Mike Sinyard, the founder and chairman of Specialized, has criticised the UCI's decision to disqualify Lorena Wiebes from the Giro d'Italia Women, describing the sanction as "arbitrary" and suggesting male superstars would have been treated differently.
Speaking to Lennard Zinn’s Substack newsletter, Sinyard said: “The disqualification of Lorena is very arbitrary. Can you imagine if this was Mark Cavendish, Remco [Evenepoel], [Peter] Sagan, or any of the other men stars? There’s no frigging way that they would’ve been thrown out of the complete race.”
Specialized is the bike supplier to Wiebes' Team SD Worx-Protime. Wiebes won stage one of the Giro d’Italia Women, but was subsequently disqualified from the race by UCI commissaires on the grounds that her bike was 20g below the 6.8kg weight limit.
Team SD Worx-Protime immediately called the decision into question, claiming “there was a weight difference of more than 50g between the first and second weighing of Wiebes’ bike after the stage finish in Ravenna”.
"Exceptionally severe"
The 6.8kg weight limit was introduced as part of the UCI’s Lugano charter in 2000 and has remained unchanged in the 26 years since.
The Lugano charter put an end to the Wild West era of bike design that dominated the 1990s, with monocoque carbon frames, such as the 1996 Lotus Sport 110, also outlawed as a result of the wide-ranging document.
Wiebes was disqualified for 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".
The sprinter's team has already said it is “astonished” at the decision to kick the 27-year-old out of the Giro, describing the sanction as "exceptionally severe".
The team said Wiebes has raced – and won – on the same bike throughout the season and that previous UCI checks had found the bike to be "comfortably" above the minimum weight limit.
The team’s statement continued: “The team therefore does not understand how the very same bicycle could now suddenly be measured below the minimum weight requirement. Team SD Worx-Protime believes that Wiebes' disqualification is an exceptionally severe sanction.
“In a flat sprint stage, unlike a mountain stage, a small reduction in weight provides virtually no advantage. This is certainly true for a rider like Wiebes, who won the sprint in Ravenna by three bicycle lengths.
“Team SD Worx-Protime, a leading team in the women's peloton for the past fifteen years, has no explanation for why Wiebes' bicycle was found to be under the minimum weight on this occasion.”
Wiebes’ bike had been equipped with a single 1x chainring for the opening stage of the Giro, rather than her usual 2x setup. However, according to Cyclingnews, Wiebes' agent has refuted the idea that the change would have brought the bike below the weight limit.
Another headache for the UCI
Team SD Worx-Protime has also threatened to take legal action against the UCI.
The fallout from Wiebes' disqualification continues a difficult fortnight for the UCI after Belgium’s Market Court dismissed the governing body's appeal against an interim order suspending the “maximum gear ratio” technical standard.
The court's ruling means the UCI is unlikely to be able to implement its trial of limiting the gear ratios used in professional road cycling.
