The exclusive electroproduction of two pions in the mass range 0.4 < M ππ < 2.5 GeV has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 82 pb −1 . The analysis was carried out in the kinematic range of 2 < Q 2 < 80 GeV 2 , 32 < W < 180 GeV and |t| < 0.6 GeV 2 , where Q 2 is the photon virtuality, W is the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy and t is the two-pion invariant-mass distribution is interpreted in terms of the pion electromagnetic form factor, |F (M ππ )|, assuming that the studied mass range includes the contributions of the ρ, ρ and ρ vector-meson states. The masses and widths of the resonances were obtained and the Q 2 dependence of the cross-section ratios σ (ρ → ππ)/σ (ρ) and σ (ρ → ππ)/σ (ρ) was extracted. The pion form factor obtained in the present analysis is compared to that obtained in e + e − → π + π − . a