Originally Posted by
PepeM
Whatever hit her reputation might take will be more than made up from being the world champion.
I think (just a guess, obviously I have no facts at all to back this up) that something like that happened. Or maybe they didn't really give her consent, but I'm sure they knew. This whole 'we were completely caught off-guard' doesn't sound very likely.
All of this. If she'd finished 10th, she might've got herself fired, but a rainbow jersey would tend to mitigate a lot of sins.
And I'm sure her decision was made well before the last minute, and UHC people knew well before the last minute. I guess the real question is, if it was as simple as getting her body position an inch lower, why had Wilier not done something about it sooner? She's been riding for UHC through all of 2015 and, between her, the team and the bike supplier, they're only now getting around to addressing the fact that her old bike was faster on a 30km TT course?