{"id":1965271,"date":"2026-05-31T13:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1965271"},"modified":"2026-05-31T13:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:33:10","slug":"giro-ditalia-women-stage-2-elisa-balsamo-proves-she-belongs-in-pink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1965271","title":{"rendered":"Giro d’Italia Women Stage 2: Elisa Balsamo Proves She Belongs in Pink"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/balsamo-stage-2-giro-ditalia-women-2026.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated May 31, 2026 09:40AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Elisa Balsamo powered to a sprint victory in stage 2 on Sunday at the Giro d\u2019Italia Women to win in the pink jersey a day after the race descended into controversy.<\/p>\n

Balsamo started in pink after Lorena Wiebes was kicked out of the race after the race jury said her bike was too light in a controversial decision that rocked the race after Saturday\u2019s opening stage.<\/p>\n

Balsamo inherited the pink jersey, and was determined to win Sunday to prove she deserved it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing and I am so happy, especially in the last two weeks, I was waiting for this win so much,\u201d Balsamo said. \u201cI did a really good sprint. It was an amazing day. I was completely focused on the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM) and Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) rounded out the top 3.<\/p>\n

The 156km second stage from Roncade to Caorle featured a Cat. 4 climb midway through the profile, but was otherwise mostly flat rolling terrain.<\/p>\n

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Several riders pulled clear early, and three held a 2:15 gap with 33km to go when the main bunch finally woke up from its collective siesta.<\/p>\n

In the break were Eleonora Bella, Sara Lucon, and Elisa Vallier, who started just 10 seconds outside of pink. The gap quickly fell to under a minute with 20km to go to set up the bunch kick.<\/p>\n

Wiebes shocker rocks the Giro<\/h2>\n

The stage started in the aftermath of Saturday\u2019s stunning decision to kick out stage-winner Lorena Wiebes for a bike that the UCI race jury said was under the allowed 6.8kg weight.<\/p>\n

Wiebes won the sprint and snatched the pink jersey, but was later disqualified for having a bike that weighed about 20 grams under the allowed weight limit, according to the race jury.<\/p>\n

SD Worx-ProTime was obviously upset, and promised legal action, but pushed on in the race.<\/p>\n

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), second to Wiebes, was promoted to the pink jersey and she raced in the jersey in Sunday\u2019s stage.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOf course, this is not the way I would have wanted to win, but this is the decision of the jury,\u201d Balsamo said Saturday. \u201cIt is always honor to wear the pink jersey and I am looking forward to defending it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 37th edition of the Giro women\u2019s race continues with the 156km third stage from Bibione to Buja. The stage features two climbs, including a short but steep Cat. 3 with about 20km to go that could break up the bunch.<\/p>\n

Giro Women Stage 2 results<\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n
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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated May 31, 2026 09:40AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/giro-ditalia-women-stage-2-results-report\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/balsamo-stage-2-giro-ditalia-women-2026.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated May 31, 2026 09:40AM Elisa Balsamo powered to a sprint victory in stage 2 on Sunday at the Giro d\u2019Italia Women to win in the pink jersey a day after the race descended into controversy. Balsamo started in pink after Lorena Wiebes was kicked out of the race after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1965271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1965271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1965271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1965271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1965271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}