The race direction statement from the Giro d'Italia arrives at 21:22 and is a bolt from the blue: Lorena Wiebes is disqualified from the Giro Rosa for "Use of a bicycle not compliant with regulations – not compliant with minimum weight requirements".

Goodbye pink jersey, goodbye Giro Rosa for the Dutch champion. Therefore, the victory in the first stage goes to Elisa Balsamo, who will start tomorrow in the second stage, Roncade-Caorle, wearing the Pink Jersey.

THE OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM SD WORX.

Team SD Worx – Protime is shocked by the decision of the UCI commissaries' commission that Lorena Wiebes' bicycle did not meet the minimum weight limit after the first stage of the women's Giro d'Italia, in accordance with article 2.12.007-2.2 of the UCI regulations.

According to the commission, the bicycle weighed 6.78 kilograms and therefore did not satisfy the minimum weight requirement of 6.8 kilograms set by the UCI. The team has serious doubts about the bicycle weighing procedures at the women's Giro d'Italia.

For example, a weight difference of over 50 grams was found between the first and second weighing of Wiebes' bicycle after the stage finish in Ravenna. Wiebes has used this bicycle on several occasions this season, always with the same configuration. She has achieved numerous victories with this bicycle. Furthermore, at the beginning of this year, the bicycle had been weighed by UCI officials after several races in which Wiebes had won convincingly in the sprint. On every occasion, the bicycle's weight was well above the 6.8 kilogram limit.

The team therefore does not understand how the same bicycle can now suddenly be weighed below the required minimum weight. Team SD Worx – Protime believes that Wiebes' disqualification is an exceptionally severe penalty. In a flat stage for sprinters, unlike a mountain stage, a small weight reduction offers practically no advantage. This is certainly true for a cyclist like Wiebes, who won the Ravenna sprint with three bike lengths of advantage.

Team SD Worx – Protime, one of the leading teams in the women's group over the last fifteen years, has no explanation for why Wiebes' bicycle was found below the minimum weight on this occasion.