{"id":334735,"date":"2025-12-08T10:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334735\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T10:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:47:09","slug":"man-arrested-after-posing-as-ktm-motogp-mechanic-to-steal-bike-from-jorge-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334735\/","title":{"rendered":"Man arrested after posing as KTM MotoGP mechanic to steal bike from Jorge Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Police in Spain have arrested a man suspected of stealing a \u20ac20,000 bike from Jorge Martin in Valencia, who gained MotoGP paddock access by impersonating a KTM mechanic.<\/p>\n<p>During the Valencia Grand Prix weekend last month, 2024 MotoGP world champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/973236\/jorge-martin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jorge Martin<\/a> had a rare custom Pinarello bicycle stolen from his motorhome.<\/p>\n<p>The bike is valued at between \u20ac15,000 and \u20ac20,000 and is used by Martin for training, with the Spaniard a keen cyclist. Only a handful of models were ever built.<\/p>\n<p>According to a report from Spain\u2019s TodoCircuito, the Guardia Civil confirmed it had made an arrest of a 44-year-old man they suspect of carrying out the theft.<\/p>\n<p>Police were able to make the arrest after tracing the man\u2019s footsteps through CCTV footage of the day the theft took place, which revealed an intriguing detail.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/screenshot-2025-12-08-at-09.36.55.png\"   type=\"image\/png\" alt=\"Jorge Martin bike theft CCTV image\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.66\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Jorge Martin bike theft CCTV image<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n<p>The suspect was able to gain access to the Valencia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MotoGP<\/a> paddock because he was dressed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/teams\/red-bull-ktm-factory-racing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">KTM <\/a>gear.<\/p>\n<p>Posing as a mechanic, he was able to prowl around team trucks without arousing suspicion before breaking into Jorge Martin\u2019s personal belongings.<\/p>\n<p>The police were able to pinpoint the suspect after finding CCTV footage of him at a nearby petrol station, still dressed in KTM gear and with the bike in his possession.<\/p>\n<p>From here, the police were able to identify the 44-year-old suspect and trace him back to his Madrid home, where the arrest was made.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>The suspect, who has not yet been named, is reported to already have a considerable criminal record for theft, and was also under investigation for stealing a car from a dealership.<\/p>\n<p>Reports suggest the suspect had only just come out of prison when he stole Martin\u2019s bike.<\/p>\n<p>The Pinarello is now due to be returned to the 2024 world champion.<\/p>\n<p>However, this episode will raise questions about security measures in the MotoGP paddock and why this man was able to gain access easily.<\/p>\n<p>While high-profile riders being targeted by thieves is rare, countless paddock personnel have fallen victim to their possessions being stolen from media centres and car parks at certain events.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>MotoGP has made no public comment on the theft from the paddock.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police in Spain have arrested a man suspected of stealing a \u20ac20,000 bike from Jorge Martin in Valencia,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[10669,64,63,5744,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-334735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-aprilia-racing","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-jorge-martin","12":"tag-motor","13":"tag-motor-sports","14":"tag-motosport","15":"tag-motosports","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}