Commissaire who relegated Marie Schreiber at the European Cyclo-cross Championships has a history with her SD Worx-Protime team

After Marie Schreiber’s controversial relegation at the UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships on Saturday, it has emerged that the same commissaire disqualified her road teammate, Lorena Wiebes, from the Giro d’Italia Women earlier this year.

Both Schreiber and Wiebes ride for the SD Worx-Protime team during the road season, with the Luxembourgish rider supported by the squad for cyclo-cross, and both have been penalised by commissaire Ernesto Maggioni.

After crossing the line first in the elite women’s race on Saturday, Schrieber was controversially relegated to second place for an irregular sprint, the rider missing out on what would have been the biggest result of her career. It was clear from the head-on coverage that she did make a move to her left, but despite eventual winner Lucinda Brand asserting she was not impeded, the commissaires, led by Maggioni, interpreted this as a breach serious enough to warrant the relegation.

Not only was Schreiber upset by the issue, but she has been joined by her SD Worx cyclo-cross coach, former World Champion, Sanne Cant, who described it as ridiculous. Cant, who has been part of the team for two winters, won three rainbow jerseys among 126 race wins during a long career.

“It is the most ridiculous reaction I have ever heard,” Cant told Sporza after the race. “I spent a very long time on a bike myself and I have never experienced anything like this. If we already find a mistake here… I think there are other sprints taking place on the road where nothing happens.

“It really was the UCI president who saw it, but it is anyone’s guess what he saw,” she said, adding, “we are not going to leave it at this.”

It’s not the first time SD Worx-Protime staff have made such a comment. In May, Lorena Wiebes was disqualified from the Giro d’Italia after her bike was found to be 20 grams underweight following stage 1, where the Dutch rider crossed the line first. Team staff were described as astonished and expressed their concern at inaccuracies with the weighing equipment.

Then Magioni was working as the Technical Commissaire, responsible for ensuring bikes and equipment conform to the UCI’s Regulations.

At this weekend’s European Cyclo-cross Championships, Magioni is listed as the President of the Commissaires Panel for all the races, with Het Laatste Nieuws reporting that he alone was responsible for Schreiber’s relegation.

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