As Visma-Lease a Bike contend with the overnight theft of 18 Cervélo bikes worth an estimated €250,000 near Turin, the fallout at the Vuelta a España has seen rival teams rally in support while simultaneously admitting they have few answers — with one team boss describing the escalating raids as “organised crime,” and another staff member warning that the idea of mechanics sleeping in trucks would be “seriously risky.”
Lidl-Trek’s team boss Luca Guercilena told IDLProCycling.com that his riders and staff immediately stepped in to help on Monday morning after discovering the Dutch squad’s truck had been raided overnight.
The 52-year-old Italian said: “We saw the massive damage the thieves had caused, so we immediately told Visma-Lease a Bike that whatever they needed, we were ready to help.
“Whether it was bikes, groupsets, helmets, or mechanics… anything necessary to be ready for Stage three. I also helped translate for the police and detectives to help speed up the process a bit. It’s about mutual respect between teams. We know how difficult it is to wake up and find your truck completely emptied.”
> Bikes stolen from Visma-Lease a Bike truck in massive overnight raid at Vuelta a España
With assistance from Movistar and Lidl-Trek, Visma were able to line up fully equipped for stage three, where Jonas Vingegaard retained the red jersey for another day, before losing it to David Gaudu on countback yesterday.
Sepp Kuss, Visma-Lease a Bike, stage two, 2025 Vuelta a España (credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Yet Guercilena warned that the problem has become too serious to ignore. He said: “I think we’re getting to a point where we’ll need to hire real security guards at night, physical security. Now that so many teams are staying in the same hotels, the damage can be huge, especially with equipment becoming more and more valuable.”
He also explained that Visma’s misfortune was partly down to where their vehicle had to be parked, saying: “They were a bit unfortunate with how they had to park their trucks at the hotel. We were able to block the back doors of our trucks with a car, but that wasn’t possible where Visma’s truck was parked. I’m sure they would’ve done the same if the layout had allowed it. Maybe things would have turned out differently.”
Guercilena added: “We are dealing with organised crime here, we’re not talking about people just snooping around. During winter training camps in Calpe, we hire security guards. But during stage races, we bring around fifty bikes, including time trial bikes. Not all of that can be stored inside the hotel. And that’s just the bikes. There’s so much more equipment that’s incredibly valuable. We really need to find a solution.”
Ineos Grenadiers sports director Christian Knees, also speaking to IDLProCycling.com, said there was no easy fix.
“You could have mechanics sleep inside the trucks, but that comes with serious risks,” said the 44-year-old German. “Right now, it’s just about stolen bikes, but you never know what could happen if someone’s inside. Luckily, Visma still had enough bikes, and the cycling community really steps up in moments like this. Sometimes we hire security guards, and beyond that, all you can do is lock everything as well as possible.”
2025 Cervelo S5 Visma Lease a Bike action (credit: Cervelo)
The theft took place in the early hours of Monday morning, with Italian police confirming that 18 Cervélo bikes were taken after thieves forced their way into the mechanics’ truck with a pickaxe. According to Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge, several of the stolen machines were later found abandoned in nearby bushes.
“This morning we woke up and we saw that our truck was broken open and some bikes were stolen,” he said. “It was really with severe violence that they opened the truck, because it’s almost impossible to open. So for us it was a big shock this morning when we woke up. It’s very sad news.
“I don’t know why they left these bikes, but we had several bikes being found again. So, that’s really good for us. But the reason why they left them behind, I don’t know. The mechanics did an incredibly good job by building the bikes that we need. I have to say that we were in the hotel with Movistar and with Trek, and they were both also very kind to help us out with some work. That’s good to see that the teams are working together in this, and we have enough now to start the day, so that’s not a problem.”
Plugge, who previously headed the AIGCP teams’ association, said that investment in security has declined in recent years. “When I was at the AIGCP, we always asked the organisers of the grand tours for security, special security around the hotels. But apparently it’s not anymore the case,” he said.
“The hotel did some work there, and they hired their own security. But to all the teams, I would say be very careful, because apparently the organisers do not organise it themselves. So now we need to do something ourselves.”
2025 Dauphine Visma-Lease a Bike unreleased Cervélo (credit: road.cc)
Yesterday, Dutch news website NOS reported that most of the stolen bikes remain missing, with Italian media valuing the loss at around €250,000. Fresh replacements were also sent from Visma’s base in the Netherlands to Girona, in time for today’s team time trial. “We do have experience transporting bikes,” a team spokesperson said.
Visma’s case is only the latest in a long string of high-profile thefts targeting professional squads. At this year’s Tour de France, Cofidis lost 11 Look 795 Blade RS bikes worth around £125,000, including the polka dot-themed set-up of King of the Mountains leader Benjamin Thomas, while in 2024 TotalEnergies also saw 11 bikes and tools taken during the race, including Anthony Turgis’s stage-winning machine.
Lifeplus Wahoo were left devastated at the 2024 Tour of Britain when all 14 of their bikes were stolen in Wrexham, forcing rival teams to lend equipment. Co-founder Bob Varney described the raid as “an absolute hammer blow to our over-achieving team already on a stretched budget.”
Other incidents in recent years have included attempts to steal Bahrain Victorious’s Merida bikes on the eve of Milan-Sanremo, the theft of 22 bikes from the Italian national track team at the 2021 World Championships in Roubaix, Saint Piran’s loss of £30,000 of equipment in the Netherlands, and recent raids that hit Euskaltel-Euskadi and Baloise Trek Lions.