{"id":620596,"date":"2026-06-04T10:27:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T10:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/620596\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T10:27:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T10:27:17","slug":"she-has-lost-several-victories-over-something-so-marginal-annemiek-van-vleuten-reacts-to-wiebes-giro-disqualification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/620596\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;She has lost several victories over something so marginal&#8221;: Annemiek Van Vleuten reacts to Wiebes&#8217; Giro disqualification"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;My first reaction would be to strip the stage win and let her start the next day on a compliant bike. However, the rules are the rules and they are clearly defined. Teams know they must respect them,&#8221; she clarified for <a href=\"https:\/\/nos.nl\/artikel\/2616738-van-vleuten-snapt-niet-dat-ploeg-wiebes-zoveel-risico-nam-met-vederlichte-fiets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NOS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The former rider also showed empathy for Wiebes\u2019s situation, arguing that the infringement did not deliver a real sporting benefit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s a very tough situation. She has lost several victories over something that gave her no advantage. We\u2019re talking about barely four tea bags. Maybe on a climb there could be some difference, but certainly not one that decides a win. And even less so in a completely flat stage,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Team SD Worx &#8211; Protime explained that Wiebes had raced all season on the same bike. Even so, Van Vleuten believes that argument does not justify what happened.<\/p>\n<p>She noted that seemingly minor tweaks can change the final system weight. &#8220;Swapping the chainring, fitting a different front derailleur, or even adding a bit more sealant in the tires can account for those twenty grams. That\u2019s why it doesn\u2019t look like a particularly careful approach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Dutchwoman also questioned why a team would take such a big risk when the potential gain is virtually nil. &#8220;It\u2019s a good question. You expose yourself to a huge sanction for something that really adds nothing. In 2019 I also had a bike that was exactly 6.8 kilos. My team decided to add a twenty-gram counterweight to build in a safety margin. It felt odd to add weight, but it was far better than risking a disqualification.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Van Vleuten finally reminded that the UCI allows no tolerance in these measurements, so she considers that edging up to the limit is never the best strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;My first reaction would be to strip the stage win and let her start the next day on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[210745,4985,210746,111417,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-620596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-annemiek-van-vleuten","tag-cycling","tag-giro-ditalia-women","tag-lorena-wiebes","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620596","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=620596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}