Dutch police recover Polish cycling team's stolen bikes

The bikes were stolen from outside the team's hotel in Valkenburg, southern Netherlands.

“Apparently [the] thieves got scared because the news about the burglary was spread widely across Europe,” the team's sports director Piotr Wadecki said.

“They left most of the stolen bikes in a car, which they abandoned near Valkenburg,” he added. “Two bikes and a few wheels are still missing, and we hope we will get them back too, but we are happy that most of the equipment was found”.

With spare bikes already sent in from Poland, the team is happy to now have a problem of “excess equipment”, Wadecki said.

Dutch police are continuing to investigate the theft.

The team from Polkowice, in western Poland, will compete in the annual road bicycle race in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands, for the fourth year in a row. (vb)