Globetrotting cyclist's bike stolen after almost half a million kilometres

A man from Brazil who was coming to the end of a half-million-kilometre journey to try and set a Guinness World Record for the longest trip by bicycle has had his bike stolen in Mexico.

53-year-old Denizart Simoes set off on his record attempt in 1999 and was 10,000 kilometres away from hitting his 500,000-kilometre target when his bike was stolen in Vercaruz last Monday.

He had stopped to take a rest when he heard a noise, but when he went to check on his bicycle neither it nor the thief was anywhere to be seen, reports Mexico News Daily.

All of his belongings were taken, including souvenirs from his trip which began in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and has taken him to more than 50 countries on five continents.

The former motor mechanic decided to undertake his long-distance ride because he wanted to stop smoking and had also broken up with his wife.

He said he hoped his bicycle might be retrieved, but would have to halt his record attempt at least temporarily.

It is not the first time Simoes has been targeted by thieves in Mexico.

In 2002, while riding through the country’s capital, Mexico City, he had a brick thrown in his face, causing him to lose two teeth, with his attackers stealing his backpack which included his passport, driving licence and a quantity of cash.

He told China Daily in 2014 that he had also been robbed in Shenzen, and that Cairo in Egypt, where he saw another cyclist get killed in a hit-and-run incident, was the “scariest place on earth.”

He added that Liverpool is his favourite city – Simoes is a Beatles fan – and the newspaper reported that he also had “a wild three-month love affair with a British woman” at one point.