Brian Cookson denies closing Paris track for personal training session
Video posted on Facebook by Malaysian coach suggests UCI President Brian Cookson stopped athletes getting on the track during a training session on Thursday


UCI President Brian Cookson denied closing the world championship track in Paris for a personal training session after a video of him riding round with Frédéric Magné was posted on Facebook.
The video was posted by Malaysian coach John Beasley who can be heard talking over the video saying Cookson had closed the track and stopped competitors from riding ahead of Thursday's afternoon session.
Cookson however was on the track ahead of the scheduled two hour training session that ran from midday to 2pm, when the track was officially closed.
Some team managers would like the training sessions open for longer to allow riders who are competing later in the week to ride. Typically the training sessions are used by riders warming up ahead of racing later that day.
As the story spread on twitter Cookson took to the social media platform to further deny he stopped riders from getting on the track.
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Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling when channel surfing in 1989 and happening across the greatest ever edition of the Tour de France. He's been a Greg LeMond fan ever since. He started racing in 1995 when moving to university in North Wales gave him more time to train and some amazing roads to train on. He raced domestically for several years, riding everything from Surrey leagues to time trials, track and even a few Premier Calendars. In 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium with the Kingsnorth International Wheelers.
Since working for Cycling Weekly he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He can still be seen at his club's evening races through the summer but he still hasn't completed the CW5000 challenge!
SIMON IS CURRENTLY RIDING
Road bike: Pinarello K8S with Shimano Dura Ace
TT bike: Specialized Venge road bike with FFWD wheels and Easton Attack TT bars
Gravel bike: N/A
Training bike: Rourke custom hand made with Reynolds 853 steel
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