{"id":705285,"date":"2026-05-31T06:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/705285\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T06:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:24:08","slug":"astonished-sd-worx-protime-hits-back-at-wiebess-stunning-giro-dsq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/705285\/","title":{"rendered":"“Astonished.” SD Worx-Protime hits back at Wiebes’s stunning Giro DSQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is hard to think of the last time a Grand Tour has started with as much drama as Saturday\u2019s Giro opening and \u00a0jaw-dropping disqualification of Lorena Wiebes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are frequently crashes and chaotic opening stages in the men\u2019s and women\u2019s major tours. But disqualifying a major cycling star when that star is the leader of the race<\/a>? Nearly unheard of. Even when Peter Sagan was DSQ\u2019d from the Tour de France, which caused a massive uproar, he was wearing green, not yellow.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Team SD Worx-Protime is not sitting by quietly after Weibes\u2019s disqualification. The team issued a statement pushing back against it\u2019s star\u2019s ejection from the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cAstonished by the decision\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTeam SD Worx-Protime is astonished by the decision of the UCI commissaries\u2019 panel that Lorena Wiebes\u2019 bicycle did not comply with the minimum weight limit after the first stage of the Giro d\u2019Italia Women, in accordance with UCI Article 2.12.007\u20132.2,\u201d the team posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Wiebes bike was officially weighed at 6.78 kilograms. The UCI\u2019s minimum weight requirement is 6.8 kilograms. That is 20 grams or 0.044 lbs below the limit.<\/p>\n

For pro teams, though, that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team has serious questions about the bicycle-weighting procedures at the Giro d\u2019Italia Women. For example, there was a weight difference of more than 50 grams between the first and second weighing of Wiebes\u2019 bicycle after the finish of the stage in Ravenna.\u201d<\/p>\n

That kind of weight difference between weigh-ins shouldn\u2019t be happening at this level. And, if there is a difference, makes for questionable grounds for disqualification.<\/p>\n

\u201cWiebes 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn exceptionally severe sanction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The severity of the punishment \u00a0is the second part of the decision that SD Worx-Protime is taking issue with.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeam SD Worx \u2013 Protime believes that Wiebes\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not sure the winning margin factors into UCI\u2019s rule enforcement. But the severity of the punishment sure does feel out of step with the infraction.<\/p>\n

Again, SD Worx-Protime is not a new team. Not unused to weighing in its rider\u2019s bikes. And not inexperienced with the UCI.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeam SD Worx \u2013 Protime, a leading team in the women\u2019s peloton for the past fifteen years, has no explanation for why Wiebes\u2019 bicycle was found to be under the minimum weight on this occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happens next? Well, the Giro continues Sunday. There\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is hard to think of the last time a Grand Tour has started with as much drama…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[253787,49,48,635,43199,25419,143735,82],"class_list":["post-705285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-giro-ditalia-women","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-giro-ditalia","tag-lorena-wiebes","tag-sd-worx-protime","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}