Tour de France team has 11 bikes stolen
Photo:
AFP
Team Cofidis had 11 bikes stolen from their truck overnight before the start of the second stage of the Tour de France.
The team, based near Lille, were able to find enough bikes to start stage two, a 209.1-km hilly ride from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer, but they condemned the burglary.
Each bike is estimated by the team to have cost 13,000 euros (NZ$25,000).
"The door of the workshop truck was forced open, and 11 of our LOOK Cycle bikes were stolen despite the security measures that had been put in place," the team said in a statement.
"The Cofidis team strongly condemns this act of incivility and calls on the perpetrators to act with civility and responsibility."
The team added that police officers visited the hotel to document the burglary and had begun their investigation.
Emanuel Buchmann was the best of the Cofidis riders on the stage, finishing 20th. He is 14th after two stages.
The Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel won stage two ahead of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar in a sprint finish.
New Zealander Laurence Pithie, riding for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, finished 113th on the stage and is 105th overall.
A large leading group stayed together for much of the stage which boiled up into a mass sprint for the line, Van der Poel edging out Pogacar in a photo finish with Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard taking third place.
Alpecin-Deceuninck's Van der Poel also claimed the race leader's yellow jersey after winning the longest stage of the Tour, a 209.1km route from Lauwin-Planque to the northern coastal city of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
"It was super difficult, the final was actually harder than I thought," Van der Poel said.
"People said I was a favourite for today, but if you see which riders were up there on the climbs, I think I did a really good job to be there."
Alpecin-Deceuninck can celebrate their second Tour win this year after Belgian Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage on Saturday.
Due to adverse weather conditions that caused logistical issues, the start of the stage was delayed by about 15 minutes.
Stage three is a 178.3km route over flat terrain from Valenciennes to Dunkirk on Tuesday.
- Reuters
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