Henderson: Nothing I can do about Fabio Aru lawsuit

New Zealander Greg Henderson (Lotto-Soudal) has no answer for Italian Fabio Aru's legal action over biological passport comments on Twitter.

Aru's lawyer yesterday said that the cyclist, currently second in the Giro d'Italia, has filed a lawsuit over Henderson's allegedly defamatory tweets, seemingly not accepting the Kiwi's apology the following day.

"When you are sick. You are sick. Jumping to conclusions helps nobody. My mistake @FabioAru1. I should shut my mouth. Sincere apologies." Henderson wrote on Twitter.

The pair are racing alongside each other at the Giro d'Italia and insisted there's nothing he can do about the situation and is now concentrating on his race.

"I offered my apology [on Twitter] and he didn't accept it, so that was basically the end of the story," Henderson said.

"Now, I just wait, concentrate on the end of the race that I'm doing. That's all I can do."

>>> Fabio Aru: could he be Italy’s next big thing?

Aru only took in the Paris-Nice and Vuelta a Cataluyna stage races before the Giro, placing 39th and sixth. He currently sits three seconds behind race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).

Henderson rides as André Greipel's lead-out man for the sprints. He explained that he and Aru rode side by side in the Giro, but not a word was spoken.

"We've ridden beside each other many times and he hasn't said anything,” he said. “I'm just waiting like you guys, you'll probably find out before I will."

Henderson's Twitter apology was not enough to stop Aru's lawyer, Giuseppe Napoleone, from filing a lawsuit. Yesterday, they announced their action.

Napoleone said, the defamation legal action was "undertaken to protect the good name and integrity of the cyclist Fabio Aru."

"I've never been in this situation before," Henderson added.

"Worried? What can I do? Worrying is not going to solve the situation. Regrets? Of course, I didn't want to cause this sort of commotion, that's why... If I didn't regret it, I wouldn't have put an apology out."