It is hard to think of the last time a Grand Tour has started with as much drama as Saturday’s Giro opening and jaw-dropping disqualification of Lorena Wiebes.
There are frequently crashes and chaotic opening stages in the men’s and women’s major tours. But disqualifying a major cycling star when that star is the leader of the race? Nearly unheard of. Even when Peter Sagan was DSQ’d from the Tour de France, which caused a massive uproar, he was wearing green, not yellow.
Unsurprisingly, Team SD Worx-Protime is not sitting by quietly after Weibes’s disqualification. The team issued a statement pushing back against it’s star’s ejection from the race.
“Astonished by the decision”
“Team SD Worx-Protime is astonished by the decision of the UCI commissaries’ panel that Lorena Wiebes’ bicycle did not comply with the minimum weight limit after the first stage of the Giro d’Italia Women, in accordance with UCI Article 2.12.007–2.2,” the team posted on Instagram.
Wiebes bike was officially weighed at 6.78 kilograms. The UCI’s minimum weight requirement is 6.8 kilograms. That is 20 grams or 0.044 lbs below the limit.
For pro teams, though, that’s very much a non-trivial difference. These teams are very used to working exactly at the limit. SD Worx-Protime is more concerned with the discrepancy between weightings than difference from the UCI limit.
“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.”
That kind of weight difference between weigh-ins shouldn’t be happening at this level. And, if there is a difference, makes for questionable grounds for disqualification.
“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.”
“An exceptionally severe sanction.”
The severity of the punishment is the second part of the decision that SD Worx-Protime is taking issue with.
“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.”
We’re not sure the winning margin factors into UCI’s rule enforcement. But the severity of the punishment sure does feel out of step with the infraction.
Again, SD Worx-Protime is not a new team. Not unused to weighing in its rider’s bikes. And not inexperienced with the UCI.
“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.”
What happens next? Well, the Giro continues Sunday. There’s not much time for this issue to get resolved before the Giro, surely a major objective for SD Worx-Protime, or any team, rolls on through Italy without Wiebes.