Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia Women saw the first yellow card of the race and a fine for a rider for ‘damage to the image of sport’.
Mille Couzens was the rider who picked up that yellow card for her actions in the sprint finish, namely ‘deviation from the chosen line that obstructs or endangers another rider or irregular sprint’.
The Fenix-Premier Tech rider was fined CHF 200 and received a 25% penalty in the points classification. Couzens was also relegated to last position in her group, placing her 40th on the stage after crossing the finish line in seventh place.
Elsewhere, Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM) was fined CHF 100 fine for ‘unseemly or inappropriate behaviour and damage to the image of sport’. This appeared to be due to her actions after a mid-race crash, in which she shouted at a stricken Thalita De Jong (Human Powered Health) and yanked her bike from underneath her.
Consonni could be heard shouting at De Jong, as she tried to wrestle her bike back off the ground, with De Jong’s leg having become stuck in Consonni’s handlebar. The incident can be seen in the video below.
Las prisas y la tensión en carrera no deben ser una excusa para este comportamiento de Chiara Consonni con una Thalita de Jong que se queda enganchada en alguna parte de la bicicleta de la italiana#GirodItalia#UCIWWT pic.twitter.com/i8o7msZTVkJune 1, 2026
Two days after a shocking disqualification of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), countless questions continue to be asked following the UCI’s ruling after Wiebes had sprinted to victory on stage 1 and collected the race leader’s jersey. Her bike was weighed and found to be under the UCI’s limit of 6.8 kilograms, and the first maglia rosa was awarded to Italian Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).
With hours of racing every day for nine days, the Grand Tours often see multiple penalties handed out, which are all listed in the race jury’s communiqué after each stage.
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These can be for things as simple as dropping litter outside of the designated zone, or as serious as riding dangerously in a sprint. Punishments can range from small fines and point or time deductions to yellow cards or in very serious cases, disqualification.
Penalties can be given to riders and staff alike, and to other members of the race convoy, though here we will just track riders and team staff.
Yellow cards can also be handed out alongside penalties, and if you get more than one in the same race, you are disqualified and suspended for seven days. Three in 30 days equals a 14 day suspension, and six in a year means a 30-day suspension.
Here is our list of all the penalties incurred during this year’s Giro d’Italia Women.
Giro d’Italia Women 2026 penalties
Stage 1
- Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime) – DSQ, bike under UCI weight limit
- Danny Stam (SD Worx-ProTime) – 500CHF, bike under UCI weight limit
Stage 2
- Davide Gani (Picnic-PostNL DS) – 500CHF for failing to follow commissaires’ instructions
Stage 3
- Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) – CHF 200 fine, yellow card, and 25% penalty in the points classification and relegation to last place in the rider’s group for deviation from the chosen line that obstructs or endangers another rider or irregular sprint
- Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM) – 100 CHF fine for unseemly or inappropriate behaviour and damage to the image of sport
- Yulia Biriukova, Tiril Jorgensen (Laboral Kutxa – Fundacion Euskadi) – CHF 100 fine each for unseemly or inappropriate behaviour (in particular undressing or urinating in public at the start or finish or during the race) and damage to the image of sport
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