Cofidis hit by another bike robbery at Baloise Ladies Tour

Cofidis have been the victims of bicycle theft for the second time in as many weeks. After the men’s team had eleven bikes stolen from a team truck during the Tour de France, the Cofidis women’s team had an unspecified number of bikes stolen ahead of the opening stage of the Baloise Ladies Tour.

The bikes were stolen from a Cofidis trucked parked outside the team hotel in Bruges. The theft did not prevent the squad from lining out in the prologue of the Baloise Ladies Tour on Wednesday evening.

“The police are continuing their investigation,” directeur sportif Arthur Quilliec said, according to Belga. “However, I can confirm that some of our bikes have been stolen. I cannot say how many or what type of bikes in the interests of the investigation.”

Quilliec indicated that replacement road bikes would be procured ahead of Thursday’s stage of the Baloise Ladies Tour.

“We are working on a solution for tomorrow’s road stage,” he said. “The theft of these expensive bikes is becoming a real scourge. We have done everything we can to prevent this from happening.”

Up to €143,000 worth of Look bikes were stolen from the Cofidis men’s team outside their hotel in the Bondues in the early hours ahead of stage 2 of the Tour de France. Police subsequently recovered all the bikes.