The first stage of the Giro d'Italia Women ended with the shocking revelation that stage winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) had been disqualified from the entire race after her bike was weighed and found to be under the UCI's limit of 6.8 kilograms.
The first maglia rosa and stage honours were transferred to Italian Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) as a result.
"Of course, it is not the way I want to win but this is a decision of the jury," Balsamo said in a statement.
"In any case, it’s an honour to wear the maglia rosa and I am looking forward to trying to defend it in tomorrow’s stage."
It is exceedingly rare for riders to fall foul of the UCI's rule that limits how light riders' bikes can be. Since the rule came into play, we can find only two other incidents: Fabiana Luperini was disqualified on stage 6 of the Giro in 2013, and Neve Bradbury at the New Zealand National Championships in 2019.
Riders have complained that the rule disproportionately punishes smaller, lighter riders who use smaller framesets that naturally weigh less. Both Luperini and Bradbury are light climbers, while Wiebes is not the smallest rider in the bunch.
SD Worx-Protime ride Specialized bikes, with the Dutch champion typically using the S-Works Tarmac SL8 - the company's lightweight carbon frame, with Shimano Di2 components and wheels.
Wiebes appeared to be riding either the Rapide CLX III or Rapide Sprint wheelsets and the carbon fibre Roval Rapide cockpit - a setup that could be easily made even lighter with Alpinist wheels, which weigh 200g to 400g less.
The UCI set the weight limit way back in 2000, when building a bike under 7kg entailed fabricating special components.
Now that carbon fibre technology and 3D printing have advanced the industry, it is so easy to build a bike near that limit that small riders can't take advantage of the lightweight gear that larger riders can.
The rule was already outdated in 2003, when the riders of the Saeco team at the Giro d'Italia donned prison stripe-themed 'Legalise my Cannondale' kits to protest the rule. But 23 years later, the regulation remains in place.
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