Brian Cookson has been elected new UCI president following a dramatic UCI congress in Florence. 24 countries voted in favour of the Brit while outgoing president Pat McQuaid only got support from 18 federations.

The dramatic and long-lasting battle for the UCI presidency has come to a dramatic conclusion at the UCI congress in Florence. Brian Cookson won the final vote 24-18 and will take over the reins from Pat McQuaid who has been in charge of the cycling world for the last 8 years.

The vote came at the end of a dramatic day where McQuaid desperately tried to seek validation of his nomination. According to the rules, he had to be nominated by either the federation from his home country Ireland or from Switzerland where he resides, but both refused to do so. Instead, he interpreted the rules in a way that made nominations from federations of which he is a member, legal.

During his presidency, McQuaid has obtained memberships of the several federation and the Moroccan and Thai both nominated the Irishman for reelection. Nonetheless, several rule changes were proposed that would put the legality of his nomination on firmer ground.

In a close vote that ended 21-21, the final of those was rejected and so the congress was set to determine whether the candidacy was legal. However, Cookson stated that he wanted to go straight to the vote between the candidates and so that vote never took place.

A close result was expected but in the end, Cookson took a convincing win. The Brit will now be at the helm of the UCI for the coming four years while McQuaid has stated that he would walk away if he lost the vote.