David Lappartient's IOC president candidature is a complete failure with only four votes for the Frenchman
Cycling
David Lappartient will not be the new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The UCI boss was defeated in the vote by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry.
Lappartient announced his candidacy for the IOC presidency in late September 2024, after Thomas Bach announced his retirement after almost twelve years in the function. The Frenchman had recently been up against Jordanian Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Lord Sebastian Coe, Kirsty Coventry, Johan Eliasch, Juan Antonio Samaranch and Morinari Watanabe.
In the election, the Frenchman only received four of the 93 votes, while Coventry won convincingly with 49 votes. This marks the woman from Zimbabwe as first female president of the Olympic Committee.
Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr was the only one who came even close to the 2004 Olympic swimming champion with 28 votes. The son of the IOC president, his father, in the 1980-2001 period will therefore only apply for the position of vice-president for a second term running.
The non-election for the IOC presidency has no consequences for Lappartient's position within the IOC and the UCI. As UCI president, Lappartient will remain part of the IOC until his presidency ends. This year, the UCI will vote on the presidency. Lappartient hopes to then go for his third term at the UCI.
As a candidate, one of the main ideas brought forward by Lappartient was the introduction of Cyclocross as a new Olympic sport at the 2030 Winter Olympic Games in France. Obviously from his position as president of UCI as well as member of the IOC, he may still vouch for the change, however the scales are now tipped against the idea.
Lappartient's candidature came with a sever backleash from the sport of cycling, as it appeared he was neglecting some of his duties in favor of this new, more lucrative function. Combined with his highly polarizing persistence on supporting the 2025 World Championships absolutely taking place in Rwanda, he now has plenty of cleaning up to do in his cycling jurisdiction before he can apply for his third term as UCI president.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
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