Rivals help Tour of Britain team continue after all its bikes are stolen from van in Shropshire
A team involved in the Women's Tour of Britain has thanked other competitors for their generosity after having all of their bikes stolen yesterday.
Cycling team, Lifeplus - Wahoo, posted on social media on Friday morning revealing that all 14 of their bikes - worth an estimated £56,000 - had been stolen overnnight from a mechanic's van that had been parked at the Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel in Whitchurch.
The team wrote on Facebook, yesterday morning saying: "We woke this morning to find all 14 of our Ribble Endurance SLR bikes stolen from our mechanic's van.
"We are hoping to find a solution to enable us to start in Wrexham today."
The cycling tour began in Welshpool on Thursday with the first leg taking riders to Llandudno.
But, the team's participation in the race was put in jeopardy when they were left without bikes for their riders.
Police were notified, and an investigation has been launched into the theft. Officers are appealing to anyone who was in the area around the time of the incident to contact them immediately.
Detective Sergeant, Rob Davies, from Shropshire’s Serious Acquisitive Crime Team, said: "We received a report this morning (June 7) that 14 Ribble Endurance SLR bikes had been taken from a van parked at the Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel in Whitchurch.
"We believe the bikes were taken overnight and would encourage anyone who was in the area, or may have any CCTV or dash-cam footage, between midnight and 7am this morning (Friday, 7 June) to contact my team."
Thanks to other team's generosity - lending out their spare bikes - Lifeplus - Wahoo riders were able to resume in the race, and take part in stage two which began in Wrexham.
The team were extremely grateful to the other competitors that helped them out, posting on social media saying: "Wrexham we are here.
"All of our thanks and appreciation goes out to the many teams that offered and gave their spare team bikes and their mechanics time to get our girls on the road.
"We wouldn’t be starting without them."
Riders tackled 1,570m of climbing during the a 140.2km stage two race.
Heidi Franz from the USA was the best-placed finisher for team Lifeplus - Wahoo as she came in 25th, ahead of teammates, Karin Söderqvist, and Alicia Gonzalez in 38th, and 39th.
At the conclusion of stage two, Lifeplus - Wahoo were positioned last in the team standings, 18 minutes and 24 seconds from the lead.
