After finishing fifth on stage two at this year's Giro d’Italia Women, SD Worx-Protime’s Barbara Guarischi seemed low. Less than 24 hours ago, she had led out her teammate Lorena Wiebes to victory in Ravenna – the perfect start for her team, who were expecting their top sprinter to hold onto the maglia rosa for at least another day. Within three hours, however, Wiebes had been disqualified not only from the stage, but from the entire race after it was found that her bike breached the UCI’s minimum weight requirements.
“Today it was hard for us to take the start. We decided that I would sprint today, and honestly this morning I didn’t feel like doing it, I didn’t feel like it’s my role anymore to think about the sprint, I usually think about Lorena behind. [We feel] a bit sad. We’ve been crying a lot,” said Guarischi, her throat catching before the cameras.
The magic of their stage one win triumph came to an abrupt and unforeseen end when, approximately three hours after Wiebes’s victory, a statement from RCS Sport ruled that “following a breach of article 2.12.007 – 2.2: use of a bicycle not in compliance with the regulations, specifically failing to meet the minimum weight requirements.” Wiebes’s bike weighed in at 6.78kg after the first stage – 0.02kg under the requirement of 6.8kg.
SD Worx, understandably shocked at the decision, stated in a press release that the disqualification was “an exceptionally severe sanction” given that bike weight provides virtually no advantage on a flat sprint stage, and emphasised how this was particularly relevant to Wiebes’s victory. The Dutch rider had won the bunch sprint by three bike lengths ahead of Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo. They subsequently questioned the weighing procedures of the of the organisers:
“For example, there was a weight difference of more than 50 grams between the first and second weighing of Wiebes' bicycle after the finish of the stage in Ravenna. Wiebes has ridden this bicycle on multiple occasions this season, always with the same setup. She achieved numerous victories on this bike.”
A fifth of a gram is barely the weight of a gel wrapper, but its impact on the race is huge: an enormous blow to SD Worx and to the peloton as a whole, who were feeling the absence of the world’s best sprinter on the startline of day two. Wiebes, of course, will be devastated that her chance of defending the points jersey for a third year in a row has come to an end, especially given her current form – including two stage wins and the points classification at the recent Vuelta a Burgos. It’s characteristically impressive for the sprinter who holds over 100 career victories to her name, which is why the incident is not just odd, but a big shame.
Guarischi was despondent at the loss of her leader (Image credit: Getty)
SD Worx isn’t a superteam for nothing though, and do have the depth in their Giro lineup to compete convincingly. As the teams impacted by the stage two crash of the men’s race this year can attest, losing a leader is never an ideal situation especially when the boots are exceptionally big to fill, but it does mean that others are forced to step up. Domestique Guarischi lauded the talents of her teammate after she gave a less-than-perfect lead-out on stage one:
“It was far from perfect. The good thing is that we have Lorena, she makes everything easy. We were too long, and it was a big mess, this circuit, but we are really happy. We did a great job.”
The renewed irony of Guarischi’s compliments is heartbreaking, but if there is to be a silver lining it’s that the Italian had the opportunity to hunt for a stage win at her home Grand Tour. The 35-year-old rider has started at this race 10 times in her career, and took her first and only Giro stage win in 2015. Wiebes’s disqualification will also no doubt fuel the fire of SD Worx’s GC campaign with Anna van der Breggen in the backend of the race where the final mountain stages, including the famed Colle delle Finestre, are looking primed to shake up the leaderboard.
Over at Lidl-Trek, Elisa Balsamo received the maglia rosa immediately after Wiebes was pulled from the race. The Italian expressed sportswomanly condolences at her rival's misfortune behind the automatic transfer of the GC lead, but was clearly determined to prove herself worthy of pink. She prevailed in the sprint of day two in Caorle to retain the the GC.
Elisa Balsamo celebrated with teammates after her stage two win (Image credit: Thomas Maheux/SWpix.com)
Others fancied improved chances in the scorching heat on what was mostly a flat stage barring the Muro di Cà del Poggio, a brutal climb in the Prosecco Hills with a 12.3% average gradient reaching 19% at its peak. But if the next-in-line sprinters Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) and Chiara Consonni (CANYON//SRAMM) were worried about its steep slopes, then they now had one less hurdle to overcome. The two riders finished second and third behind Balsamo, while Guarischi managed fifth behind Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) – a solid result, but not quite of Wiebes’s calibre.
Behind the scenes, there are important meetings to be had since SD Worx team manager Erwin Janssen suggested that the team will take legal action.
“It will be difficult, but we cannot just let this go,” Janssen told NOS sport. “It is ridiculous that Lorena has been taken out of the race. This causes us so much damage. We were aiming for three or four stage wins.
“We will do everything we can, including legally,” Janssen said. “But they are unyielding. It will be their no against our yes. They will receive a letter. We will hold them liable for the damage suffered.”
If there’s one race you can count on for drama, it’s the Giro - but this certainly wasn’t predicted by anyone. The show, however, must go on.
