The long-awaited Annual Congress of the Pan American Cycling Confederation (COPACI), in salute to the centenary of the entity, was successfully held this Monday, May 16, in the Los Morrillos de Santa Lucía Hall, in the Argentine city of San Juan, with the presence of the head of the International Cycling Union (UCI) David Lappartient and authorities from 27 national federations.
The head of COPACI, José Manuel Peláez, began the day with a tribute to the recently deceased Vincent Jacquet, director of the UCI, in charge of International Relations, whom he described “as a great friend of America for many years”.
He highlighted the organization of the province to host the Pan American Road and had words of praise for the reception of the San Juan public with all the delegations. Finally, Peláez stressed the importance of the celebration of the centenary of COPACI, an entity that brings together 44 national federations and five associate members.
Later, Jorge Chica, sports secretary in San Juan, welcomed those present and thanked San Juan for the opportunity to host these two important events (competition and congress).
The local sports leader emphasized the progress of the velodrome being built in Pocito, a structure visited by Lappartient this Sunday, while stressing the concept of continuing to work together for the development of cycling on the continent.
It was the turn of the President of the UCI, who congratulated COPACI on its centenary before presenting a conference related to the updating of all world cycling issues.
Immediately afterwards, Peláez returned to the podium to present the report on the work carried out by COPACI in 2021, among which he addressed the behavior of the Olympic Solidarity projects, compliance with the competition calendar despite Covid-19, with the exception of the Junior Pan American Championship. He also announced the calendar for the year 2022.
As it corresponds in these conclaves, the economic report of COPACI was presented, with the expenses incurred and the report of the corresponding auditor. Elections were finally held for the nine American delegates to the UCI Congress to be held in Australia. Two women were chosen: Lina Luco from Argentina and Elaine Silveira from Brazil, as well as seven men: Brendan Quirk (United States), Pierre Laflamme (Canada), Jorge Blas Díaz (Dominicana), Jorge Mauricio Vargas Carreño (Colombia), José Luiz Vasconcellos (Brazil), Gabriel Ovidio Curuchet (Argentina) and Gustavo Matus de la Parra (Peru).
An important moment in the meeting was the presentation of COPACI’s 2025 Agenda, which constitutes its projection of work until the end of the mandate of José Manuel Peláez, which was praised by the President of the UCI as a basic instrument to know where it is headed cycling on the continent.
The Governor of San Juan, Sergio Uñac, arrived at the conclusion of the event, accompanied by the head of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio Tapia, who was one of the guests invited by the local authorities for the celebration of the centenary of the COPACI.