"Each bike is between €10,000 and €13,000, multiplied by 11... that's a lot of money" - Cofidis boss says team were targets of "organised gang" in Tour de France theft

The Cofidis team was rocked ahead of stage 2 at the 2025 Tour de France after it came to light that they had been the victims of a shocking burglary overnight. With 11 race bikes stolen, things have been made much tougher for the French team going forward.

"When we woke up, unfortunately, we realised that the workshop truck had been broken into this morning," Cofidis boss Cedric Vasseur told Cyclism'Actu after the stage had concluded. "When we took inventory, we realised that 11 bikes had been stolen during the night. Probably after 4:30 a.m. However, there was a security guard who was apparently ensuring security in this parking lot."

"Unfortunately, we have no traces at the moment. Journalists in the same hotel were also victims of burglaries, so it was certainly an organised gang that had been operating for several days," he continues. "Luckily for us, we only have 11 bikes in our truck, because we have one racing bike and two spares. We are also close to the race service, so we went there to get spare bikes to allow the riders to compete in the stage this Sunday and to benefit from a spare bike just in case."

Ultimately though, the biggest impact of this theft could be financially. Cofidis are far from one of the biggest budget teams in the peloton and losing 11 race bikes is a big blow. "We're going to have to reassemble new bikes in the next few days, because they were special Tour de France series," says Vasseur. "Our mechanics will be busy starting Monday morning to reassemble 4 or 5 new bikes. And then we're going to be extra vigilant, and I also advise all the teams to do the same thing."

"The overall damage? Well, each bike is between €10,000 and €13,000, multiplied by 11... that's a lot of money," he concludes. "We filed a complaint at the police station this morning, an investigation is underway, and the police are obviously doing their utmost to hopefully recover the equipment."