UCI to Face Legal Action over Disqualification of Wiebes over 0.02kg Weight Violation

Saturday evening’s exclusion of race leader and stage one winner Lorena Wiebes from the Giro d’Italia Women looks to be heading to the courts, with her team strongly protesting the disqualification and casting doubts on the UCI’s measurements.

Wiebes’ bike was weighed after she won Saturday’s opening stage of the race and, as revealed in a team statement, was deemed to be 0.02kg under the UCI’s minimum weight of 6.8kg.

The team insisted that the bike had been previously weighed and always found above this threshold, something it returned to on Sunday when vowing to take legal action.

“It’s sad. These are the bikes we always ride. And we have never had anything like this before,” SD Worx Protime boss Erwin Janssen told NOS.

He said the bike was weighed twice by the UCI, and that there was a 50 gram difference between both readings.

“How is that possible? The first one was 70 grams lighter than allowed. That weighing equipment, if it has been at altitude, then it needs to be recalibrated. That didn’t happen, we heard. We ourselves measured over 6.83 kilos after the finish. But that was indoors, without wind, with our own equipment.”

Accuracy of reading aside, the decision to expel Wiebes from the race will likely be part of any further action. The stage was flat, rendering any benefit of a 20 gram weight saving as being minimal to non-existent. But rather than just relegating her from the stage result and perhaps imposing a fine or loss of UCI points, the UCI jury decided to throw her out of the entire race.

Team leader Danny Stam said that Wiebes had already travelled home and was very disappointed.

“We came here with the goal of winning three or four stages, which I also think is realistic,” he said. “When you are expelled from the Giro in such a way, it is very painful. We chose to bring her back to the Netherlands as quickly as possible.”

Runner-up Elisa Balsamo was upgraded to stage winner and the Italian lined out in the second stage with the Maglia Rosa of race leader.

Janssen knows it would otherwise have been Wiebes clad in pink and vowed to do more to push back against the UCI’s decision.

“It will be difficult, but we cannot just let this go. It is ridiculous that Lorena is being kicked out,” he said. “This causes us so much damage. We were aiming for three or four wins.

“We are going to do everything, including legally. But they are relentless. It will be their ‘no’ against our ‘yes.’ They will get a letter. That we are going to hold them liable for the damage suffered.”

Post from evening of Saturday May 30:

Giro d’Italia Women Race Leader Wiebes Disqualified as Bike 0.02kg Under Limit

Lorena Wiebes ejected from race hours after winning opening stage in a big bunch sprint, Balsamo takes over Maglia Rosa

Twenty grams. That’s the difference between winning stage one of the Giro d’Italia Women and leading the race, and being disqualified from the entire event.

Lorena Wiebes and her SD Worx-Protime team have been left reeling after a sensational decision by the Giro race jury to eject her from the tour, hours after one of the biggest successes of her career.

“Lorena Wiebes was expelled from the Giro d’Italia Women following a breach of article 2.12.007 – 2.2: use of a bicycle not in compliance with the regulations, specifically failing to meet the minimum weight requirements,” the Giro d’Italia organizers said in a statement.

And the team? It is highly skeptical about the jury’s ruling, questioning both the severity of the sanction but also the accuracy of the bike check.

In a statement released approximately two hours after the Giro’s announcement, SD Worx-Protime has said it is “astonished by the decision of the UCI commissaires’ panel.” It said that the jury said that the bicycle weighed 6.78 kilograms rather than the mandatory 6.8.

That’s a weight difference of approximately 0.3 percent.

“The team has serious questions about the bicycle-weighting procedures at the Giro d’Italia Women. For example, there was a weight difference of more than 50 grams between the first and second weighing of Wiebes’ bicycle after the finish of the stage in Ravenna,” it said.

“Wiebes has ridden this bicycle on multiple occasions this season, always with the same setup. She achieved numerous victories on this bike. Moreover, earlier this year, the bicycle was weighed by UCI officials after several races in which Wiebes won sprint finishes convincingly.

“On each occasion, the bicycle’s weight was found to be comfortably above the 6.8-kilogram limit. The team therefore does not understand how the very same bicycle could now suddenly be measured below the minimum weight requirement.”

From Giro leader to Giro exclusion

Saturday’s disqualification of Wiebes came on an opening stage which was almost completely flat. The riders clocked up a mere 240 meters in altitude gain during the 139km event. Wiebes also sprinted across the finish line with a water bottle on her bike: estimated weight? About 80 grams.

The team disputes the UCI’s actual weight measurement but even if it was accurate, it argues the penalty is completely over the top.

“Team SD Worx – Protime believes that Wiebes’ disqualification is an exceptionally severe sanction. In a flat sprint stage, unlike a mountain stage, a small reduction in weight provides virtually no advantage. This is certainly true for a rider like Wiebes, who won the sprint in Ravenna by three bicycle lengths.

“Team SD Worx – Protime, a leading team in the women’s peloton for the past fifteen years, has no explanation for why Wiebes’ bicycle was found to be under the minimum weight on this occasion.”

It did not indicate if it would consider taking a case to a body such as the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or indeed if any further action was planned.

With stage 2 starting at 11.15 Italian time on Sunday any such appeals may end up being symbolic rather than successful in keeping Wiebes in the race.

Still, ejecting a rider from a race due to her bike being 0.02g over the limit seems a very harsh approach.

Original post:

Giro d’Italia Women Race Leader Wiebes Disqualified for Using too Light of a Bike

Wiebes ejected from race hours after winning opening stage in big bunch sprint.

There has been a huge shakeup at the Giro d’Italia Women, with stage one winner and race leader Lorena Wiebes being ejected from the race.

Wiebes’ name was first removed from the official results, with a press release then coming through from race organizers RCS Sport on Saturday evening.

It noted that the Dutchwoman “was disqualified by the jury under article 2.12.007 – 2.2 of the regulations.

“Lorena Wiebes was expelled from the Giro d’Italia Women following a breach of article 2.12.007 – 2.2: use of a bicycle not in compliance with the regulations, specifically failing to meet the minimum weight requirements.

“Therefore, the victory in the opening stage is awarded to Elisa Balsamo, who will start tomorrow in the Maglia Rosa.

“Lorena Wiebes was originally the stage winner before the decision.”

The UCI imposes a minimum weight of 6.8kg for all bikes. Velo asked a RCS Sport contact if they were aware of the weight of Wiebes bike but they didn’t have this information.

Her team is yet to issue a response.

Stage one runner up Elisa Balsamo has been promoted to first and the Italian will wear the race leader’s pink jersey on Sunday’s second stage.

Irishwoman Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) and Italy’s Ciara Consonni (Canyon/SRAM) have moved to second and third on the stage and in the general classification.

See the original race report here.