UCI presidential candidate Brian Cookson yesterday unveiled his manifesto at a press conference in Paris, making trust and credibility and the establishment of an independent anti-doping unit his main priorities. In six broad pledges, he write down his objectives for his first term as UCI president.

Yesterday Brian Cookson took the next step in the process that he hopes to see him win the UCI presidential election at the congress in September. At a press conference in Paris, he unveiled his manifesto titled "Restoring Trust, Leading Change" and published six broad pledges that will be his main priorities, should he take over the reins at the UCI headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland.

Since the publication of the USADA report into doping at the former US Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams, the UCI has lost most credibility, having been accused of corruption and covering up positive doping tests. Current president Pat McQuaid has denied the accusations, claiming that the UCI has done everything possible to combat doping.

In light of this debate, Cookson has made regaining credibility his main priority, putting "rebuild trust in the UCI" at the top of his list of his six broad pledges.

“I believe the most important challenge for the new President is to restore trust in the UCI, and most importantly to rebuild people’s faith in the way that anti-doping is dealt with," he said. "We need to give people reasons to believe that the future will be different from the past. We must build a culture of trust and confidence."

Secondly, he vows to "transform anti-doping in cycling". UCI's role as both promoter of cycling and responsible for the anti-doping effort has been heavily debated and Cookson wants to get rid of this dual role by creating a new anti-doping unit.

“If elected, my first priority will be to establish a completely independent anti-doping unit, managed and governed outside of the UCI and in full cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)," he said. "This unit would be physically and politically separate from the UCI, responsible for all aspects of anti doping, and report to a board totally independent from the UCI.”

His final four priorities will be to "grow cycling across the globe, develop women’s cycling, overhaul elite road cycling and strengthen cycling’s credibility and influence within the Olympic Movement."

The UCI set down an independent commission which was to investigate the UCI's role in the US Postal affair and its general anti-doping effort. That commission was, however, dissolved before it had really started its work and Cookson makes a further promise of digging deeper into the past by setting up an independent investigation.

“It is critical that the UCI embraces a more open and transparent approach in the way it conducts business," he said. "Leading by example, I will introduce a range of good governance measures, including the publishing of all my financial interests, remuneration package and any potential conflicts of interest relating to the office of President. Once we have restored trust in cycling and the UCI, it will make our other tasks of developing the sport worldwide so much easier.”

On the other hand, he has not guaranteed the establishment of a truth and reconciliation process that would give amnesty to former doping-offenders and allow the UCI to get a deeper insight into the past. In a recent Q&A session on Twitter, he responded to a question by Lance Armstrong by claiming that he would support the idea "if legal and practical hurdles can be overcome".

The UCI presidential election will be held during the congress at the road world championships in Florence in September.