LONDON, England (BRAIN) — Tour de France champion Greg LeMond told the French paper Le Monde over the weekend that he would be a candidate for the presidency of the cycling union UCI.
"I'm ready. I was asked and I accepted. If we want to restore public confidence and sponsors, we must act quickly and decisively. Otherwise, cycling will die. Riders do not understand that if we continue like this, there will soon be no money in cycling," LeMond said in a translation of the article.
LeMond, 51, is in London participating in the Change Cycling Now forum, which met privately over the weekend. A news conference was held Monday. According to some reports out of the meeting, LeMond mentioned that he plans to re-enter the bicycle business. Bicycles have not been sold under his name since Trek dropped its LeMond line in 2008.
CCN released a charter that in part calls for a "truth and reconciliation" program in pro cycling, along with overhauls at UCI.
The UCI, based in Switzerland, is currently led by Irishman Pat McQuaid since 2005. An election will be held in March.
The UCI announced Friday that it had formed an independent panel that would convene in April to "look into issues and allegations arising out of the Reasoned Decision of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), of 10 October 2012, in relation to Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Service Team."
