Team TotalEnergies confirmed on Thursday morning that they were the latest victims of bicycle theft, as 20 bicycles were stolen prior to stage 3 of the Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine.
The team posted to social media that despite the surprising loss, "the team will indeed take the start of the time trial today", a 27.3km route between Chauvigny and Jardres.
Seven riders were competing at the four-day stage race in south-west France, with Jason Tesson placed third overall in the general classification, just two seconds behind race leader Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels). Tesson won the opening stage on Tuesday.
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The bicycles went missing some time between Wednesday night and Thursday morning from where they were stored in a truck in the parking lot of a hotel in Poitiers-Nord, and were valued €300,000, according to several French media outlets.
Doors of the team truck appeared to have been forced open, and local law enforcement officials were on sight to take fingerprints, according to La Nouvelle Republique news. The ENVE road bikes taken were "fully assembled, with wheels, and ready to ride", according to their online report.
A second team participating at the Tour Poitou-Charentes, Unibet Tietema Rockets, also stayed at the same hotel but did not report any issues with their Cannondale equipment.
This is the second major bicycle theft in the last week at a UCI stage race. Three days ago, Visma-Lease a Bike had 18 bicycles taken from team vehicles at their hotel near Turin, Italy, in an overnight robbery, which left them scrambling to build replacements in order for riders to take the start of stage 3 of the Vuelta a España.
