Pinarello Dogma stolen from sportive bike park by thief in cycling clothing

Quick police action leads to bike recovery

by John Stevenson

Mon, Feb 24, 2014 12:19

If you think your bike’s safe at a sportive because it and you are surrounded by like-minded cyclists, think again. A customer of Burton on Trent bike shop Cadence Sport had his Pinarello Dogma swiped from the bike parking area at a ride yesterday. This isnt' the first time we've reported on such a theft, last September we reported on the case of two bikes stolen by Lycra-clad thieves at the Tour of Britiain ride at Trentham Gardens in Stoke on Trent.

This time hanks to the quick-thinking of a friend and the local police, it looks like the rightful owner will get his bike back.

Nuno Freitas was all set to ride the Rawlinson Bracket Sportive on Sunday, in the Warwickshire village of Gaydon, when his bike was stolen from the designated bike park at the Heritage Motor Museum.

“I had signed in and attached my ride number to the bike, just waiting around for the start, chatting with mates etc,” Nuno said in an email to shop owner, Tour de France veteran Adrian Timmis. “I was never more than a few meters away and still don’t know how I missed it going.

“When I realised it had gone my mate rode off to the main gate and got photos of the guy driving off with the bike hanging out his car. Boot open! Security called the police and we gave them the car reg number. They picked up the car on the motorway cameras and stopped him on the M1 towards Leicestershire. Unfortunately the bike wasn’t in the car.”

However, yesterday evening Nuno got some better news. While the driver continued to deny stealing the bike, claiming a friend of his had taken it and he was just the driver, police had persuaded him to show them where he had abandoned the bike.

Nuno said: “Somewhat of a result that I will get my bike back. I’m not sure what condition it will be in though.”

Police told Nuno they had found cycling clothing in the car that matched the clothing worn by the driver in the photos taken by Nuno’s friend. “The guy was dressed in full cycling gear to blend in, even cycling shoes but without cleats,” said Nuno.

He added: “You never think that this will happen at these kind of events as you assume all involved are like minded enthusiasts, however it looks like he was there with the sole intention of stealing a bike.”

Incidents like this are a nightmare for event organisers, as it’s all-but-impossible to exclude non-participants from the typical sportive start area, and a determined thief could just pay for an entry anyway.

Rawlinson Bracket organiser Steve Jeffries told road.cc that the theft occurred just after the event HQ had opened and it appeared that the thief targeted the most expensive bike.

Steve said: “After yesterday’s event we did discuss the feasibility of a ticketing system for the bike park for next year but this would result in rider frustration. We will be posting details of this incident on our social networking sites as a warning to others, whether at next year’s event and at other events around the country given the relatively sophisticated and pre-meditated nature of this crime.

“While we can’t offer truly secure bike parking we will be enforcing a ‘no car zone’ around the bike parking area to hinder any attempts at a ‘drive-by style’ bike theft, and confirming that CCTV coverage is comprehensive.

“We are grateful to our host at the Heritage Motor Centre for their quick response and hope that the quick resolution of this incident will act to deter any thieves in future.”

Rawlinson Bracket Sportive

Nuno Freitas

Adrian Timmis

John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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39 comments

allez neg replied to zanf | 10 years ago

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zanf wrote:

Guyz2010 wrote:

As for the culprit I bet theres no sustantial evidence to prosecute him, despite the cycle gear, the witness and the admission by the thief.....cut his hand off I say.

If you want Middle East style justice then it sort of tells you where you should go live.

It's a sod to keep the burka from catching in the chain though.......

Guyz2010 replied to zanf | 10 years ago

0 likes

zanf wrote:

Guyz2010 wrote:

As for the culprit I bet theres no sustantial evidence to prosecute him, despite the cycle gear, the witness and the admission by the thief.....cut his hand off I say.

If you want Middle East style justice then it sort of tells you where you should go live.

Extreme maybe but sod being politically correct. Maybe I'd take him to the middle of the York Moors make him walk home in a tee shirt n kegs mid winter.

What would you do, tick him off and giving him some benefits. F. That.