Tour de France team has 11 bikes stolen
Photo:
AFP
Team Cofidis had 11 bikes stolen from their truck overnight before the start of the second stage of the Tour de France.
The team, based near Lille, were able to find enough bikes to start stage two, a 209.1-km hilly ride from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer, but they condemned the burglary.
Each bike is estimated by the team to have cost 13,000 euros (NZ$25,000).
"The door of the workshop truck was forced open, and 11 of our LOOK Cycle bikes were stolen despite the security measures that had been put in place," the team said in a statement.
"The Cofidis team strongly condemns this act of incivility and calls on the perpetrators to act with civility and responsibility."
The team added that police officers visited the hotel to document the burglary and had begun their investigation.
Emanuel Buchmann was the best of the Cofidis riders on the stage, finishing 20th. He is 14th after two stages.
The Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel won stage two ahead of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar in a sprint finish.
New Zealander Laurence Pithie, riding for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, finished 113th on the stage and is 105th overall.
A large leading group stayed together for much of the stage which boiled up into a mass sprint for the line, Van der Poel edging out Pogacar in a photo finish with Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard taking third place.
Alpecin-Deceuninck's Van der Poel also claimed the race leader's yellow jersey after winning the longest stage of the Tour, a 209.1km route from Lauwin-Planque to the northern coastal city of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
"It was super difficult, the final was actually harder than I thought," Van der Poel said.
"People said I was a favourite for today, but if you see which riders were up there on the climbs, I think I did a really good job to be there."
Alpecin-Deceuninck can celebrate their second Tour win this year after Belgian Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage on Saturday.
Due to adverse weather conditions that caused logistical issues, the start of the stage was delayed by about 15 minutes.
Stage three is a 178.3km route over flat terrain from Valenciennes to Dunkirk on Tuesday.
- Reuters
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Otago Daily Times
an hour ago
- Otago Daily Times
Blood-soaked and full of pride
This is one jersey going straight to the pool room. And it may not even get washed. Du'Plessis Kirifi shed blood for the cause as he made his debut for the All Blacks in Dunedin on Saturday night — and he had a white collar soaked red to prove it. His 30-minute cameo off the bench included all the energy and bustle we have come to expect of the 93-game Hurricanes veteran, and spilling a touch of claret was a small price to pay for the greatest moment of his career. "It's going to get framed, and it's probably going to go to my dad," Kirifi said when asked what he had planned for his first black jersey. "Unwashed, too." Kirifi was one of four players on debut for the All Blacks in the 31-27 win in the first test against France. The rugby passed by in a blur, but he said he treasured everything about the experience. "Just the whole night. The bus, getting changed in the official changing room for the first time, the national anthem. "What a proud moment, you know. Being able to represent your country in front of your country is special. "To be able to get out and perform the haka — that's something you used to do when you were 7, 8, 9 years old. "So there were a heap of special moments to go with playing alongside some lifelong friends of mine, and winning, and being able to go into the crowd and see my mum and dad." It had been an intense week leading up to the first test for Kirifi and fellow forwards Fabian Holland, Christian Lio-Willie and Ollie Norris. But the 28-year-old openside flanker took everything in his stride. "I guess one of my points of difference is I'm not 21, 22 anymore. I've been doing this for nine-odd years, so although it was my debut, and there was a little bit of nervousness, it comes with a lot of belief and confidence in my work ethic and my ability to just do my job. "I've had plenty of texts and phone calls left unanswered. I will slowly get back to some people. "I'm definitely feeling the love." Kirifi said there was immense respect in the All Blacks for how the French challenged them. While the game appeared in the balance for much of the second half, the home side had "massive belief" they were not going to let the test slip. "We had confidence in our plan, and also just trust. "When you're hard on defence, you look across the line, you can hear boys talking, you can see their body language and their eyes up — when you see that, it's hard not to be confident. "You're not sure how it's going to end. They may end up scoring. But when you see the body language and the chat, it fills you with a lot of confidence." Kirifi would treasure a start on his home ground in the second test in Wellington this weekend, and it will be interesting to see whether the All Blacks do any tinkering in the loose forwards. Some sort of announcement is expected today on whether captain Scott Barrett could be out for some time after tweaking his Achilles in Dunedin. If he is a goner, Ardie Savea will presumably be captain, and Holland can expect another start at lock.

