Geraint Thomas had his bike stolen outside a coffee shop in France before it was returned later in the day by local police.
The 2018 Tour de France winner was on a training stint when he made the brief stop, but came out to see his bike was no longer there.
He was forced to take a taxi home, and posted a picture on social media after his Pinarello Dogma F bike went missing,
“Lovely ride. Lovely coffee stop in Menton. Except someone nicked my bike,” Thomas tweeted.
But the 35-year-old posted another tweet a short while later when his bike had been found.
“Look what showed up!! Boy have I got a good story for you on next week’s gtcc-pod. Big thanks to the Menton Police for their help. All’s well that ends well,” he said.
Thomas had joked earlier that he had also lost irreplaceable training data when the bike was taken.
Look what showed up!! Boy have I got a good story for you on next week’s @gtcc_ pod 🤣 Big thanks to the Menton Police for their help 👮♂️👌 All’s well that ends well pic.twitter.com/qW5x8qXnbt
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) November 14, 2021
He added: “Plus I haven’t downloaded my Garmin this week. If it ain’t on TrainingPeaks it didn’t happen, right?”
The Welshman recently returned to southern France to step up preparations for next season.
Though the Ineos Grenadiers are yet to announce a new contract for Thomas, the 35-year-old revealed last month he had reached an agreement with the team and needed only to sign it.
He raced for Team GB in Tokyo over the summer, but his hopes of winning a third Olympic gold medal were ended when he crashed out of the men’s road race.
