STOP THIEF! RideLondon bike thief caught on camera - and doesn't he look like one snapped at 2013 event?

Around 100,000 cyclists enjoyed closed roads in the capital at the weekend as the city hosted the fifth edition of Olympic legacy event Prudential RideLondon. One participant who didn't was David Symons whose Cannnodale bike was stolen. An event photographer captured the thief on camera, and he looks remarkably similar to a bike thief snapped at the inaugural edition of the event in 2013.

Here's David's Facebook post appealing for help in tracking down the thief, who took his bike during Saturday's RideLondon FreeCycle which saw tens of thousands of cyclists take to an eight-mile circuit in the heart of the city.

And here's the picture of the man who made off with a bike at the Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle in 2013 (with thanks to road.cc reader Tom Amos who alerted us to the similarity between the two).

> Bike stolen at RideLondon spotted being ridden by suspect in offical event photos

In both cases, the picture of the suspected thief was obtained by the bike's owner searching for their event number in photos taken by official event photographers.

Here's David's description of his bike, which he made in a comment to his Facebook post: "It's a Canondale SuperSix 52cm frame.

"Frame size on a round sticker together with a 'carbon bike repair' sticker on the down tube. Look Keo pedals. Two bottle cages. Piece of red tape around the rhs handlebar.

"Probably too high a spec for the FreeCycle but I was doing the 100 ride the next day and wanted to stay in town."

He did complete the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 the following day by the way - on his old bike, which he hastily pressed into service for the event.

If you have any information about David's bike or suspect you may know the identity of the person riding it, contact details for City of London Police are in his Facebook post above.