“We are going to hold the UCI liable” - SD Worx-Protime hire lawyer as Lorena Wiebes Giro d'Italia expulsion threatens CAS battle

The 20-gram bike-weight ruling that ended Lorena Wiebes’ Giro d’Italia Women is now becoming a legal fight over the UCI’s own process, with SD Worx-Protime hiring a lawyer, calculating financial damage and openly preparing for the possibility of a CAS case.

Wiebes crossed the line first on Stage 1 in Ravenna, but was later removed from the race after her bike was ruled to be below the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum weight limit. Elisa Balsamo inherited the opening victory and first Maglia Rosa, while SD Worx-Protime lost the fastest sprinter in the race before Stage 2 had even begun.

The team’s Giro has since taken a dramatic turn on the road, with Anna van der Breggen crushing the Stage 4 uphill time trial and moving into pink. Behind that sporting recovery, the Wiebes case has only escalated.

“We are going to hold the UCI liable and have hired a lawyer,” team manager Erwin Janssen told Wielerflits. “Aside from wanting to restore some honour, this disqualification also has an enormous financial impact.”

SD Worx-Protime are no longer treating Wiebes’ expulsion as a closed sporting decision. Janssen said the team are working through the wider cost of her removal, with the damage stretching beyond the loss of one stage result.

“It is difficult to say how big the damage is in euros, but you have to think about prize money from several missed stages, missing out on UCI points and agreements in sponsor contracts,” he said. “We are now working on calculating all of that.”

That framing could make the case much bigger than the immediate Giro controversy. Wiebes was expected to be a central figure across the flat stages, and her absence changed the sprint landscape immediately. Balsamo took over the opening result, then won Stages 2 and 3 on the road as the race continued without the rider who had initially looked set to dominate the bunch finishes.

Janssen also made clear that SD Worx-Protime see the Court of Arbitration for Sport as a realistic next step, particularly because of the response they say they have received from the UCI. “There is a good chance it will go to CAS,” he said. “The UCI simply isn’t responding. Nobody is picking up the phone. Only our lawyer has managed to reach someone higher up at the UCI.”

The team’s anger is now focused as much on procedure as on the number recorded by the scale. Janssen accused those carrying out the check of falling short of the standards expected from professional teams.

“It is just bizarre that we are being brushed off like this,” he said. “Cycling teams are expected to be fully professional, while over there amateurs, semi-professionals, have to carry out such a bike measurement in a very unprofessional way.”

Janssen listed several points SD Worx-Protime are expected to lean on if the dispute continues. He said team management did not sign a measurement report, and claimed there was no opportunity for a counter-assessment after the bike was judged to be too light.

“I am simply amazed by everything that went wrong,” he said. “Normally, the team management in charge has to sign a measurement report, and that did not happen either. And there was also no opportunity at all for a counter-assessment.”

According to Janssen, the UCI’s response has remained fixed on the basic ruling. “The UCI simply will not budge,” he said. “They say: too light is too light. There is little understanding and flexibility, while we never take risks with the bike.”

SD Worx-Protime are also investigating whether conditions around the measurement could have affected the result. Janssen said Wiebes’ bike had consistently been above the minimum weight before the check that led to her expulsion.

“Lorena’s bike always weighed between the 6.83 and 6.85 kilos, so it really is simply because of the wind,” he said. “That bike was blowing from left to right.”

The team are now looking into that line of argument with expert input. “What I have heard from experts is that the wind can make an enormous difference during a measurement,” Janssen said. “So we are now investigating that as well.”

The UCI ruling still stands, Wiebes remains out of the Giro and Balsamo keeps the Stage 1 victory she inherited in Ravenna. Van der Breggen’s Maglia Rosa has given SD Worx-Protime a new race-leading story on the road, but the dispute that began with a post-stage weight check is now moving towards lawyers, liability and a possible CAS battle.