Gianni Bugno has been re-elected as the president of the CPA riders' union, defeating new candidate David Millar after the controlling national riders' associations voted in block for Bugno.
Bugno won 379 to Millar's 96 votes, with only 17 of the votes cast by riders who turned up at the location of the CPA general congress in a hotel south of Innsbruck, where the World Road Race Championships are being held. The North American riders association, ANAPRC, voted in favour of Millar, as did the Swiss association, after their riders voted to support the Briton.
ANAPRC proposed a change in the CPA statute to allow an electronic voting system but this was defeated in a vote early in the general assembly.
Cyclingnews witnessed just a handful of riders making the effort to travel to the hotel in the foothills of Innsbruck to vote. Roman Kreuziger and Zdenek Stybar came with their Czech Republic teammates to cast their vote during a training ride. A little later Toms Skuijns arrived in a taxi after taking a train to Innsbruck from his hotel an hour away. Bernhard Eisel and Marco Haller came to vote during an afternoon training ride.
Edvald Boasson Hagen and his Norwegian teammates also voted but they were staying in the hotel hosting the CPA general assembly.
In an apparent move to reunite the CPA after a short but bitter election battle, that spilled over on social media, with some high-profile riders openly criticising Bugno, the Italian called on Millar to accept a still to be defined role inside the CPA.
Millar admitted he has been bruised by the whole affair and said he would take a few days to decide to his future. He may well prefer to try to inspire and lead the riders calling for change at the CPA but only from the outside.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
