BRIAN COOKSON

UCI PRESIDENT

When Brian Cookson made good on a promise to disclose his salary last autumn, both the gesture and the figure were greeted with varying degrees of surprise. To some, £235,000 sounded modest, to others it seemed a lot. A third group were more interested in Cookson’s decision to self-inflict a 25-per- cent cut on what his predecessor, Pat McQuaid, used to earn in the role.

Really, though, Cookson should be earning less than McQuaid because he does less work. Or rather, to get it right, one feature of Cookson’s leadership so far has been a far greater willingness to delegate, a much less autocratic style than we saw under McQuaid and, before him, Hein Verbruggen. As Cookson told the American journalist, Andy Hood: “The buck stops here — I am the president, no question about that — but my style has always been to delegate and consensus building. And I’ve taken great pains to consult my new vice-presidents on all the important decisions, to involve them in the process. I want to delegate things through the different commissions and work with the professional staff at the UCI.”

Does this mean that the role of UCI president has become a less influential or powerful one? Well, not exactly, not when the current incumbent isn’t undermining his own authority and ability to shape his sport with poor judgement and by souring important relationships, as was too often the case under McQuaid and Verbruggen.

Cookson is, admittedly, still in his honeymoon period but, on their own, the efforts that the Englishman has already made to rebuild bridges with WADA and the entire constituency of women’s cycling already place him in a much stronger position than McQuaid was at the end of his tenure. Long may that continue, whatever the figure on the bottom of Cookson’s payslip.