Wiebes\u2019 bike was found to not comply with regulations as it was 20 grams underweight, meaning she was forced to immediately hand the pink jersey over to Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).<\/p>\n
The decision left her team stunned, with SD Worx-Protime later releasing a statement<\/a> casting doubt on the \u201dbicycle-weighting procedures\u201d at the race and insisting Wiebes had already \u201dachieved numerous victories on this bike\u201d during the 2026 season.<\/p>\n Speaking ahead of Stage 2 on Sunday, Rowe explained her exasperation at the race losing one of its star names.<\/p>\n \u201dI think it\u2019s terrible, I\u2019m honestly really disappointed,\u201d Rowe told TNT Sports and Eurosport.<\/p>\n \u201dI think it\u2019s a huge upset for the race and there is no positivity that can really come out of it. I\u2019m heartbroken for Lorena, because she would have put herself in the best shape she could be for this race. To be thrown out is a harsh decision.<\/p>\n Highlights: Balsamo declared winner of Stage 1 after Wiebes is disqualified <\/p>\n Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n \u201dEspecially after the statement that came out last night from SD Worx, who said she has ridden this bike with the same set-up multiple times, she has won on it.<\/p>\n \u201dBut not only that, the bike was checked multiple times after the stage and there was a big discrepancy of weight on the same scales. So where is the margin of error on the scales? It\u2019s a huge shame.\u201d<\/p>\n Fellow pundit Ilenia Lazzaro pointed out that the decision will create an opportunity for others as it blows the race wide open ahead of another sprint stage on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201dFor SD Worx-Protime, they have to have a plan B as well, maybe today [Sunday] it will be Barbara Guarischi to sprint,\u201d Lazzaro said.<\/p>\n \u201dBut it will change everything for the other teams because there is a huge opportunity to win the stage, to take the jersey.<\/p>\n \u201dThe intermediate sprint will be crucial for points and also for seconds, and everyone, really everyone, can win today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Stam – Wiebes has already won 10 times on this bike<\/p>\n SD Worx-Protime sports director Danny Stam spoke to TNT Sports ahead of Stage 2 to explain his frustration with the decision and reiterate his team\u2019s doubts about the way Wiebes\u2019 bike was weighed.<\/p>\n \u201dFor us it was a big surprise that we got told that the bike was too light, because it\u2019s the bike that we always use and that Lorena has already won on 10 times, I think,\u201d Stam said. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201dThey showed that the bike was too light and, on their scale, the bike was too light. We asked 20 times I think, and we did it 20 different ways, but in the end the decision was made, and they said the bike was too light.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if there was any reason the bike could have measured lighter, he replied: \u201dNo, it\u2019s really a miracle; we really don\u2019t know how it is.<\/p>\n Highlights: Vingegaard on cusp of Giro d’Italia triumph after victory in Stage 20 <\/p>\n Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n \u201dWe know Lorena won stages in Burgos in the weeks before with the same bike, same set-up. The bike was good, it was measured many times.<\/p>\n \u201dWhat do we say? I think Lorena wins with three bikes; we don\u2019t need to look for 20 grams in a sprint stage. We are really surprised and we have doubts about the measuring.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201d[Wiebes is] extremely disappointed. It\u2019s a very hard punishment that she got, disqualification for the complete Giro.<\/p>\n \u201dWe came here to win three or four stages and that should be possible, but she got disqualified for this and we don\u2019t have a chance any more.\u201d<\/p>\n Add TNT Sports as a preferred source here<\/a>\u00a0to enjoy more content like this.Stream every stage of the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women on TNT Sports and HBO Max<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rowe left ‘disappointed’ and ‘heartbroken’ after shock Wiebes disqualification from Giro Video credit: TNT Sports The Dutch sprint…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,209317,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-615038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-giro-ditalia-women-2026-w","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"picture\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-4a95c3d7-bab1-4510-8dbd-70fdc8070d64-85-2560-1440.jpeg\")
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