UCI refuses to involve CAS in McQuaid dispute

AIGLE, Switzerland (AP) The International Cycling Union rejected an American-led request on Friday to let sports' highest court decide if President Pat McQuaid has a valid candidacy to stand for re-election.

USA Cycling had proposed that the Court of Arbitration for Sport should clear up uncertainty over McQuaid's nomination to oppose British challenger Brian Cookson in a Sept. 27 poll.

Cookson could yet file an appeal to CAS but a fast-track judgment could not be given without agreement from McQuaid and the UCI.

That consent seems unlikely after the UCI said its executive board "ruled unanimously" that the annual congress of cycling federations should decide election issues rather than CAS.

McQuaid claims he has valid election nominations from cycling bodies in Thailand and Morocco, where he is a member, to seek a third four-year term.

Federations in McQuaid's native country, Ireland, and Switzerland, where he lives, withdrew their support.

Cookson's legal advisers believe UCI statutes require a presidential candidate to be nominated by his home federation.

American officials had support from Russia, Canada, Finland, and Algeria to demand clarity from the UCI via a CAS ruling.

The UCI said McQuaid, one of four executive board members, took no part in the decision announced Friday. The board includes UCI vice presidents Cho Hee Wook of South Korea, Renato Di Rocco of Italy and Artur Lopes of Portugal.

McQuaid is seeking re-election amid a reputational crisis for cycling's world body in the fallout from the Lance Armstrong doping affair.

Cookson, the long-standing president of British Cycling and a UCI management board member, pledges to restore the sport's credibility.

The winner is chosen by secret ballot of an electoral college of 42 delegates.