McQuaid struggling to win nomination for UCI President re-election as protests mount in Ireland and Switzerland

By Duncan Mackay

May 13 - A campaign to prevent Pat McQuaid from standing for re-election as President of the International Cycling Union (UCI) is gathering momentum in both Ireland and Switzerland, the only two countries who nominate him.

Cycling Ireland last month revoked their nomination for McQuaid and have now called an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to allow its members to vote on whether he should be allowed to seek another term as the head of cycling's world governing body, a post he has held since 2006 when he succeeded Dutchman Hein Verbruggen.

But, with an active campaign underway to ensure he loses the vote in Dublin on June 15, the 63-year-old McQuaid, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), may be forced to turn to the Swiss Cycling Federation to support him.

They can nominate him under UCI rules because he is a resident of the country.

But Jaimie Fuller, a founding member of the Change Cycling Now pressure group, has written to every member of the Swiss Cycling Federation asking them not to support McQuaid, warning that "this is a watershed moment" in the sport's history.

Fuller is also the chairman of Skins, the clothing company whose global headquarters are located in Switzerland.

"World cycling does not want Pat McQuaid as its leader and endorsing him would leave the Swiss out of sync with the rest of the world," Fuller writes on a blog published on insidethegames today.

Jaimie Fuller (left), founder of Change Cycling Now, whose members include three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond (right), is leading the campaign to stop Pat McQuaid getting re-elected as President of the UCI

Cycling Ireland overturned their earlier decision to nominate McQuaid after its vice-president Anthony Moran, the only Board member out of the seven not to have voted for him, successfully challenged the outcome, claiming it was not carried out within the legal framework and guidelines of the organisation.

A campaign has now been launched by by members of Cycling Ireland to block McQuaid's nomination.

A concerned group of cycling enthusiasts in Ireland have compiled a dossier on McQuaid's history within the sport which they plan to distribute to all clubs and they are also arranging free transport to the meeting for clubs.

The closing date for nominations is June 23 and a vote will then due to be taken at the UCI Congress in September at the World Championships in Florence.

"The Swiss Federation represents his last lifeline and for the sake of cycling and for the sake of the anti-doping fight trying to clean up world sport in general, they cannot afford to facilitate his re-election," writes Fuller.

To read Jaimie Fuller's blog click here.

To read the full letter sent to the Board members of the Swiss Cycling Federation