An AirTag to the rescue: the bizarre story behind Unibet Rose Rockets’ bike theft

Unibet Rose Rockets lived through an absolute nightmare in July. While travelling through France on their way to Spain, twelve of the team’s bikes were stolen. For a while, it was unclear whether the squad would even be able to race in Spain, but the bikes were eventually recovered and the story had a happy ending. Bas Tietema takes viewers through the entire story in a YouTube video.

As mentioned, the team was travelling to Spain, where the Ordiziako Klasikoa and Clásica Castilla y León were on the schedule. They stopped halfway for an overnight stay in Poitiers, France. When the team woke up the following morning, the worst-case scenario had become reality.

“I’d rather not think about it, because it wasn’t the best morning,” sports director Joram Grootveld explains. “I was getting ready to go for a run that morning when the soigneurs told me someone had broken into the camper. We were angry about that, but then we saw they had also broken into the truck. All the bikes were gone.”

It was an absolute disaster scenario. Without those bikes, racing simply would not be possible. “Your heart sinks and you get this pit in your stomach,” mechanic Wade Schultz explains. “We work so hard to provide the right equipment. To have all that work, all that love, taken away from you — it immediately makes it a really difficult day.”

It certainly was not for a lack of precautions, although even those can never provide a complete guarantee against a break-in. “We’re always looking for secure parking and trying to physically block access to the vehicle. But sometimes thieves have climbed onto the roofs of other cars to get onto the roof of the truck and cut a hole in it. There are never any guarantees. If someone really wants to get your equipment, they can.”

The riders quickly heard the news. “I heard about it through WhatsApp,” sprinter Ronan Augé explains. “They told me all the bikes were gone. I was told that I needed to bring my training bike. I thought I was going to have to race on that. I gave it a quick clean and put it in the car.” Clément Venturini was equally shocked. “What the f*ck? I had to get on a plane two hours later, so how was I supposed to do that?”

That was the question facing the entire team. A staff member was already travelling from the Netherlands with spare bikes to drive them down to Spain. Another staff member met him along the way, but in the end, the emergency operation would not be necessary at all. That was because mechanic Schultz turned out to be the team’s unlikely saviour. He had put an Apple AirTag inside his toolbox, and it was detected near a golf course in Poitiers — just around the corner from where the team had spent the night.

The police stepped in and found a car there containing all kinds of loose equipment: wheels, helmets and more. It was an encouraging discovery, but the bikes themselves were still missing. Time was beginning to run out, but it was not long before the police delivered more good news. During the riders’ meeting in Spain, on the night before the team’s first race, Grootveld received a call from the French police. He quickly handed the phone to Venturini, who was able to share the news everyone had been waiting for: the bikes had been found!

So where were they? The bikes had never left Poitiers and were discovered inside an apartment on the twelfth floor. A toolbox belonging to Soudal Quick-Step was also found there, suggesting the thieves had targeted professional cycling teams before. Arrests were made, and the bikes were returned to the Rockets. After a nightmare start to their trip to Spain, it was ultimately a case of all’s well that ends well.