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Swiss Cycling withdraws Pat McQuaid's UCI presidency nomination

Meanwhile, law firm provides opinion saying proposed changes to UCI electoral process are legal

Swiss Cycling has confirmed that it has withdrawn its nomination of Pat McQuaid to stand for a third term as president of the UCI, just days before an arbitration panel was due to rule on its validity following a legal challenge that could have seen the national federation hit with crippling legal costs had it lost.

The news will come as a blow to McQuaid's hopes of securing re-election to the top job at world cycling's governing body at the UCI World Congress to be held in Florence at the end of next month, where his sole opponent is British Cycling president, Brian Cookson.

It comes on a day when a legal opinion from the Geneva office of international law firm Baker & McKenzie suggests that there is nothing untoward in the retroactive application of a proposed change to the UCI's constitution, due to be voted on in Florence, that would allow McQuaid to be nominated by the Thai and Moroccan federations.

British Cycling has challenged the legality of that proposed rule change through its own lawyers, and Baker & McKenzie's opinion should be viewed as a response to that, rather than a legally binding judgment, which some media outlets are reporting it as.

Originally, McQuaid had been nominated for this year's election by the board of Cycling Ireland, which had also backed his candidacy in 2005 and 2009.

Amid and outcry from many of the federation's members, it was found that there had been a procedural irregularity with the nomination, and when it was put to the vote at an Emergency General Meeting in Dublin in May, delegates voted not to endorse his nomination.

 

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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25 comments

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dp24 | 10 years ago
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Anyone with any integrity, if they managed to get elected following this ridiculous process, would realise that they couldn't govern with any kind of credibility and stand aside for the good of the sport.

Not Pat.

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fatty | 10 years ago
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1 month to shred and burn as much paperwork as you can...

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Benjamin Nickolls | 10 years ago
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I love that this was leaked before PAt knew about it. The king is (hopefully) dead, long live the king!

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mooleur | 10 years ago
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Great news for the womens sport too, one less misinformed pig to put up with.

I wouldn't even employ this goon to clean my toilet!

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clayfit | 10 years ago
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I've been a member of Swiss Cycling for about 15 years, but wrote to them 2 weeks ago to resign my membership, stating that it was because of their support for Pat McQuaid. So maybe I played a small part in this- I'd like to hope so.

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zanf replied to clayfit | 10 years ago
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clayfit wrote:

I've been a member of Swiss Cycling for about 15 years, but wrote to them 2 weeks ago to resign my membership, stating that it was because of their support for Pat McQuaid. So maybe I played a small part in this- I'd like to hope so.

I hope you joined the Moroccan and Thai cycling federations before you did that?

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timothy | 10 years ago
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He will still be there in four years. If he thought he was going to lose the election he'd have let it be known he was not standing. All he needs is a nomination and he'll be sorted. He is not being voted in by choir boys as the Moroccan and Thai nominations show.

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Dr. Ko | 10 years ago
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If the story goes on like this I may have to re-write my original blog posting:

http://innercitymobility.blogspot.de/2013/04/editiorial-break-paddy-mcqu...

Maybe we can save his faith with a bundle deal:

The Swiss do supply a ski-lift to Kim Jong Un - if Paddy gets the job of the Minister of Sports in North Korea.  13 Lovely place, empty streets, no crowds in the subway system!

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The Rumpo Kid | 10 years ago
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In the last hour, Pat's de facto campaign manager Ian McClure has said the Swiss nomination has not been withdrawn. Anyone know what's going on?

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Rupert49 replied to The Rumpo Kid | 10 years ago
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Probably trying to work on the assumption that if something is said with enough conviction people believe you - Not this time Pat, it's time to go!

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jarredscycling | 10 years ago
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Why can't he just leave cycling alone? McQuaid has done enough harm so take your undisclosed salary from the last 8 years and ride off into the sunset (or off a cliff)

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Ghedebrav replied to jarredscycling | 10 years ago
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jarredscycling wrote:

Why can't he just leave cycling alone? McQuaid has done enough harm so take your undisclosed salary from the last 8 years and ride off into the sunset (or off a cliff)

He doesn't want anyone discovering the crystal meth superlab he has hidden under UCI HQ.

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Dr_Lex replied to Ghedebrav | 10 years ago
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Ghedebrav wrote:

He doesn't want anyone discovering the crystal meth superlab he has hidden under UCI HQ.

 4 Needs 'like'/upvote button

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The Rumpo Kid | 10 years ago
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Pat claims that the Thai and Moroccan nominations were made by email on the 26th and 29th of June respectively.

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jova54 replied to The Rumpo Kid | 10 years ago
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The Rumpo Kid wrote:

Pat claims that the Thai and Moroccan nominations were made by email on the 26th and 29th of June respectively.

But they won't count unless he manages to cheat his way into getting the retrospective nomination clause passed.

You'd have thought by now that he would have given up and taken advantage of sitting on the sidelines for 4 years while Brian Cookson tries to clear up the mess he's left, which will no doubt be a whole lot worse than appears at the moment, and sniping at every opportunity. Obviously not as smart as he thinks he is.

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The Rumpo Kid replied to jova54 | 10 years ago
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jova54 wrote:
The Rumpo Kid wrote:

Pat claims that the Thai and Moroccan nominations were made by email on the 26th and 29th of June respectively.

But they won't count unless he manages to cheat his way into getting the retrospective nomination clause passed.

The deadline was the 29th of June. Whether a nomination made by email is valid is something else to argue about.

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brakesmadly | 10 years ago
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So basically as of today, and barring the time machine challenge, there is only one candidate?

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Bikesoup | 10 years ago
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Wallop! What now for poor Pat? Surely white flag or towel time... Perhaps now cycling can finally move on from the misery of drugs and doping. Pretty bored of it now & time for a new tune.

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Raleigh | 10 years ago
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This is probably the most corrupt bloke on Earth.  20

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nowasps replied to Raleigh | 10 years ago
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Raleigh wrote:

This is probably the most corrupt bloke on Earth.  20

I think the guys at FIFA abd the IOC might give him a run for his money.

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The Rumpo Kid replied to nowasps | 10 years ago
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nowasps wrote:
Raleigh wrote:

This is probably the most corrupt bloke on Earth.  20

I think the guys at FIFA abd the IOC might give him a run for his money.

They wish.

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jova54 replied to nowasps | 10 years ago
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nowasps wrote:
Raleigh wrote:

This is probably the most corrupt bloke on Earth.  20

I think the guys at FIFA abd the IOC might give him a run for his money.

Plus a certain R. Mugabe and a Mr V Putin  4

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Leviathan replied to Raleigh | 10 years ago
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Raleigh wrote:

This is probably the most corrupt bloke on Earth.  20

He is no Robert Mugabe. Don't worry the badman will soon be forgotten.

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Al__S replied to Raleigh | 10 years ago
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Raleigh wrote:

This is probably the most corrupt bloke on Earth.  20

pfft, McQuaid is amateur compared to FIFA supremo Sepp Blatter, who managed to get his only rival for presidency disqualified then got someone to print off a load of ballot papers with just his name on. or possibly the other way round.

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AlexM replied to Raleigh | 10 years ago
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Sepp Blatter wins the "most corrupt administrator in sport" title hands down. If he was in McQuaid's position, he'd have had Cookson suspended on trumped-up charges.

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