Australian Allan Davis will miss the Tour de France in his role as sports director “by mutual agreement” with his Lotto Dstny team, after the Commonwealth Games gold medallist was accused of sending an unsolicited online image.
Earlier this week a Twitter user posted a screenshot of a direct message exchange from a man who sent a shirtless photo and a comment: “I’m board [sic] in a hotel room and thought of you.”
The message was timestamped from late May. A further comment said: “We just finished Mayenne.” The date of the message corresponds to the final stage of Boucles de la Mayenne – a race in north-west France, which Lotto Dstny had contested.
The Twitter profile photo in the screenshot appears to match the photo from Davis’s Twitter account, which has since been deactivated.
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The user later posted a screenshot of a further message, in which the man appeared to threaten legal action if the earlier tweet was not removed.
“My fiancee and I would like you to delete any potential tweets involving my image or in writing, within one hour from this message,” the message said. “My lawyer, family, are at the police station now to report you or anyone else on social media who may have publicly damaged my image.”
The allegations were first reported by the Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
Lotto Dstny said in a statement it had “taken notice of the allegations of transgressive behaviour, expressed towards a sports director of the team and published by a person on Twitter”. The team said it was “a personal case” that had “nothing to do with the team”.
However, it said: “In order to keep the peace, it has been decided, by mutual agreement, to keep the sports director out of the Tour de France. The team will not make additional comments on this case and asks to respect the privacy of those involved.”
Guardian Australia has spoken to an Australian cycling fan who alleged that Davis had also contacted her unsolicited through Twitter and, in one later message, called her “bub”. The woman, who asked not to be named, had not previously interacted with Davis until he sent her a first direct message last year. Guardian Australia has seen screenshots of the private messages.
Davis did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
On Thursday, the Twitter user who made the initial allegation made a further allegation that it was not the first time Davis had sent her an unsolicited topless photo. Guardian Australia has seen further screenshots supporting this allegation. The woman asked that her name not be published.
At the time of the messages, she was looking for a job in cycling. In messages seen by Guardian Australia, Davis suggested he might be able to help her find a job.
Davis had a storied career as a sprinter in the professional peloton during the 2000s, retiring in 2014 after two years with the Australian team Team Jayco-AlUla. He won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games road race in New Delhi, and bronze at the world championships in Melbourne in the same year. Davis also won the Tour Down Under ochre jersey in 2009.
Before joining Lotto Dstny Davis worked as sports director at the now defunct women’s team Wiggle High5.
The Tour de France begins on Saturday in Bilbao. Lotto Dstny’s squad is headlined by the Australian sprint star Caleb Ewan.
