“There would be no point in cheating with 20 grams” - Olympic medallist baffled by Lorena Wiebes’ brutal Giro d’Italia punishment for bike weight “blunder”

Lorena Wiebes’ Giro d’Italia Women expulsion has left former Danish professional rider, Olympic track medallist and Eurosport analyst Julie Leth convinced of one thing: this was a costly mistake, not a calculated attempt to gain an advantage.

Wiebes crossed the line first on Stage 1 in Ravenna and appeared to have taken both the opening victory and the first maglia rosa of the race. Hours later, her Giro was over. Post-stage checks found her bike below the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum weight limit, with reports putting the margin at just 20 grams.

Elisa Balsamo inherited the stage win and race lead. Team SD Worx - Protime lost the strongest sprinter in the race before Stage 2 had even begun.

Analysing the incident on Eurosport Denmark’s coverage, Leth rejected the idea that Wiebes or SD Worx - Protime had any obvious reason to chase such a marginal gain on a flat sprint stage. “I am absolutely certain that it is a mistake from the team’s side,” said Leth. “I know they are out there going by the UCI’s scales. There would be no point in cheating with 20 grams, so it is a huge blunder, which costs really, really dearly on many fronts.”

The UCI’s rule is clear. Bikes must meet the 6.8kg minimum weight limit, and Wiebes’ bike was judged to be below that threshold. Leth did not argue that the regulation should be ignored. Her reaction centred on the scale of the breach, the type of stage and the severity of the outcome. “I can see how frustrating it must be,” she said. “But on the other hand, rules are rules, and rules are not there to be broken. There would be no gain in having a bike 20 grams too light on a completely pancake-flat stage.”

Wiebes had already delivered a dominant sprint in Ravenna before the result was overturned. She beat Balsamo and Lara Gillespie in a finish where she looked every inch the fastest rider in the race.

“She practically won with two fingers up her nose, so it is not as if she needed it either,” Leth added. “I am absolutely certain that somehow a mistake has happened, and it is a very, very costly mistake.”

For Wiebes, the decision meant no stage win, no pink jersey and no route back into the race. For SD Worx - Protime, it turned a near-perfect opening day into a damaging equipment failure at the start of a Grand Tour.

The Giro continued with a different sprint hierarchy almost immediately. Balsamo started Stage 2 in pink after inheriting the opener, then won the bunch sprint in Caorle to strengthen her hold on the race lead. Gillespie returned to the podium, Charlotte Kool moved into the mix, and the absence of Wiebes left the flat stages without their clearest reference point.

SD Worx - Protime have questioned the handling of the weight check, and Leth said she could understand the team’s frustration. She also suggested that any challenge to the process would need something more concrete behind it.

“Of course, it is the UCI that has the final call, and it is also their equipment, but if they thought they had a case, then perhaps they could argue against it,” said Leth. “I don’t quite think we are seeing anything about that here in the case. It is a bit vague to me.”

Wiebes remains out of the Giro, Balsamo has two stage wins to her name, and the first major controversy of the race is already shaping the sprint stages that follow.