Fabio Aru will take legal action against Greg Henderson after the New Zealander accused the young Italian of being involved in a Biological Passport Case.

On Thursday night, Henderson took to Twitter, just hours after the UCI Licence Commission confirmed that the Astana team could keep its WorldTour licence. He wrote: “Sad to see @fabaro1 "sick". Mate make sure next time u come back to our sport "healthy". Aka. Clean! #biopassport! Or don't come back!”

He followed that up by posting: “I am so sick of it. It becomes common knowledge within days. Why try cheat.”

This was in reference to Astana pulling Aru from their Giro del Trentino squad as he has an intestinal ailment that left him constantly on the toilet in Aru’s own words.

However, he has now backed down from his claims after learning that Aru intended to take legal action, tweeting: “When you are sick. You are sick. Jumping to conclusions helps nobody. My mistake @FabioAru1. I should shut my mouth. Sincere apologies.”

Aru’s agent Alex Carera said that both Aru and his team image has been damaged and they will be looking to take legal action against Henderson, who rides for Lotto-Soudal.

“A famous athlete like Greg Henderson, who has 40,000 followers on Twitter, can cause huge damage to a person like Fabio, his Astana team and the sport, in this way,” Carera told Cyclingnews.

“Our lawyers will look at what has happened and consider where to start legal action. Fabio Aru’s image has been damaged, he doesn’t deserve this. I hope the UCI will also take action against Henderson. He should be fined for what he’s done.”