On Wednesday night, 20 bicycles were stolen from the French ProTeam TotalEnergies at the Tour Poitou - Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine. The incident occurred as the team was preparing for the time trial of the third stage. Despite the significant loss, the team announced that it would be competing in the time trial. "We were victims of the theft of 20 bikes during the night at the Tour Poitou Charentes. Despite this incident, the team will definitely be at the start of the time trial today," the team announced in a message on social media. The theft is particularly bitter for the team, whose rider Jason Tesson won the first stage of the four-day race. At the time of the incident, Tesson was in third place overall behind leader Arnaud Démare (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) and second-placed Dorion Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team).
Second incident within a week
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The theft at TotalEnergies is the second serious incident of this kind in just a few days. Just last weekend, 18 Cervélo bikes were stolen from the Visma | Lease a Bike team's hotel in Turin, Italy, during the Vuelta a España. The accumulation of such incidents in professional cycling is alarming. The French team Cofidis was also the victim of theft during the Tour de France in July, when 11 Look bikes were stolen. However, these were later recovered. The Cofidis women's team suffered a similar fate at the end of July during the Baloise Ladies Tour in Belgium. The thefts seem to follow a pattern and target the high-value bikes of the professional teams, which are stored in hotels or at race venues.
Logistical challenges for TotalEnergies
However, this is not the first incident of this kind for TotalEnergies - the team had already been accused of 11 bicycles stolen from her hotel. At that time, the team was able to start the next stage despite the loss.
