What is going on with Thibault Dapréla?

Neko called him out on the broadcast, speaking of thinly-veiled

Which Broadcast?

The only "Neko" one I am familiar with is "Downtime", and I think I listened to every one and must have missed that.

Thanks.  
 

Can't remember which race, but it was on the WB broadcast for the final when Neko was the color commentary. something to the effect of "wow look at him charge that section, this guy won't take 'no' for an answer!"

That was solid gold. 

The clip is at 2:19. https://youtu.be/g4csYrMjmPQ?si=PkRFVmtD1l-nrAKI

PUT IT IN THE LOUVRE

There's been some riders, mostly french i guess, that has given him their support in comments on instagram if i'm not mistaken. Then in Loudenvielle Amaury Pierron went up to the podium with a sign that said "Thib & Cathou" and a heart. Was he referring to Daprela?  

That was referencing Thibaut Ruffin and his girlfriend  

I recently posted and got quite a down voting in reference to the quality of Wyn TV. One of the reasons why I posted was because of the increasing amount of engagement bait in his content. One particular example was when he interviewed Daprela in Poland, although I didn't mention it on the post. I'll still give Wyn the benefit of the doubt, at least until it should ever happen again. 

As far as I've seen, he's the only independent race content creator who has platformed Daprela. I certainly haven't seen him on FastAF or any other French vlogs that I follow. There certainly isn't support for him among the French racing crowd that I know.

Thanks. 

I don't have Instagram and i'm not active on other forums so i'm not so up to date with things. I saw now on the first page of this thread a picture with Antoine Rogge responding to an instagram post from Thibault, which was what i was thinking about other riders showing support.

I got a good laugh out of it but, given the corporate nature of the broadcaster and the evident timidity within the media regarding the allegations, I imagine he might have been pulled aside afterwards and asked not to make any more jokes about sexual assault in general and that rider specifically on the broadcast again.

Certainly open to interpretation, but I took it as less of a joke and more of a way to call him out. It would be fascinating to hear if there was any reactions from WB or others involved.  

Yeah good on Neko for calling him out but it was still obviously framed as a joke.  Either way in my imagined management scenario I don't think it matters whether it's a "joke" or not.

I find it distributing (though not surprising) the UCI/WBD hasn't launched their own misconduct investigation into this one. I know if this was a bigger sport with more media pressure, that's exactly what would happen. The results (independent of the courts) would dictate his future, and these types of things are usually handled quickly. As an example, Trevor Bauer was suspended (MLB ) even though there was no criminal conviction (honestly, probably should have been booted from the league). 

Side question, doesn't Thibault come from real money? 

I hate that this is the case, but even in bigger sports they don't care. Look at tennis, Zverev beat up not one but two partners and zero reprimand. Formula 1, the Horner situation. There's so many instances of this in the top tier of sports in the world and nothing happens. 

Haha totes adorbs to think that big sports are somehow more virtuous…cmon. Shaq put his teammates’ toothbrushes up his ass and I do believe Ray Lewis killed a guy. The size of the sport only really indicates the strength of the PR machines. 
Combine MTB’s small scene with the demographics involved, we’re solidly in a “don’t rock the boat” bubble. 

Truly independent (and interested) news sources are needed. 

Fine if you feel that way, but I try to ask for riders opinions on the current state of the sport and also anything happening inside so people from the outside can learn more, Finns response was great and a lot people enjoyed his opinions.

I interview riders who are doing well in the race, on race day my video is to tell the story of the race. 

I can't make a judgement on a case where no one actually knows the full story, and we never will it seems, so until then I will interview the riders who performed well, like I always have done. 

I know this thread is old, but seems fitting to place it here - seems he's no long part of the Rogue Racing now Unno UCI DH team for 2026.  Wonder if he'll try for a privateer effort, but otherwise seems he's been shuffled out of the sport. I'm sure others know more than I do, but the whole thing sucks.  If he did something shitty (criminal), let's have it out, otherwise he's possibly been shuffled from the sport without cause... I don't know.

Seems a fair opinion. 

I loved watching the guy’s race runs. All-out every time. Remember that right hander where he just disintegrated and his bike warped through the netting? Unreal. It seemed like he was trying to out-Pierron Amaury for those first seasons. 

It genuinely sucks nobody’s getting to the bottom of any of it. MTB needs some bottom-getters…

Didn't Pinkbike have an article ready to go before they received a legal letter?

That might be why there haven't been any "bottom-getters".

Its because the sport is doing its best to ignore it or sweep under the rug - so any (i guess i have to say alleged) victims probably dont feel like they will be listened to or taken seriously - which only allows predators to think they can keep getting away with it. No one wants to rock the boat, but its really on the rest of the sport -ie the governing bodies and other athletes with a platform to stand up and make some noise about it

The bar for going to jail is innocent till proven guilty.

The bar for civil cases, keeping or getting a job, or people wanting to associate with you is much lower.  

If TD really assaulted someone, he should be banned for life. 
I do find it strange that there are all kinds of “people know” insinuations, yet he is still followed by the biggest names in the sport on IG. 

And – lest anybody need a reminder – the rate of conviction in sexual assault cases (if they even make it to trial...) is very low, and it's not because most of the victims are lying.

Maybe he’s also just not that cool of a dude to be around.

The Venn diagram for people accused of SA (guilty or not) and being a giant prick is probably close to a circle.

I wish he would just be forgotten.

dude what? 

and also huh? 



 

While I don’t factor coolness and I doubt any teams are.  Though not sexually based I’ve gone thru my own false accusation.  And what saved me (as well as others I’ve known) in that scenario socially and at work is my reputation and how I treat people.  And that when I articulated what really happened to my boss and friends people trusted me.  And to me it says a lot that commencal immediately dropped him, and that nobody was defending his character throughout the saga.  And daprela’s own words and actions have been to threaten anyone from speaking about it while not telling his side of the story.  

And honestly I hate to say it but i doubt any of it matters if he was winning races and still at the sharp end of the field.  Someone would play the “he said/she said we don’t know what happened card” like people did after his weather affected podium.  But he wasn’t even the best rider on rogue last season.  I don’t find it surprising they dropped him and nobody wanted to pick him up.  

A Venn diagram is a visual representation using two partially overlapping circles to represent the similarities and differences between two things. The more similar, the more overlap there is. 

He makes a good point, and I’ll still refrain from having an opinion because I know no details except from the court of internet popular opinion. But as said above, the way the rest of the field treats him as persona non grata is telling. 

No doubt though,  that high speed hands off the bar move he once pulled was incredible, and I quite like the phrase “trying to out Pierron Amaury”

History Usually Speaks Half-truths; Most Observers Never Expect Yields. 

Look carefully. All ya need to know.