From Small-Town Mayor to IOC Front-Runner: The Unstoppable Rise of the UCI’s David Lappartient

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The man once accused of having the “mentality of a local French mayor,” UCI president David Lappartient appears to be progressing from cycling’s world body to the top job in international sports global governance at warp speed.

Lappartient’s fast-track progress towards possibly becoming the next president of the International Olympic Committee gathered pace this week when his name was confirmed among seven candidates vying for the IOC’s presidency.

An election set in March could be the culmination of the unstoppable rise of the French bureaucrat who’s reached incredible heights in little more than a decade.

It was Dave Brailsford, who, when he was Team Sky’s principal, said of the newly minted UCI president: “He obviously doesn’t quite understand the responsibilities of a presidential role. I think he has still got the local French mayor kind of mentality.”

Clearly that’s not a view shared by French President Emmanuel Macron, sitting IOC president Thomas Bach, the Paris 2024 organizing committee, or many of the other 111 global IOC members who will vote in the IOC’s Presidency elections next spring.

Lappartient’s willingness to adapt, to unflinchingly take on leadership role after leadership role, allied to his calm diplomacy, has won him friends in high places.

The UCI president was a ubiquitous presence at the Paris Olympics, shaking hands, presenting medals, hugging athletes and VIPs, jumping in and out of limousines.

In some ways, the boyish, dynamic 51-year-old in the unflashy blue suit is now seen by many as a steady hand in uncertain times.

He stepped in as president of France’s troubled Olympic Committee, barely a year before the Paris 2024 Games, and steered the rolling ship back on course.

He took over the UCI presidency after years of political turbulence, scandal and internal wrangling, and was one of those to champion the rebirth of the women’s Tour de France.

Lappartient chooses his allies carefully

Lappartient learns fast. He has grown in stature since he first became UCI president. He manages his public image much more carefully than he did during his first term.

These days, he is less outspoken. He doesn’t court controversy, nor seek headlines. He chooses his words carefully and accentuates the positives.

Lappartient is good at spinning plates. He fuels change, not through grandstanding, but through quiet negotiation and consensus building.

David Lappartient, candidat à la présidence du CIO. 7 sur la ligne de départ. pic.twitter.com/5BPrVKSLK8

— Yannick Cochennec (@YCochennec) September 16, 2024

Conscious of Vladimir Putin’s continuing international influence in Africa and the Far East, Lappartient is wary of upsetting the Russian establishment, while also being supportive of Ukraine.

He champions diversity, political freedoms and human rights, but also forges close ties with Rwanda, described by Amnesty International as a country with a “host of human rights issues.”

Despite these widely shared concerns, the UCI under Lappartient is forging ahead with the organization of the first African-based world road championships in Rwanda in 2025.

“Rwanda is a message of hope,” he insists, when questions are raised about the African regime.

He hasn’t been without his distractors, with some critics suggesting he’s too autocratic in style and puts the UCI’s interests ahead of event promotors.

‘He’s a consummate politician’

The IOC Presidency elections are, like the election’s in most top golf clubs, held behind closed doors.

Deals are struck, alliances forged. Perhaps best-placed to assess the Frenchman’s chances of taking the top job in sports governance is his predecessor at the UCI, Brian Cookson.

The IOC Presidency, Cookson says, has “always” been part of Lappartient’s personal career plan.

“Above all else, he’s a consummate politician, so you can be sure he’s spent the last few years preparing the ground, making friends and allies, lining up the votes, and ensuring he has the support of Thomas Bach — and as many of the key powerbrokers in the IOC, as he possibly can,” the former UCI president said.

“Everything will already be in place. He will be a strong candidate, very difficult to beat, with few enemies. I expect him to win or, at very least end as a vice president, through a deal with another strong candidate, perhaps (Juan Antonio) Samaranch. The thing to look at is the voters – who, how, and why. What the wider world thinks (about the IOC) is irrelevant.”

Before he became president of the UCI, Lappartient was the long-term mayor of Sarzeau – population 6,143 — in Brittany in western France for more than a decade.

Working the room

Lappartient has risen steadily through local and sports politics in France and is known for his unflagging ambition.

An active cyclist, he cut his teeth first as a race official, and then within the French Cycling Federation, where he held the presidency between 2009 and 2017.

He is also a former president of the European Cycling Union and, as UCI President, commutes between the French Atlantic coast and Geneva, the closest airport to the UCI’s Swiss headquarters. That’s a lot of air miles.

When, in September 2017, he took over in Aigle, Lappartient needed to establish calm.

There were clear goals: unite the UCI and lead from the front; quash the spectre of technological fraud; promote diversity; advance the profile of women’s racing; achieve greater professionalism among UCI commissaires through video technology; improve in-race safety; confront environmental concerns; re-imagine the world championships on a global scale.

UCI’s David Lappartient Makes Power Move for IOC’s Top Job https://t.co/JRhHDVONnM pic.twitter.com/415gAnDH3N

— The Cycle Collective (@cyclecollective) September 16, 2024

Some, but not all, of the above have been achieved, which, in itself, is quite something for a man who was once said to have 10 jobs at the same time.

In fact, in June last year, French newspaper Le Monde listed his roles as follows:

President of the UCI; French Olympic Committee member; International Olympic Committee member; WADA Foundation Board member; Paris 2024 Olympic organiser committee; President of the Morbihan department in France; President of the Ports of Morbihan; President of the Board of Ports; President of the Morbihan gulf national park; local councillor in Vannes, Brittany.

If he is elected next spring, he will be expected to focus all his energies on the IOC. Lappartient will need to drastically scale down his portfolio of activities.

He will stand down from the UCI, which will trigger an election for the presidency of cycling’s global body. The obvious candidate is current vice president Enrico della Casa, who can expect to be supported by Lappartient himself.

As for his small-town French mayor mentality, Brailsford, perhaps realizing that he had under-estimated Lappartient’s ambition, later back pedaled.

“We had dinner, shook hands, cleared the air and moved on,” Brailsford said in July 2019. “If I can help or support David in his role, then I’m certainly happy to do that.”

Right now, Lappartient seems to be doing just fine on his own.