Italian pro disqualified from 60km solo victory over illegal brake levers – but were they bent in by a crash?

Away from the carnage of the Opening Weekend in Belgium, there were similarly chaotic scenes at a small Italian race, where the UCI's handlebar rules were implemented in controversial fashion.

Filippo D’Aiuto crossed the line alone after a 60km breakaway to win the Memorial Polese on Saturday – or so he thought.

Soon after, the Italian was informed by the race organisation that he was disqualified, the reason given being that his brake levers fell foul of the UCI's new regulations.

As of 2026, there is a minimum total handlebar width of 400mm, and a minimum distance between the inside points of the brake levers, or hoods, of 280mm.

A further twist comes in the form of D'Aiutio's defence. According to the rider and his team, General Store-Essegibi-F.lli Curia, the Italian's levers took a hit when he crashed on a gravel sector, and this, they say, caused them to be bent out of alignment and out of legality.

"Filippo D’Aiuto started the race on a fully-regulation bike," the team said in a statement. "His fall on the dirt road resulted in a shift in the position of the levers, which, due to the impact, ended up less than the permitted distance apart.

"The team acknowledges and respects the jury's decisions, despite being deeply disappointed by what happened, given D’Aiuto's splendid performance, crossing the finish line alone after a 60km breakaway."

Filippo D’Aiuto himself was not quite so diplomatic.

"It's ridiculous and the judges will look ridiculous," said D'Aiuto in a video interview with the ExtraCiclismo show. "I won, there's not much else to say.

"I crashed and as a consequence, my brake levers were twisted inwards. They took my win away because the levers didn't respect the rules."

However, it would appear that the race officials flagged the potential illegality well in advance of the finish line. In the footage accompanying the ExtraCiclismo report, an official's car pulls up alongside the solo leader, with a finger from the passenger side seen pointing at his bike and wagging vigorously.

"The race commissaire told me that I should have stopped and changed bikes, but I only had a gap of a minute and so what could I have done? It would have been impossible," D'Aiuto argued.

The race officials, short of wielding a tape measure from the car window, could not have confirmed that the levers were in an illegal position at that specific moment, and there was no suggestion this was an official order to stop racing. According to D'Aiuto's team, he "started the race on a fully-regulation bike", but it is unclear if his brake lever setup was examined by officials ahead of the start.

It appears that there was support for D'Aiuto from his rivals. In fact, the day's official winner, Lorenzo Magli, declined to stand on the top step of the podium during the ceremony.

Instead, the top step was left vacant with a magnum of sparkling wine left uncorked.

"I finished second and I feel I was second, that Filippo d'Aiuto was the real winner," Maglis said. "He crashed, raced for 60km alone, waited 90 minutes for the final decisions and then they took the win away from him. It's the least I could do."

The General Store team thanked Team Hopplà and SC Padovani Polo Cherry Bank, whose rider Davide Boscaro was technically the runner-up but agreed to stand on the third step of the podium, "for their gesture of solidarity during the official ceremony".