Bikes belonging to a Belgian cycling team which were stolen last year have been spotted for sale on a website selling in Russia and Ukraine.
The time trial bikes were stolen from the Van Moer Logistics Cycling Team last September.
The thieves took 10 bikes worth approximately €40,000 after ram raiding the garage of one of the team members in Lokeren. The bikes had previously been used by the Topsport-Vlaanderen team.
According to Het Laatse Nieuws, a large number of stolen bikes are now for sale on the website, of which a significant number were stolen between Ghent and Antwerp.
The bikes are Eddy Merckx time-trial bikes which are quite distinctive as only 50 of them were made and they are now being sold for $2,500.
The team’s chairman Charles Jensen has little hope of getting the bikes back though. “What can the police do against a gang that operates in Russia?” he told HLN. “The investigation is still in progress, but I’m not counting on it. We already had a suspicion that they crossed the border. The bikes have a serial number and here they are unsaleable.”
The team have now purchased replacement bikes. “We have a lot of talent at youth levels and if we want to win championships, you have to have top equipment,” Jensen explains. “Fortunately, we were able to close a nice deal with the Eddy Merckx company.”
“Our ordinary road bikes are also Merckx. So we are a good customer. But the story of the theft certainly played a role. The company thought it was bad that we had become victims of a gang of thieves and they made a nice gesture.”
