Police in California have recovered two irreplaceable bikes stolen in a burglary at Specialized’s headquarters in California last weekend – one the S-Works that Michal Kwiatkowski rode to win the world championship in Ponferrada last September, the other a limited edition McLaren Tarmac, numbered 001, belonging to the company’s founder, Mike Sinyard.

Staff discovered the theft on Monday when they arrived for work to find the front door smashed, and had identified a getaway vehicle caught on CCTV when they received a tip-off that two bikes were being offered for a quick sale in the town of Morgan Hill, where Specialized is based.

According to KTVU news, an officer phoned would-be vendor Kannadi Ridenour and after obtaining details of the bikes – each worth $20,000, but for sale at $1,000 apiece, with the alleged thieves apparently unaware of their value – arranged to meet her at a local shopping mall.

She took the officer to the nearby home of Ryan Balestrini to complete the deal – but instead the pair found themselves in custody and are now facing charges as a result of the theft.

“These are probably two of the most easily identifiable bikes,” said Katie Sue Gruener of Specialized.

“I don’t think they had any idea when they took them exactly what they had gotten, but they got some pretty amazing products, sadly for us – but in the end we got them back and thank you to the police for doing that,” she added.