union (UEC) held its General Assembly on March 8 in Pruszkow, Poland, and elected Wojciech Walkiewicz to its new president. He takes over from Vladimir Holecek, who has reached UEC's age limit for the post. Walkiewicz was the only presidential candidate.

The Assembly also elected the UEC Management Committee. The new members are Daniel Baal (France, former president of the French Cycling Federation FFC), Michael Concannon (Ireland), Madis Leopajoe (Estonia), Alexander Muraviev (Belarus), Carmen Ramos (Spain) and Athanassios Tzimas (Greece).

At the end of the Assembly, Pat McQuaid, the UCI President, summarised the biological passport programme and outlined the main aspects of the UCI's campaign against doping to the European National Federations. He called upon the Federations to reinforce their collaboration with the UCI in the fight against doping.

Mr McQuaid then presented the "True Champion or Cheat?" programme. The objective of this initiative is to ensure that the riders are informed of the anti-doping regulations and underlying principles in the most effective manner possible and to encourage them not to dope.

"True Champion or Cheat?" is an educational programme that has been developed in collaboration with the Norwegian and Swiss anti-doping agencies, together with the company Transform Learning and the UCI Academy. Riders will have access to the programme through a website and by means of a CD.

National Federations will play a primary role in making riders aware of the programme. Ultimately, it will be an obligation to disseminate information on the programme to all license holders.

The meeting's host town, Pruszkow, will hold the UCI Track Cycling World Championships from March 25-29.