A difficult start to the Tour
As Tour de France is approaching this summer, one team is looking back with safety and security in mind for the upcoming event. Last year, team Cofidis endured an anxious start to the 2025 Tour de France after 11 of its race bikes were stolen from a team truck in northern France.
The incident took place in July 2025, during the opening weekend of the race. According to TF1 Info, the theft happened at the team’s hotel in Bondues, near Lille, where the door of the workshop truck was forced open.
Cofidis said that 11 LOOK Cycle bikes had been taken despite security measures being in place. Each bike was reported to be worth around €14,000, putting the total loss at more than €100,000.
“The door of the workshop truck was forced open and eleven of our LOOK Cycle bikes were stolen despite the security measures that had been put in place,” the team said.
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Cofidis also condemned the theft, calling on those responsible to show “civility and responsibility”.
All 11 bikes are recovered
The alarm was short-lived. As reported by CyclingNews, all 11 bikes were later recovered with help from police and Tour de France organisers.
Five of the bikes were found near the team’s hotel after staff searched the local area. The remaining six were recovered the following day near Halluin, close to the Belgian border.
The swift recovery meant Cofidis could continue its Tour campaign without major disruption. The team had already been able to rely on replacement equipment, helped by the fact that its service course was nearby.
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Cédric Vasseur, Cofidis’ general manager, described the recovery as very good news and thanked the police and Tour organisers for their work.
Russian listings add an unusual twist
The story later took an unexpected turn when similar LOOK bikes appeared on a Russian advertising website.
According to The Insider, citing Sport Baza, two LOOK models linked to the type used by Cofidis were listed for 480,000 and 700,000 rubles, roughly €5,100 and €7,500.
The seller claimed the bikes were in Moscow and said they had no official documents because the supply was “unofficial”.
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But the timing ruled out a connection to the Cofidis theft. The listings were dated from late June, before the team announced the burglary on July 6. The Insider later noted that, after all 11 stolen bikes had been returned, the bikes advertised in Russia were not connected to the Cofidis case.
A familiar problem in cycling
Theft remains a recurring concern in professional cycling, where team bikes are expensive, portable and highly sought after.
Top-level race bikes can cost well over €10,000 each, making team vehicles an attractive target. Cofidis was not the first team to face such a setback. During the previous year’s Tour de France, Team TotalEnergies also had 11 bikes stolen.
For Cofidis, the July 2025 incident ended better than it might have. The bikes were recovered, the team stayed in the race, and the financial damage was avoided.
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But the episode was another reminder that, at cycling’s biggest race, the battle to protect equipment can be almost as urgent as the race itself.
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