Thibaut Dapréla says a smear campaign is being orchestrated against him by people in the riding community who are trying to destroy him, according to an interview with the French-Belgian website Vojo.

The former DH World Cup winner announced last week in a shock move that he would leave Canyon with immediate effect, just three months after joining the CLLCTV.

“People clearly tried to destroy or even destabilise me with odious practices”, Dapréla told the site. “These actions caused a lot of harm to me but also to my loved ones and my family, which demonstrates vile, disloyal behaviour and very far from sporting values. I could never have imagined such a smear campaign.” 

Dapréla did not elaborate on the ‘odious practices’, the nature of the purported smears against him or who he felt was orchestrating them. 

Daprela confirms he left Canyon by mutual agreement and that he left both Commencal/Muc-Off and then Canyon for professional reasons only. “There is no extra-sporting reason,” he said.

Interesting, Dapréla has said he’ll ride the 2024 season as a privateer but on the CLLCTV team bike, the Canyon Sender. “I will also keep most of the components that I have been testing for several months in order to capitalise on all the work done this winter,” he said.

We’ve reached out to Thibaut Dapréla for comment.