1News
10 hours ago
- 1News
Scotty Stevenson: All Blacks must seek simplicity in second Test
The challenge for Scott Robertson and his coaching staff this week will be to resist the temptation to add more and to dial in on the fundamentals for the second Test, writes Scotty Stevenson 'The more you add, the more you are taking away.' So said the classically-trained chef Marco Pierre-White, who may have started his kitchen career whisking veal stock reductions and stuffing pig's trotters in a steaming haze of French profanity and haute cuisine, but who these days would rather you just cooked a potato in a metric tonne of butter or scrambled some damn eggs. Simplicity. That has become the catch cry of Britain's Archbishop of the faded bistro. The art of subtraction. It's one thing to have all the ingredients at your disposal, but quite another to resist the temptation to throw them all on one plate. The trick is discipline. Just because you know how to whip up a mousse of raspberry leaf and foie gras, spiced with the tears of a Gondwanan monsoon frog, doesn't mean you should serve it up with the dover sole. ADVERTISEMENT I was thinking about this, probably because I had forgotten to cook dinner, while the All Blacks went about throwing everything in their kitchen at the French. There were times it appeared the team couldn't really decide what to cook up, or who controlled the menu, so everything was dumped on a plate in a deconstructed heap, leaving us to pick through the chaos with both chopsticks and a dessert spoon. The elements, individually, were all there, but cohesion appeared absent. The early injury to Sevu Reece did not help matters. Given the selectors had opted to short the winger stocks, Reece's potential series-ending head knock was tragi-comically karmic. There is nothing inherently wrong with the option to shift Will Jordan to the right and bring Damian McKenzie in at the back, but it did add more than a dash of complexity when refined conservatism may have been a more desirable approach. Conservatism and the quest for hybrid players appear to be mutually exclusive concepts. While positional versatility is an admirable goal, but there are still roles and rules at Test match level that need to be respected. Beauden Barrett and McKenzie were at times a mesmerising combo, alternating at first receiver and attempting to concoct new ways to outsmart a highly organised French central defence. But there were periods during which the endeavour became so frantic the All Blacks outsmarted themselves, as if uncertain whose dish was being served, and by whom. Damian McKenzie of New Zealand makes a break during the International Test match between New Zealand All Blacks and France at Forsyth Barr Stadium on July 05, 2025 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Source: Getty) It could be that it is simply natural to both Barrett and McKenzie to unleash as much pandemonium as possible, but it's just as likely that the team became a little overloaded with detail ahead of their first match of the season. ADVERTISEMENT The challenge for Scott Robertson and his coaching staff this week will be to resist the temptation to add more, to look at where execution was at its best, and to dial in on the fundamentals. The more you add, the more you are taking away. With that in mind, Barrett must be given another chance to run the team at 10 this weekend. The veteran largely kept his cool in the big moments and was instrumental in every scoring play. Big calls will need to be made elsewhere in the backline, though. Does Reiko Ioane move back to centre and, if so, how do the All Blacks reconcile the wing spots? It might be tempting to keep Jordan on the right and bring in Caleb Clarke to offer punch on the left but, equally, could Jordan be a more valuable proposition at fullback? Given Jordan was picked there last week, it's almost certain the selectors would prefer to utilise his vision and organisation there again. Regardless of personnel changes, one would hope the team can now take a collective breath and get down to the business of simplicity. Wanting to play all the rugby all the time is laudable as a spectacle but adds a significant degree of difficulty to the ability to finish. The All Blacks carried twice as many times as the French in Dunedin, but that does not always translate to scoreboard domination. Conditions may dictate terms this weekend in the capital, but as a philosophy maybe it's time to shelve a few of the more flamboyant dishes and focus on the meat and three veg.

RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett in doubt for second test, changes likely
All Blacks v France Kick-off: 7:05pm Saturday 12 July Sky Stadium, Wellington Live blog updates on RNZ Scott Barrett may be out of the second test against France in Wellington this weekend, after being forced from the field in Dunedin with an Achilles complaint. While it wasn't confirmed today, coach Scott Robertson said his captain had a scan on the injury and a media release would go out tomorrow. If Barrett is ruled out, Ardie Savea will take over the captaincy in his hometown. Savea led the All Blacks through a tense final 20 minutes in the 31-27 win , which included one key decision-making moment and a lot of communication with referee Nic Berry. Ardie Savea discusses a try that was later disallowed with referee Nic Berry. Photo: Peter Meecham / Patrick Tuipulotu would likely come in to replace Barrett, however where Tupou Vaa'i ends up and whether rookie Fabian Holland is given another crack after his 80 minute debut may mean the Blues captain might end up on the bench. Meanwhile, Robertson said the analysis of the test had been "honest". "We did some great stuff and stuff and get better at it, so that's exciting," he said at the team's training base at NZCIS in Trentham. "We had review clips on creation, the ability to sustain that and finish…just holding onto the ball for one more phase. There's a lot, but that's probably all I can give you. It was a good session. We're just honest with each other, that was the main thing." Robertson was upbeat about what the All Blacks achieved in the test, pointing to some positive attacking numbers. Will Jordan scores a try. Photo: Marty Melville / "We broke 20 tackles and made 13 linebreaks. So that's probably a reflection of what we created ... we did so much great stuff. But we saw the things how we can improve and then finish off with, look, this is what we created. Let's get excited with finishing those opportunities, set piece was outstanding, we put a lot of work into it's the foundation." The big question now is how the unexpectedly close result over an undermanned and unfancied French side will affect selections this weekend. Robertson was understandably cagey, however Timoci Tavatavanawai may be in line as he was the only new player not to see action on Saturday night. "He can play, probably a few different positions ... midfield or wing. I mean, probably seven as well. And he's been great new environment. He's picked up things quickly and has a hell of an ethic." Timoci Tavatavanawai, of the Highlanders, takes on the Chiefs' defence in their Super Rugby Pacific match in Hamilton on 19 April 2025. Photo: Jeremy Ward/Photosport As for the other squad members, it looks like it will be coming down to what match ups feel right for Robertson. "You consider it all, and then you, you trust your instinct. One good thing we've been proud of the period we've had the guys that have come in ... have stepped up to that level quickly. And it's a part of the environment and getting them ready. The French kicking game was a key reason why the game was so close, with Nolann Le Garrec and Joris Segonds able to send up plenty of contestable ball. Robertson was predicting that trend to continue in what is likely to be a windy Sky Stadium environment. "Probably with conditions we expect much the same. You just got to stop them." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.