'They're bringing cycling into disrepute': Lorena Wiebes' agent slams Giro disqualification

The Dutchwoman was ejected from the Giro on Saturday evening when the commissaires ruled that her bike had been lighter than the minimum mandated weight of 6.8kg. Wiebes had already been feted on the podium as the stage winner and presented with the maglia rosa when she was informed of her expulsion.

SD Worx Protime have claimed that Wiebes’ bike was just 20g below the minimum weight and they have threatened to take legal action against the UCI. Wiebes’ victory on stage 1 was awarded to Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), who has since gone on to win two more stages in the maglia rosa.

In an interview with Wielerflits, Wiebes’ agent André Boskamp said that the rider will not discuss the incident publicly until her next race, the Copenhagen Sprint on June 13. Boskamp explained that Wiebes had flown home to the Netherlands on Sunday and has since departed in a camper van for a break in Italy.

Boskamp dismissed the idea that Wiebes’ bike had fallen beneath the minimum weight requirement due to her decision to use a single chainring set-up on Saturday.

“No, that’s a bit of nonsense. Lorena has ridden this bike with a single chainring before,” said Boskamp, who likened the 20g weight discrepancy to a “slice of cheese” and questioned the weighing process.

“The bike has always been in good shape, even in the races leading up to this one. It’s the same bike with the same components. Lorena herself said that someone from the team’s management who was there saw that the inspectors were really fumbling with the scale. The way the jury handled this by acting this way… They’re bringing cycling into disrepute. Decisions like this undermine the credibility of cycling. Very questionable.”

Boskamp said that Wiebes had used the same bike at the Vuelta a Burgos, and he claimed that it was just above the 6.8kg minimum limit when it was weighed by her SD Worx team.

“It’s 20g, that’s a slice of cheese,” he said. “In my view, the UCI did not act in the best interests of the sport at all. I just don’t know what to say about it. This is all so unbelievable. Everything you see coming out afterwards as well: very amateurish.”

SD Worx-Protime team manager Erwin Janssen has already hinted that the team would take legal action against the UCI, and Boskamp suggested that case might eventually come before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. 

“There are so many questions: did the UCI weigh it digitally or with a spring? Was the scale calibrated? Under what conditions was it weighed?” Boskamp said. “I fully understand that SD Worx-ProTime is going to file a claim with the UCI. It will likely end up at CAS.”

Boskamp also complained that the punishment of outright disqualification from the Giro was not proportional to the offence. 

“If you almost kill someone else by deviating from your line in a mass sprint, you get declassified, but the next day you are allowed to start ‘normally’ again,” he said.

Although Boskamp said that his client had been “a complete mess” in the immediate aftermath of her disqualification, he backed her to use the incident as motivation for the remainder of the season.

“She needs to adjust her ambitions for a moment, but Lorena will come back strong,” he said. “Mentally, she is very strong. Knowing her, she will only come out of this stronger. So, brace yourself for that Copenhagen Sprint, and after that, the national championships in Nijmegen follow quickly. A very nice course for her.”