They stole their bikes???

[Running Mommy]

Just heard that someone stole a few of Astana's bike, including Lances TT rig????
What must that theif be thinking? Do they think they will be able to SELL it??
sheesh!
I can see the craigslist listing now....
"for sale. black and yellow racing bike. Livestrong edition. Got it from a friend so I dont know a lot about it, but it looks fast. Has handlebars that allow you to lay down on the bars and rest when you get tired. 500.00 or best offer".....


Bike thieves are just, just, just..... so dang STOOPID!!! - for once denise is at a loss for words..

[Zen]

it seems to me they must not have been secured very well.
This isn't the first time a team's bikes have been stolen.
Maybe somebody should sleep in the truck. With a big dog.

i found this take to be rather amusing.

Did he really say "Twitterati"?

[michelem]

Well, I'm wondering if it wasn't someone from the hotel parking lot security. The reason I say this is because on the local news tonight, someone (the Astana van driver??? can't remember exactly), said that normally they park the van with the doors up tight against a wall so someone can't get in easily. However, the hotel said they didn't need to do that because they would have plenty of security out there. Hmmmm . . . ???

Oh, here's an article with the quote:

http://www.news10.net/news/story.asp...=54827&catid=2


SACRAMENTO, CA - Just hours after his triumphant return to cycling on U.S. soil, Lance Armstrong's one-of-a-kind time trial bike was stolen from his trailer parked in a downtown Sacramento alley, police confirmed.

The thief cut the padlock on Armstrong's Team Astana trailer parked in an alley behind the downtown Residence Inn on L Street between 15th and 16th streets some time between 8 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday, Sacramento Police Sgt. Norm Leong said.

VIDEO: Astana's Maertens: "Guards...were not there"

Of the 26 bikes parked inside, the thief or thieves grabbed the first four they could reach, including Armstrong's bike and three others belonging to teammates, Leong said.

"Normally, we always park the truck against the wall, but the hotel said, we don't need to do it, we have our guards here all night," Team Astana spokesman Philippe Maertens said. "They were not there."

On his Twitter blog Sunday morning, Armstrong expressed shock at the theft.

"Whoa!! They just came to my room and said our truck was broken into and someone stole my time trial bike! Wtf?!? APB out to the twitterati," Armstrong wrote. "There is only one like it in the world therefore hard to pawn it off. Reward being offered." It was not immediately clear what type of reward was being offered by the Armstrong camp.

Teammate Johann Brunell also put out a message on Twitter reading: "Bad surprise this morning. Our truck got broken in and 4 bikes stolen. Lance's tt bike and Jani's, Popo's and Steve's race bike."

The other riders who lost bikes were Astana team members Janez Brajkovic, Yaroslav Popovych and Steve Morabito.

Armstrong's bike is a specially-modified Trek Equinox TTX 9.9.

"It's an unfortunate asterisk on what was an otherwise perfect event," Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said in a written statement. "The robbery serves as yet another said reminder that crime is a major problem in our city and that we cannot reduce our commitment to public safety."

"We will be looking at all the surveilance video that is available from surrounding businesses. We are hoping to get some leads from surveillance footage and track the thieves down," Sacramento Police spokesman Konrad Von Schoech said.

Von Schoech also warned local bike shops to be on the lookout for someone trying to sell the extremely distinctive bike worth about $10,000.

"We still hope it will come back," Maertens said. "The guy who took it can do nothing with it."

"If you're going to take it, put it in your bedroom and be the only one to ever look at it, it's a good deal. If you show one other person, I don't see how you get away with that," Armstrong said before Sunday's Amgen leg. "Eventually, we'll find it."


News10/KXTV
Copyright 2009 / All Rights Reserved

[OakLeaf]

Souvenirs. Kept or sold to unscrupulous collectors.

Pro motorcycle racers get their leathers stolen often enough that it's not a "WTF" thing when it happens.

No different from stealing a major work of art. Can't exactly advertise those for sale on the open market, either.

[Zen]

Fan boy chamois sniffers

[xeney]

Man, I wouldn't even lock my beater bike up in that alley.

[wackyjacky1]

Fan boy chamois sniffers

I have been LMAO for about five minutes over this!

[Possegal]

bike found! The Amgen site with the tour streaming on it, has a blurb that Sacramento police found Lance's bike. On ebay perhaps?

[Running Mommy]

can't wait to hear the back story on this one....

http://www.cyclelicio.us/2009/02/lan...ike-found.html

[ny biker]

Velonews.com is reporting that one of the other bikes was returned to the hotel where it was stolen:

A missing Astana bike reappears
As reported Monday, four bikes were stolen from the Astana team truck parked outside a downtown Sacramento Marriott hotel. Among them were three team road bikes and the custom Trek Livestrong 1274 time trial bike of Lance Armstrong.

In an odd turn of events, Janez Brajkovic’s road bike has reappeared at the hotel. Police phoned the team this morning to alert them to the discovery.

Representatives of the team are not certain if the bike was taken in the same Sunday night incident, or in a separate theft, but hypothesized that media attention might have frightened perpetrators into returning the bike. “It’s one less bike we’re having to build tonight,” said team liason Ben Coates.

[Triskeliongirl]

I also just read on the velonews TOC live feed that they have now recovered Lance's bike too. Seems like the Sacramento police are on top of this!

#
02:16 PM: Armstrong's TT bike recovered
VeloNews' online editor at large has confirmed with the Sacramento police that Lance Armstrong's stolen TT bike has been recovered. More soon.

[MartianDestiny]

can't wait to hear the back story on this one....

http://www.cyclelicio.us/2009/02/lan...ike-found.html

From the looks of the picture it's only missing a couple thousand dollars worth of wheels...

[Zen]

From the looks of the picture it's only missing a couple thousand dollars worth of wheels...

Look for one on the rear of a fixie near you!

[emily_in_nc]

I'd love to know how it was actually recovered. Glad it's back, and hopefully with no damage and no components removed!