Two countries and one flea market later, Mellow Johnny's get their $10,000 Trek back

What are the chances of this happening? A Trek road bike stolen from Lance Armstrong's Mellow Johhny's bike shop in Austin, Texas, was found at a flea market in Mexico and returned to the shop – three months after it went missing.

The bike, a Trek TTX time trial bike worth around $10,000, was stolen from Mellow Johnny's shop in November. It belonged to Ryan Baumann, a member of the Armstrong-sponsored Trek Livestrong U23 team. Coincidentally it's the same model as the machine stolen from Lance Armstrong's hotel at last year's Tour of California when he was riding for Astana.

Thieves smashed a glass door at the rear of the shop and made off with the bike. It travelled south through Texas and across the border into Mexico, where it ended up on a stall at a flea market in Guanajuato.

There, an eagle-eyed cyclist spotted it going for a song and snapped it up. Perhaps it had been knocked about a bit en route, because its new owner took it for a service to his local Trek dealer in January.

The dealer recognised it immediately – probably because Baumann's name was painted on the side of the bike – and it was sent back to Austin this week. It's now happily residing in the bike shop, and the rear glass door has been mended securely!