Thieves made off with several bikes from the Bigla Pro Cycling team while the machines were being transported at the Giro Rosa, the team reported today.
Several Cervélo road and time trial bicycles and wheels were stolen in Milano, Italy. The team had planned to use the bikes in the Giro Rosa time trial on Saturday.
The missing machines are Cervélo P3s with a black-and-white paint scheme and Cervélo S3s with a custom blue-and-white team paint job.
The team is offering a reward of 5,000 Euros for the return of the bicycles or information that leads to the return of all the material. Team is asking anyone with information about the bikes to contact them at +39 329 476 4194 or press@bpct.ch
Annamiek Van Vleuten competes for Bigla Pro Cycling.
Pires breaks collarbone in Tour of Austria crash
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The massive pile-up near the finish of Thursday's stage 5 at the Tour of Austria knocked Tinkoff-Saxo's Bruno Pires out of the race with a broken collarbone. The crash also took down Pawel Poljanski, sixth in the general classification, and Evgeny Petrov. Both riders were able to continue, while Pires had to abandon.
Team director Bruno Cenghialta said Pires will have to undergo an operation to stabilize his fracture.
“Today was not a good day," Cenghialta said. "We witnessed an incredible crash in the peloton within the final part of the stage. More than 50 riders crashed at the same time and three of our guys were unfortunately affected. It was worst for Bruno Pires, who fractured his collarbone, while Pawel Poljanski and Evgeny Petrov were able to continue and finish with the peloton after the race had been neutralized for some kilometres."
The stage was eventually won in a bunch sprint, with Johann Van Zyl (MTN-Qhubeka) taking the victory. For Cenghialta, however, the most important job of the day was to support Pires, who awaits an operation at a hospital in Lienz.
Bruno Pires pushes the pace during last year's USA Pro Challenge.
Watch Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix live on Cyclingnews
The sixth leg of the USA CRITS series continues next week with the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix and Wednesday night, and you can watch it live here on Cyclingnews. The pro women start at 6:15 p.m., followed by the men at 7:30.
Stradalli Cycle-Safftti Smart Wear's Ruben Companioni currently leads the men's competition over Ben Renkema(Team Finish Strong Elite Cycling) and Nolan Tankersley (Team Finish Strong Elite Cycling). US elite amateur criterium champion Dan Holloway (Alto Velo-Seasucker) is fourth.
In the women's series, Samantha Schneider (ISCorp p/b Smart Choice MRI) holds the top spot ahead of Tina Pic (Pepper Palace Pro Cycling-The Happy Tooth) and Holly Mathews (ISCorp p/b Smart Choice MRI).
The fifth event of the nine-event series takes place Saturday night in Boise, Idaho, before the peloton heads north to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the Gastown race. UnitedHealthcare's Luke Keough and Optum Pro Cycling's Leah Kirchman won the race last year.
Canadian champion Leah Kirchmann (Optum) wins the 2014 Gastown GP.
Giant-Alpecin's Carter Jones breaks collarbone in training crash
American Carter Jones (Giant-Alpecin) is on the mend after breaking his collarbone in a training crash near his home in Spain. The 26-year-old, who is in his first year with the Dutch team, recently completed Tour de Suisse and Tour de Luxembourg after returning to Europe from the Tour of California.
Jones underwent surgery on Friday to repair the fracture, and he reached out to his online followers after the surgery, posting a post-surgery photo on Twitter and writing, "All done! Thanks @GiantAlpecin for the support. Now recovery #KeepChallenging."
Jones signed a two-year deal with Giant-Alpecin following several years of plying his trade on the US domestic circuit. He won the overall at the Tour of the Gila last year, finished seventh at the Tour of Utah, eighth at the USA Pro Challenge and 11th at the Tour of California. Jones also won the mountains classification at the 2013 Tour of California.
Matthew Busche (Trek) and Carter Jones (Optum) compete in the 2014 US professional championships.
