Brian Cookson defeats Pat McQuaid to win UCI presidency

FLORENCE, Italy - Brian Cookson has been elected the new president of the UCI, the ruling body of cycling. He beat the current president Pat McQuaid by 24-18 votes. Cookson said it was "a huge honour" to have been voted president.

The result had been widely anticipated with a vicious battle waged by the two candidates, especially the incumbent McQuaid. It was billed as a battle between Cookson as a reformer and the protectionist old guard of McQuaid.

Cookson's victory will be seen as a huge win for those who want to see the sport of cycling cleaned up and reformed. McQuaid was said by many commentators to be too closely tied to the doping era of cycling, although he himself began his speech today talking about how hard he had worked to prevent drug abuse in the sport.

Immediately after his election Cookson called for unity in the sport and said he would ensure all drugs testing in cycling was entirely independent of the UCI. He said it was vital for cycling to re-establish its credibility with sponsors, broadcasters, the International Olympic Committee and funding partners in order to grow the sport worldwide.

In a tense meeting at Florence's Palazzo Vecchio this morning there was a long and tedious discussion of whether McQuaid was legally allowed to stand as his nomination did not appear to strictly follow UCI's own procedures. He ended up being nominated by Thailand, having failed to secure the nomination of his home nation Ireland. However Cookson, standing for his native Great Britain, broke the tension by bravely calling for a vote between the two candidates, a decision that bodes well for his time in charge of the UCI.

Given McQuaid's extremely tenacious attitude and his proven desire to cling onto power, it would not be at all surprising if he launched some sort of legal challenge to today's vote. McQuad has been president of the UCI since 2006 and has used his position to closely control all aspects of the sport, so it wil be interesting to see whether he continues his career in cycling.

Cookson will stand down from his presidency of British Cycling with immediate effect.