Lappartient, also a member of the International Olympic Committee, is one of two candidates whose names have been validated by the CNOSF Executive Board.

He will stand against Emmanuelle Bonnet-Oulaldj, the joint leader of the Workers' Sports and Gymnastics Federation (FSGT), to replace Brigitte Henriques, who resigned last month.

The CNOSF were plunged into crisis when Henriques, the first woman to lead the organisation, announced she was stepping down to end a turbulent two-year spell in charge which included a bitter feud with Didier Séminet who was axed as secretary general following a vote last October.

The decision of Henriques to quit at the CNOSF General Assembly followed a claim by her predecessor Denis Masseglia that she was "no longer up to the challenge".

Candidates to replace Henriques had until 12pm yesterday to put themselves forward for election.

Lappartient and Bonnet-Oulaldi are today due to make presentations to the members and administrators of the CNOSF, its decentralised bodies and members of the High-Level Athletes Commission.

Both candidates already sit on the CNOSF Board of Directors, a mandatory condition for running for election, who are due to elect the new President at a meeting in Paris on Thursday due to start at 3pm.

The winner will then be formally endorsed by the CNOSF General Assembly on September 13.

It will be Bonnet-Oulaldj’s second attempt to be elected President of the CNOSF, having previously stood in 2021 when Henriques was elected.

The 44-year-old was elected to the CNOSF Board in 2017.

The FSGT was born in the 1930s to fight against fascism, at the initiative of communists and socialists, and later was part of the fight against apartheid in South Africa with slogan, "No normal sport in an abnormal society".

It was Bonnet-Oulaldj’s initiative that saw sculpture celebrating Alice Milliat, a pioneer of women's sport, erected next to the bronze dedicated to Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics.

She had launched the campaign with the intention of "making visible women in sport", and it was inaugurated at the Paris headquarters of the CNOSF, on March 8, International Women's Day, in 2021.

Bonnet-Oulaldj had created a surprise by coming in third place in the 2021 election with nearly 17 per cent of the vote.

"I am aware of the need to work resolutely to overcome internal divisions and create the conditions for peaceful governance," she wrote in her candidacy statement published on the CNOSF website.

But the 50-year-old Lappartient, who has led the UCI since 2017, will be considered the favourite and seen as the safe choice with next year’s Olympic Games due to start in the French capital on July 26.

"To appease, to gather," he said.

"It's something I know how to do.

"And to ensure that our National Olympic Committee is not a source of problems during the 2024 Olympics that we will have to succeed."

To read the candidature of Bonnet-Oulaldj, click here.

You can find Lappartient's candidature here.