Jayco-AlUla's team manager, Brent Copeland, was elected as the new President of the influential AIGCP, the International Association of Professional Cycling Teams, on behalf of Richard Plugge of visma-Lease A Bike after an extraordinary general meeting and vote in Milan last Friday.

Pldge was elected Chairman of AIGCP in 2021 and recently worked hard to create an independent SafeR race safety organisation, but many teams called for him to quit last summer.

It was later revealed that Plugge was the driving force behind the One Cycling project, which is trying to shake up the sport with support from private equity. Some teams viewed this as a conflict with defending the wider interests of all AIGCP teams.

Plugge chose not to run for re-election on Friday when it became clear that he had little support from the team. Cyclingnews understands that the first 13 candidates stood for the role of President before Copeland was elected.

Copeland raced in Europe and his native South Africa to become lampre's directeur sportif, managing various teams including MTN-Qhubeka, Lampre-Merida and Bahrain-Merida over the past 20 years.

He also spent time managing the motorcycle Moto GP circuit before returning to cycling in 2020 to manage the Jayco-AlUla team owned by Australian businessman Gerry Ryan.

AIGCP is one of the key so-called stakeholders in cycling, alongside the uci, the CPA Riders Association and the AIOCC Race Organizers Association.1 They control, manage and sit the UCI's Professional Cycling Council, which sets rules and governance for the sport of professional cycling. AIGCP also agrees to the general terms and conditions of the Rider and the CPA.

A new AIGCP Management Committee was also elected, and Emily Brammeier of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL was elected vice-chairman. Also part of the management committee for the various roles are Emmanuel Hubert, Team Manager for Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Cédric Vasseur, Team Manager for Cofidis, Kjell Carlström of Israel Premiattech, Juan Pablo Molinero of Movistar, and Inigo Landa of UAE team Emirates.

The new Management Committee has shown a move away from the dominance of the major WorldTour teams, focusing on the One Cycling project and covering the budgets of their key teams but the details and supporters of the One Cycling project have not yet been confirmed.

AIGCP was registered in France and Copeland's election was confirmed through social media, so AIGCP's election was confirmed under French law.

"We firmly believe that we have formed a very positive and forward-looking new working group that fully represents the UCI World Team and the UCI Protém.In doing so, we want to work well with our stakeholders in the sport to create a productive and effective working environment for all," AIGCP said through a letter sent to other stakeholders in the sport on Wednesday and obtained by Cyclingnews.

"Thank you for the trust you have put in us. We look forward to working together to find our common ground to create a better and more solid future in circulation for all."