Tour Down Under race director and longtime president of the Oceania cycling confederation Mike Turtur is set to lose his place at the head of the latter with the news that Tracey Gaudry looks set for election this Sunday.
Gaudry has been pushing for election and has been the preferred choice for Cycling Australia. She was also supported by New Zealand but the tiny Fiji and Guam federations previously indicated they were likely to opt for Turtur, deadlocking the vote and essentially enabling Turtur to hang on.
However according to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Guam cycling federation has now decided to switch its vote to Gaudry, meaning that she will enjoy a 3-1 margin in the Oceania presidential vote in three days’ time.
Aside from determining who will run that confederation, there are wider implications for the sport as a whole. Gaudry’s election will see her take over Turtur’s place on the UCI management committee, marking the first woman in that position since Sylvia Schenk in the mid-2000s.
She is also seen as a vote for change, with Turtur regarded by some as representing the status quo in the sport. He was supportive of Lance Armstrong’s return to cycling, making multi-million dollar payouts to ensure that the Texan competed in the Santos Tour Down Under in 2009, 2010 and 2011. He welcomed the Texan back in the latter year despite him being under federal investigation for doping, and was unapologetic about that action.
In contract, Gaudry is seen as part of the necessary reform in Australian cycling and will also bring a fresh voice to the table at the UCI. She is a two-time Olympic road cyclist, the chief executive of the Amy Gillett Foundation, and is strongly anti-doping.
Some have even seen her as a possible future president of the governing body, although such speculation remains premature for now.
Relations between Turtur and Cycling Australia have declined of late, with the federation determined to push through big changes in the sport and. It has said he has a conflict of interest in his roles as Tour Down Under race director and Oceania president, although he rejects this.
He will stay on as head of the Australian event, the opening race on the UCI’s WorldTour calendar.
He acknowledged the likely loss of his presidency with a brief comment. “In respect to the likely outcome of the election, I wish the (Oceania) confederation all the best for the future and I will be watching with interest the development of the Oceania calendar in the next period.”