Bike thieves target pro teams at Tour of Slovenia and Baloise Belgium Tour

Euskaltel-Euskadi and Baloise-Trek Lions were both unable to race yesterday's final stage of the Tour of Slovenia and Baloise Belgium Tour respectively, after bike thieves targeted the teams for their high-value kit, stealing their bikes and wheels.

Euskaltel-Euskadi — the Basque UCI ProTeam sponsored by long-running supporter of the previous iteration of the team between 1998 and 2013, Spanish telecommunications company Euskaltel — revealed the news on Twitter, explaining that a team vehicle with all its Orbea bikes and Vision wheels had been stolen overnight in Slovenia.

🧡 #EuskaltelEuskadi #TourofSlovenia

This is the van that was stolen from us tonight with all the bikes we had on the @TourOfSlovenia.

Any kind of information will be welcome and we also appreciate the diffusion of this tweet. pic.twitter.com/JuxOTKDqFf

— Euskaltel Euskadi Team (@euskaltelteam) June 18, 2023

The team, including best-placed GC rider Unai Iribar in 17th, was unable to start yesterday's stage from Vrhnika to Novo Mesto, won by home rider Matej Mohorič who dedicated his victory to Bahrain-Victorious teammate Gino Mäder who tragically died following a crash at Tour de Suisse last week.

One thousand miles away in Brussels, home team Baloise Trek Lions also suffered at the hands of bike thieves, four-time Dutch cyclo-cross champion Lars van der Haar and former DSM rider Joris Nieuwenhuis unable to ride the final stage around the Belgian capital.

"Last night we fell victim to a theft of bicycles and wheels," the team revealed on Instagram. "Unfortunately it is not possible for us to start today in the last stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour. We await the police investigation."

In 2021, Romanian police recovered 21 of 22 Italian national team bikes stolen from a hotel car park while the team was competing at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Roubaix. Filippo Ganna's gold Pinarello was one of the 21 bikes found during raids, with the haul worth an estimated £500,000 taken from a team minibus.

Ganna's team pursuit teammates, who had just been crowned world champions, Liam Bertazzo, Jonathan Milan and Simone Consonni's bikes, each worth £25,000 and featuring a titanium 3D-printed handlebar alone worth £8,500, were also stolen. 

British team Saint Piran has also suffered from bike thefts, the Cornwall-based team losing £30,000 of bikes stolen from a team van in the early hours of a race day in the Netherlands last June, leaving a "big dent" in the team's finances.

Team manager Steve Lampier at the time said that the theft appeared to be pre-meditated and explained how the team's cars had been parked around the van to protect it from theft. One of the other vehicles was also damaged in the incident.

In more recent times, classics-dominating SD Worx appealed for information following a "brutal burglary" of the team's Specialized bikes including the American company's Tarmac and Roubaix road and Shiv time trial models.