Tour de France: Police recover stolen Cofidis bikes

The 11 bikes stolen from the Cofidis team truck overnight before stage 2 of the Tour de France have been recovered.

Five of the Look bikes were reportedly discovered in bushes near the hotel, while French police recovered the remaining bikes on Monday afternoon in the village of Halluin near the Belgian border.

“I had the opportunity to speak with Christian Prudhomme and the prefect,” Cofidis manager Cédric Vasseur said in a statement.

“This is very good news. I would like to warmly congratulate the Tour de France organisers and the police, who did everything they could to find them. A thorough investigation has been carried out, which will allow us to continue the Tour de France with peace of mind.”

The theft took place in the early hours of Sunday morning when thieves broke into a Cofidis truck parked outside their hotel in Bondues, near Lille. The cache of Look 795 Blade RS bikes stolen had an estimated total value of €143,000.

It was the second time in as many years that a team had been targeted in this way on the Tour de France. In 2024, TotalEnergies also had eleven bikes stolen from a team truck.

“Security was already important to us,” Vasseur said. “We had cars and small vans in front of the truck, but last night we put all the cars around it so that no one could get to it. We will have to continue doing that for the rest of the Tour de France.”