Lappartient plays down talk of running for UCI President

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UCI Vice President, David Lappartient, has told Cyclingnews he has no current plans to announce himself as a candidate for the UCI Presidency in 2017. However the Frenchman refused to rule out such a possibility with continued speculation surrounding his working relationship with current UCI President Brian Cookson.

Before heading to Qatar for this year's World Road Championships, Lappartient called a press conference at the French national velodrome near Paris, where he announced that he would not stand for a third term as the President of the French Cycling Federation. He has had the position for almost eight year, and will step aside in March next year. That would leave him with roughly six months to organise a campaign before the UCI presidential elections later that year. Cookson has already announced that he would stand for a second term after being elected in 2013.

A difficult relationship with Cookson

For what it's worth Cookson said similar remarks before he too decided to stand for election, having previously backed Pat McQuaid.

The Englishman's relationship with Lappartient has been strained since Cookson was elected as UCI President in Florence in 2013.

In June 2015 a source within the UCI told Cyclingnews that Lappartient was already laying the foundations for a presidential challenge.