“In the night from Saturday to Sunday, the Cofidis team was the victim of a burglary,” Team Cofidis wrote in their shocking official statement. “The door of the workshop truck was forced open, and eleven of our LOOK Cycle bikes were stolen despite the security measures that had been put in place,” the Tour de France team elaborated. As bizarre as this was, the timing was even worse.

The thieves struck just ahead of Stage 2. Cofidis scrambled to equip contestants with what they needed to ride from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer on Sunday. The losses were nothing minor either. Each bike cost around $15,233, which pushed the total loss to an eye-watering $167,633. However, Cofidis and the French Police wasted no time trying to clean up the blunder as the search began.

Thankfully, the authorities didn’t take long to recover the valuable bikes. Cofidis confirmed on Monday that the police tracked down and returned all 11 missing bikes. “The Look bikes, stolen overnight from Sunday to Monday, were recovered by law enforcement this Monday afternoon,” Team Cofidis said in a press release, as per Cycling News.

“The national police notified ASO and the Cofidis team that they had recovered them in the village of Halluin, near the Belgian border. The police contacted Cofidis to hand them over to the team staff that evening,” the French outfit added to their press release. They also expressed gratitude to the “members of law enforcement, ASO, staff, and Cofidis partners,” who worked tirelessly to recover the bikes.

However, things did go wrong as the Cofidis team scrambled to equip the rider. Despite managing to get everything on time, Tour de France contestant Benjamin Thomas suffered. “Sadly, as a result of the theft, Benjamin Thomas was unable to take the start on his unique red-and-white polka dot decorated LOOK 795 Blade RS today,” LOOK Cycle posted after Stage 2. Thankfully, nothing else went wrong as Tadej Pogacar scripted a monumental victory.

Tadej Pogacar’s milestone at the Tour de France

There’s no denying that Team Cofidis has had a rough start in the 2025 Tour de France. After nearly losing 11 bikes, one of their riders, Bryan Coquard, earned a yellow card after crashing into Jasper Philipsen on Monday. In fact, the crash ended Philipsen’s 2025 Tour de France dreams as he broke his collarbone. Yet, while Philipsen started his recovery after surgery, Tadej Pogacar reached his 100th career win.

Stage 4 of the Tour de France came down to the last 18.64 miles (30 km), where Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard engaged in a thrilling battle. Pogacar held the lead as he launched into the  15% Rampe Sainte-Hilaire in Rouen, leaving the whole pack behind. Or that’s what he thought. While Pogacar did manage to pull away from the rest of the pack, Vingegaard followed.

The Dutchman kept himself glued to the Slovenian’s back wheel as Pogacar gave it his all. Things got even more interesting in the final stretch as other top contenders Remco Evenepoel, Matteo Jorgenson, Van der Poel, and Oscar Onley joined the duo during the descent. While Van der Poel tried to gain on Pogacar, the Slovenian proved too much for everyone else, crossing the finish line for his 100th win.

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“100 victories later, it still feels super good to cross the finish line first,” Tadej Pogacar said about the Tour de France victory. The stage 4 winner even impressed his opponents with the performance. “When I launched my sprint, my legs didn’t want to continue anymore,” Van der Poel said, as per the Guardian.

“Tadej was the strongest today. It’s no shame losing to him on this parcours,” he added. Then again, with the stolen bikes issue resolved and multiple stages left in the race, there’s time for Team Cofidis’ fortunes to take the right turn.