The Tour de France 2025 starts on a shock note. An unexpected incident shakes one of the favorite teams from the first days.
Bike flight is one of the nightmares of the teams engaged on the Tour de France. These machines, real carbon engineering jewelry, can exceed 10,000 to 15,000 euros per unit, inevitably attracting the attention of unscrupulous thieves.
This Sunday, the French team Cofidis revealed on its social networks that it had been the victim of a burglary during the night from Saturday to Sunday, just after the first stage. Eleven bikes were stolen from the actor truck, each estimated at around 14,000 euros on the market. “Despite the security systems that had been put in place”The training could not prevent this theft, she said.
Among the stolen bikes, that of Benjamin Thomas, wearing the pea jersey of best climber after his performance during the first stage, specifies RMC. The runner had to use a bike specially designed for this role, in colors recalling his distinctive jersey. An all the more sensitive loss for the Cofidis team.
A value of 13 million euros
According to the domestic cycling platform, each team participating in the Tour has an average of five to six bikes per runner, adapted to the various stages profiles. Thus, this represents a total value estimated at 13 million euros for all the frames present on the large loop.
This flight comes after the first stage of the Tour de France 2025, disputed on Saturday in Lille for almost 185 km. The teams must now manage this important material loss while continuing the competition under already demanding conditions.