UCI president Brian Cookson shrugs off Hein Verbruggen criticism

UCI president Brian Cookson says allegations against him by Hein Verbruggen that he has created a “climate of fear” within the organisation are “laughable.” He has also said he is highly likely to seek re-election when his current term of office ends in 2017, since his programme of reforming the sport is unlikely to be finished by then.

Last month, Verbruggen – UCI president from 1991 to 2005 when he was succeeded by Pat McQuaid – criticised Cookson’s leadership of the governing body since he assumed the top post in 2013.

In a lengthy and somewhat rambling letter sent to members of the UCI Management Committee, the 73-year-old also said he would fight any attempts – through legal channels, if necessary – to remove him from his position of life president.

He also attacked the Cycling Independent Reform Commission set up by Cookson as “scandalously biased,” and said the UCI Licence Commission’s decision not to revoke Astana’s licence – as Cookson had demanded – weakened the president’s authority.

But at the Telegraph Business of Sport conference in London this week, Cookson told the Daily Telegraph that the portrait Verbruggen painted of his stewardship of the UCI did not reflect reality.

"I know my people at the UCI," he said. "I'm confident that we've got a good, happy and professional workforce and that we've got the processes in place that if people aren't happy or feel intimidated in the way Verbruggen suggests, they would feel comfortable coming to me.

“I don't recognise the picture of the UCI that he painted in any way, shape or form."

Cookson said that he had referred the matter to the UCI's ethics commission and hoped to have a report back in time for September's UCI congress. If Verbruggen had not resigned by then, Cookson warned, the Dutchman's honorary presidency might be forcibly revoked. Verbruggen has already said he will sue the UCI if it tries to strip him of his title.

Regarding his call for Astana to be stripped of its WorldTour licence, he said: "I don't regret what I said because I think that had an impact on the team and they realised how serious the situation was for them.

"That caused a pretty major overhaul within Astana of their processes and procedures, and an acceptance that they needed to make that radical overhaul."

He added that Verbruggen could have his honorary presidency taken away should he not have resigned the position by September’s UCI World Congress in Richmond, Virginia – raising the prospect of his predecessor bringing the legal action he has threatened.