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Police appeal for return of stolen Pinarello bike belonging to Olympic champ Philip Hindes

Burglars in Manchester also stole housemate Liam Phillips' car, later found burnt out and abandoned...

A Pinarello Paris bike belonging to Olympic gold medallist Philip Hindes has been stolen during a break-in at the home he shares in Manchester with BMX rider Liam Philips, whose car was also taken and later found burnt out and abandoned.

Greater Manchester Police are appealing for help in tracing the bike that the 20-year-old uses for training and which has his name on it, is painted in a red, white and blue colour scheme similar to the one pictured, and also has a Sky sticker.

Detective Constable Rob Southern, of West Didsbury CID commented: "The reason we have publicised this theft is so that we can catch the people responsible and return the bike to its rightful owner.

"I would therefore ask anyone who is offered a bike matching this description and the image we have released to call police immediately.

“It might be the thieves try and offload the bike onto a sports memorabilia collector so I would urge anyone who is offered the chance to buy such a bike to call police immediately as you could be vital to helping get this bike back.

"I would also ask anyone who has information about the burglary itself, or who might have been involved, to come forward.

"The stolen car was found burnt out on Princess Parkway so again if you saw anything then we need to hear from you."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Greater Manchester Police on police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

In a statement released through British Cycling, Hindes said: “I’m in Germany at the minute visiting my family, so I was really annoyed when I heard the news. I hope to get my bike back.”

Phillips added: “I’ve been on a post-Olympic holiday with my friends in the South of Spain and I found out on Monday that our house had been broken in to.

“It’s not nice for anyone to find out they’ve been burgled but it’s particularly upsetting that my car had been burnt out. It could have been a lot worse though, and hopefully the police will catch the people who did this.”

One line of enquiry police are reportedly investigating is that Hindes was targeted by the thieves after tweeting that he was going abroad. In recent years, a number of high profile athletes in the north west of England have been the victims of burglaries, including Bradley Wiggins earlier this year.
 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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Some Fella | 12 years ago
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Whilst not condoning this robbery, wouldnt he have been given this bike gratis and will almost certainly be given another one to replace it? The people who did this are scum but Hindes lives not far from me and i doubt there would be a police appeal if they had nicked my bike which i struggled to pay for and couldnt afford to replace if it had been nicked.
Greater Manchester Police do little or nothing to control bike theft round here but they are quick to react when its someone famous.

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Darthshearer | 12 years ago
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My mate had 3 bikes pinched just after Christmas, wonder why the police werent as helpful as this....

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londonplayer | 12 years ago
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May I be the person to state the obvious here?

Maybe Plod is well aware of this when they made their appeal for the return of the bike BUT anyone who thinks that bike is still in one piece is not being realistic. Any bike thief who has got hold of that has stripped the whole bike and sold off the constituent parts. It wouldn't surprise me if the frame has either been thrown away, shipped out to Eastern Europe, or hidden away somewhere until all the publicity has died down.

Would be interested to hear what other cyclists think.

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Benjamin Hall | 12 years ago
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If it belonged to Philip Hindes then the thieves wont get very far when they try to ride it...there cant me much life left in the bottom bracket.

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