Michele Acquarone is set to call a press conference next week in which he will tell his side of events that led to the Giro d’Italia organisers RCS suspending him from his role as Chief Operating Officer in October.
Acquarone’s suspension came after it was announced that RCS were going through an internal audit. Italian media reported that up to 13 million Euros may have disappeared from accounts between 2005 and 2013. CEO Giacomo Catano, Matteo Pastore, the head of communications and external relations at RCS Sport and Laura Bertinotti, head of accounts and administration were also suspended with the latter resigning soon after.
Acquarone was not present at the Giro d’Italia 2014 route presentation in October and with the investigation entering a third month, he told Cyclingnews that he was unaware of how events at RCS were progressing.
“All I can tell you is that no one from RCS has contacted me or talked to me for two months,” he told Cyclingnews on Sunday morning.
“I’m going crazy and it’s nonsense but on Wednesday or Thursday of this week I will talk to the media and tell them everything that I know. I will say everything that I can.”
Riccardo Taranto was appointed as the new CEO of RCS Sport on October 4, following Acquarone’s suspension and at the time said that Acquarone’s suspension was a "preventative decision. It's not a disciplinary suspension but a preventative one. His suspension is about governance not about punishment,” he said at the time.
Asked if he would return to RCS if the investigation cleared him, Acquarone said that he would but he hinted that the longevity of the case may be a factor in his future.
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“I spent 14 years at RCS. If I could choose of course I would like to go back to RCS but now it’s very difficult because it’s been two months and no one has talked to me. I’m innocent, of course I am.”
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
