Tour de Romandie director was one of strongest supporters of Pat McQuaid on board, says a ‘small coup’ occurred
Having seen his support for Pat McQuaid overturned by the other board members of Swiss Cycling, the federation’s president Richard Chassot has resigned with immediate effect over the matter.
Chassot has been president since March 2012 and is thought to have been one of the strongest supporters of McQuaid when the Irishman sought nomination from Swiss Cycling for the upcoming UCI presidential elections.
Details are unclear as to how precisely that nomination was overturned, with Swiss Cycling telling VeloNation today that it wasn’t in a position to explain how that decision unfolded. However in announcing his resignation, the federation said that his resignation was due to “differences in the steering committee in the appointment of Pat McQuaid.”
Chassot spoke about the matter to Sportinformation and elaborated on that. “Last week, we made a new vote and the majority of my steering committee was still favourable in the support of Pat McQuaid,” he said.
“Three members remained, however, opposed. And the following day, acting behind my back with other critics of McQuaid, they managed to secure the withdrawal of Swiss Cycling,” Chassot stated, referring to the turnaround as “a small coup.”
“Without trust and transparency, it is not worth it to continue.”
When Swiss Cycling announced its support of McQuaid on May 15th, it said that the decision was unanimous. However there were suggestions that this was not the case, with several board members understood as being unhappy.
Indeed there were reportedly efforts by those to call a meeting and to reconsider the nomination, but that was not successful as they were told that the necessary quorum to effect a change would not be present.
In the weeks since, McQuaid’s backing has lost strength. This is at least partially due to a court case launched by three general members of Swiss Cycling, namely former national coach Kurt Buergi, former Swiss Cycling board member Mattia Galli, and the ex-pro Patrick Calcagni.
The case was backed by the Skins clothing company, which has made clear its desire for a change within the governance of the UCI.
The case was seeking to determine the mechanism that the so-called ‘unanimous’ backing was decided, as well as contesting the validity of the nomination.
In communicating to the arbitration panel that it didn’t want to proceed with the case, the board of Swiss Cycling said that its revocation of the backing was taken “in light of the legal issues regarding the validity of said Decision and of the general interest of Swiss Cycling.”
Swiss Cycling’s vice president Franz Gallati will take over from Chassot as acting president, with the filling of the post to be discussed at the next Assembly of Delegates.
In announcing Chassot’s resignation, Swiss Cycling thanked him for the work done and what it said was his great commitment in the area of sponsorship.
“We wish Richard Chassot a full success in his private and professional life,” it concluded.
Chassot is also the director of the Tour de Romandie, one of Switzerland’s two WorldTour races. Some had accused him of having a conflict of interest because of this, in relation to being in a position to benefit from the UCI's granting of a WorldTour licence to his race.
McQuaid has now lost the nominations of Cycling Ireland and Swiss Cycling. He claims he can rely on the backing of the Moroccan and Thai federations, but a legal challenge is thought likely to happen in relation to this.