Cofidis were hit by a major theft over the weekend at the Tour de France, 11 of the team’s Look 795 Blade RS bikes stolen.
The team confirmed the break in happened overnight on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s second stage, the Cofidis mechanics’ truck broken into and 11 bikes taken. Police arrived at the team’s hotel in the morning and staff scrambled to ensure riders were able to make the stage start.
Look also confirmed that King of the Mountains leader Benjamin Thomas (who won his jersey despite a bizarre sprint crash while battling for a KOM point on stage one) was unable to ride a unique red-and-white polka dot-decorated Look 795 Blade RS on Sunday.
Benjamin Thomas Tour de France crash (credit: TNT Sports)
“Massive credit to the team for their quick response in preparing bikes at such short notice,” Look added. “We’re incredibly proud of Benjamin Thomas and the whole team.”
Cofidis explained that overnight between Saturday and Sunday they were “the victim of a burglary”.
2025 Tour de France, Benjamin Thomas (credit: ASO/Charly Lopez)
“The workshop lorry door has been smashed and eleven of our Look bikes have been robbed despite security measures in place,” a statement said.
“Police went to the hotel in the morning to determine the violation and begin their investigation. The Cofidis team strongly condemns this act and calls the perpetrators of these incidents to civility and responsibility.”
With the bikes’ value estimated in excess of £12,000 it is likely the total value of the stolen bikes was around £125,000, the Look 795 Blade RS models kitted out with Campagnolo’s new 13-speed Super Record groupset. Or perhaps that should be likely kitted out with the new groupset. We spotted that a few lower-profile members of the team were still using the old 12-speed at the Dauphiné, the 13-speed reserved for bigger-name riders like Thomas, although we’re quite confident everyone would have the new groupset in time for the Tour.
Benjamin Thomas 2025 Tour de France (credit: ASO/Charly Lopez)
Professional teams and riders have become a concerningly common target for criminals attracted by the high-value of top-of-the-range bikes. At last year’s Tour, fellow French team TotalEnergies were targeted in a similar raid, 11 Enve bikes and tools taken, including the ride of gravel-stage winner Anthony Turgis.
Lifeplus Wahoo too were rocked by the theft of all 14 bikes from a mechanics’ van at the 2024 Tour of Britain in Wrexham. Riders completed the race on bikes kindly lent to them from other teams including SD Worx, Liv AlUla Jayco, Human Powered Health and Cofidis, the squad’s co-founder Bob Varney calling the break-in “an absolute hammer blow to our over-achieving team already on a stretched budget”.
In March of last year, a group of thieves attempted to steal Bahrain-Victorious’ Merida bikes the night before Milan-Sanremo, only to be thwarted by the team’s bus driver and 2021 Paris-Roubaix winner Sonny Colbrelli.
In 2021, 22 bikes were stolen from the Italian track cycling team during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Roubaix, including Filippo Ganna’s gold-painted Pinarello.
The bikes were in a minibus in the car park when they were taken, some of the stolen machines valued at around £25,000 and featuring titanium 3D-printed handlebars worth £8,500.
Police in Romania soon recovered 21 of the bikes after a raid on 14 properties in Vrancea County, along with mobile phones, drugs, and around £5,000 worth of cash.
Romanian police recover stolen Italy track team bikes (credit: Politia Romana)
A few months later, British team Saint Piran also became the victims of bike theft, the Cornwall-based squad losing £30,000 of bikes stolen from a team van in the early hours of a race day in the Netherlands, leaving a “big dent” in their finances.
And then in November 2022, SD Worx issued an appeal after several of the squad’s bikes were stolen in a “brutal burglary”. More recently, bike thefts targeting Euskaltel-Euskadi and Baloise Trek Lions left both teams unable to race at Tour of Slovenia and Baloise Belgium Tour respectively, after thieves targeted the teams for their high-value kit, stealing their bikes and wheels overnight.