The Lifeplus-Wahoo cycling team were able to continue in the Tour of Britain on Friday after the generosity of their rivals following the theft of 14 bikes overnight.
The UK-based women’s team woke on Friday morning to discover all 14 of their Ribble Endurance SLR bikes had been stolen from their mechanic’s van.
Lifeplus-Wahoo had made a good start to the competition on Thursday but their further participation was in doubt after the theft in Shropshire.
However, after an appeal to rival team managers, Lifeplus’ riders were loaned enough bikes to start stage two of the race in Wrexham.
“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,” a spokesperson for Lifeplus said.
“We wouldn’t be starting without them.”
The team were pictured at the start using a mix of their rivals’ equipment, including Factor, Look and Giant bikes from teams VolkerWessels, Liv AlUla Jayco and Cofidis.
“Thankfully our amazing community has rallied around and with help of several rivals teams were able to take the start this morning,” said co-team director Bob Varney.
Varney added an appeal to find the thieves, asking “please help us track them down by sharing the story far and wide.”