Giro d'Italia director prepared to discuss new calendar and revenue sharing with teams.

In an unprecedented call to shake up, if not revolutionize, the world of professional cycling, Michele Acquarone has reiterated his wish for a more modern and more mutually beneficial relationship with teams and riders by publicly admitting that stage six of Tirreno-Adriatico was too hard and too long.

The stage saw several riders suffer agonizingly and some were even forced to get out of the saddle and walk up the 30 per cent wall of Sant'Elpidio Mare.  Acquarone, surprisingly, was swift to use Twitter to admit his mistake and also spoke to several riders in person, causing Fabian Cancellara and Mark Cavendish to publicly praise Acquarone’s frankness via Twitter.

This year's Tirreno-Adriatico lured many of the biggest names in the sport but Acquarone is keenly conscious that the sport needs a most important refurbishment, beginning with the race calendar.

"We have to look at our calendar and not be afraid to change it," Acquarone said while talking to the media present at Tirreno-Adriatico according to Cyclingnews.com

"It's crazy that two important races are held at the same time. Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico were born as training races for Milano-Sanremo. If they're training races, they shouldn't be part of the WorldTour and could perhaps overlap. But if they're both WorldTour races, then one of them has to move. I've got no problem moving Tirreno-Adriatico; we could move it a week earlier. I'm willing to take a step back to make it happen. But I have to be assured that if it’s a WorldTour race, then the big-name riders have to come. It doesn't matter if it’s the UCI or a private league created by the teams. That doesn’t matter. What we have to do is guarantee the fans a certain number of champions in the races."

Giro's duration could be reduced

Going even further, Acquarone hinted that even the duration of the Giro d’Italia could be up for discussion if other race organizers were willing to give the race calendar a major overhaul, "I'm ready to talk about a calendar where the riders can race all year, all over the world. Even the Giro can be open to discussion, why not?"

According to Acquarone RCS Sport, in yet another revolutionizing initiative, is even willing to share future revenues with the teams. "We're ready to talk to anyone but these things need to run parallel to other reforms in cycling such as the calendar. For example the WorldTour also needs to change. It doesn't really exist anyway. There are a lot of nice races but not a real WorldTour. When we sort out the calendar, we're also willing to discuss revenue sharing with the teams."

It’s only been 18 months since Acquarone entered the world of cycling, but he continues to represent a badly needed breath of fresh air.