Patrick "Pat" McQuaid is a former Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 professional road racing cyclist and current president of the Union Cycliste Internationale

Union Cycliste Internationale

Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....

 (UCI).

Background

McQuaid comes from a cycling family, with his father Jim and uncle Paddy being top cyclists. His brothers Kieron and Paul

Paul McQuaid

Paul McQuaid is an Irish cyclist who has represented Ireland in several global competitions.-The McQuaid family and cycling:McQuaid comes from a road bicycle racing family, his father Jim and uncles being top cyclists. His brothers Kieron and Pat as well as his cousin John McQuaid represented...

 Oliver and Darach as well as his cousin John McQuaid

John McQuaid

John McQuaid is the name of:*John McQuaid , past president of Saint Peter's College, New Jersey*John McQuaid , a bicyclist who competed in the Men's Individual Road Race at the 1988 Summer Olympics...

 represented Ireland in world road championships and the Olympic road race.

Cycling career

McQuaid raced from 1966 to 1982, starting as a junior and then nationally and internationally as a senior. He was Irish national road champion

Irish National Cycling Championships

The Irish National Cycling Championships are annual cycling races to decide the Irish cycling champion for several disciplines, across several categories of rider....

 in 1974 and won the Tour of Ireland

Tour of Ireland

The Tour of Ireland is a bicycle stage race held in August. The first race debuted in 1953 and ran until 1957. It was revived in 1965 and ran until 1985. In 1985 the 5 day Nissan International Classic took over as the Tour of Ireland. This lasted for 8 years until 1992...

 in 1975 and 1976. He also won the Shay Elliott Memorial Race

Shay Elliott Memorial Race

The Shay Elliot Memorial race is a one day race held in Spring in Ireland. It is run in honour of former Irish professional cyclist Seamus Shay Elliot. The race was previously known as the Route de Chill Mhantain. It became the Shay Elliott Trophy in the late sixties, then the Shay Elliott Memorial...

. At the end of his career, he rode for the Viking Cycles pro team in Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

McQuaid was racing when Sean Kelly

Seán Kelly (cyclist)

John James 'Sean' Kelly is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest classics riders of all time. From turning professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won nine monument classics, and 193...

 started to become successful. The two were on national teams together during the seventies. Both were banned from the 1976 Olympics after racing in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 during a sporting boycott.

Cycling administration

After his career, McQuaid worked as a teacher but stayed involved in cycling. He was national team director from 1983 to 1986. He has also been director of the Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia, the Tour of China, and the Tour of Philippines. He was president of the Irish Cycling Federation from 1996 to 1999. McQuaid served eight years as the UCI road commission chairman. Since 2006 he has been President of the UCI.

In July 2007, during the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

, a struggle pitted McQuaid against the Tour's organizers, Amaury Sport Organisation

Amaury Sport Organisation

The Amaury Sport Organisation is part of the French media group, EPA . It organises sporting events including the Tour de France and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally...

. Among tactics was McQuaid's publicizing a telephone call with the Tour’s race director, then demanding an apology for the conversation. In addition, before and during the 2007 UCI Road World Championships

2007 UCI Road World Championships

The 2007 UCI Road World Championships took place in Stuttgart, Germany, between September 25 and September 30, 2007. The event consisted of a road race and a time trial for men, women and men under 23...

 in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

, McQuaid had a feud with Stuttgart's minister of sports, Susanne Eisenmann. She wanted to ban Paolo Bettini

Paolo Bettini

Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006...

 because he refused the UCI anti-doping pledge, a plan which backfired. The German broadsheet Süddeutsche Zeitung

Süddeutsche Zeitung

The Süddeutsche Zeitung , published in Munich, is the largest German national subscription daily newspaper.-Profile:The title literally translates as "South German Newspaper". It is read throughout Germany by 1.1 million readers daily and boasts a relatively high circulation abroad...

accused McQuaid of flip-flopping on doping, on one hand maintaining that "there is no doping case of Michael Rasmussen

Michael Rasmussen

Michael Rasmussen is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who rides for the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone. In the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen, while in the yellow jersey, had his contract terminated by his team and was removed from the Tour...

" and defending Bettini, on the other stating he wanted to fine Patrik Sinkewitz

Patrik Sinkewitz

Patrik Sinkewitz is a professional German road racing cyclist for . He is a climbing specialist who can ride well over a stage race, as in winning the 2004 nine-stage Deutschland Tour. He has also ridden well in one-day races such as Liège–Bastogne–Liège, which he finished in the top 10 in 2006...

 and Alexandre Vinokourov. Spiegel

Der Spiegel

Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...

magazine doubted McQuaid commitment against doping.

Awards

In March 2008, McQuaid was promoted to Commander in the Order of the Ivory Coast Sporting Merit.