Wiebes disqualified from Giro d'Italia Women over underweight bike, loses stage win and leader's jersey

Lorena Wiebes, the Dutch national champion, has been disqualified from the Giro d'Italia Women after race organizers determined her bicycle violated regulations regarding minimum weight. The disqualification resulted in Wiebes being removed from the stage results, stripped of the leader's pink jersey, and expelled from the entire competition.

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The team says it is stunned by the jury's decision that Wiebes's bike did not meet the minimum weight limit.

Consequently, her team, SD Worx – Protime, will start the second stage on Sunday with one fewer rider. The stage victory and the initial leader's jersey have now been awarded to Italy's Elisa Balsamo, who had finished second in the mass sprint in Ravenna.

The team expressed astonishment at the decision by the UCI jury, stating that Wiebes's bike did not meet the UCI's minimum weight limit of 6.8 kilograms, reportedly weighing 6.78 kilograms. The team considers the disqualification an exceptionally harsh penalty.

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The team finds the disqualification of Wiebes an exceptionally heavy sanction.

SD Worx – Protime is questioning the weight control procedures employed during the Giro d'Italia Women. They noted a discrepancy of over 50 grams between the first and second weighings of Wiebes's bike after the Ravenna stage. The team emphasized that Wiebes had ridden this same bike, assembled identically, multiple times throughout the season without issue, and that the bike had previously passed UCI weight checks in other races.

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The team questions the weight checks in the Giro d'Italia Women.

They find it incomprehensible how the same bicycle could now be found underweight. The team plans to investigate the matter further.

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The team does not understand how it is possible that the same bike is now below the weight limit.