I’ll f ight this and I’ll bounce back …I promised my dad that I would
CYCLING legend Stephen Roche has pledged to fight to clear his name after this month’s devastating ruling from a court in Mallorca.
Famed for his endurance and determination in the saddle, Roche told the Irish Mail on Sunday he would fight to overturn the findings against him.
‘I’ve seen the document, the same as you’ve seen, and I do appreciate it is not very nice,’ he acknowledged.
‘The big thing is we are appealing – it’s not definitive,’ he said of the finding that he had plundered money owed to creditors to finance a lavish lifestyle.
‘We need to wait until the appeal goes through. I can’t talk about it now but there’s no proof of a lot of things and there are huge consequences for something that is not totally clear,’ he said of the ruling against him.
‘They say I owe money but they can’t prove it’
‘We have 15 days to appeal, so from Monday I’ll have meetings with my lawyer to prepare our case.
‘We still believe we have a chance of turning it around.’
Currently working as a cycling consultant and based in Hungary, Roche was instrumental in bringing the Giro d’Italia to Budapest where the opening stage will be held on Friday.
He said there were many factors at play that have not been stated in the Spanish court ruling against him.
‘There were a lot of circumstances in there that created a situation,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot in there with Covid and everything else. I hadn’t access to information that I could have had in normal circumstances.
‘Whatever is the outcome of it, unfortunately, I don’t think I’m going to come out of it as I should come out of it.
‘But nevertheless I have to wait until Monday to talk to my lawyer and prepare the appeal. Whatever comes out on Sunday, I’ll take it as it comes, you know.
Roche also questioned the manner in which he had not been allowed to trade his way clear of his debts.
‘It’s very, very strange what’s happened out there. I’m fighting against courts, I’m fighting against people who are owed some money – who say they’re owed some money. They say I owe them money but when I ask them to show it they can’t prove it to me.
‘They want to get money out of me, which isn’t going to happen either way. They are going about it the wrong way. If anybody wanted any money they should have at least helped me to help them make money rather than closing all the doors.
‘Every time they open a door they close it again – or they find some way of closing it.’
Roche also alleged that his business in Mallorca had been stolen from him by the process that prevented him from trading.
He acknowledged that he sometimes speaks from the heart without thinking of the consequences.
‘I do talk too much as well, you know. My heart speaks,’ he said.
‘Sometimes my emotions take over and I talk too much and people take that as being a commitment or a declaration of guilt or whatever.’
However, he said he had come to terms with what had happened since I interviewed him in Budapest in
2019 interview after the collapse of his business.
‘Since the last time we spoke I’ve come to terms with it,’ he said.
‘I’ve come to terms with it in that there is a lot of s*** in there that was thrown at me.
‘People will believe whatever they want to believe and at the end of the day, it is what it is.’
He said he is determined to bounce back, and that he promised his father, who died this week in Dublin, that he will do so.
‘I’m trying to bounce back, you know. I will bounce back definitely. I promised my dad I would.’