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Ladri di Biciclette: Giovanni Visconti's €15,000 custom MCipollini bike stolen

Theft comes days after criminals make off with all of Team Type 1's Colnago bikes...

A unique MCipollini RB 1000 bike worth €15,000, the frame finished in the Italian national colours, has been stolen from Giovanni Visconti, the country’s national road champion, from outside a hotel in Vicenza.

The Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli rider had been at the hotel to take part in a photoshoot, reports La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Thieves broke into his car through the windscreen and took the bike, which had been stored in the boot. They also took a satnav device from the dashboard.

It’s the second high-profile theft of a bike targeting pro racers in Italy in the space of a few days, although as yet there is no suggestion the incidents are linked.

Last week, Professional Continental outfit Team Type 1-Sanofi Aventis were forced to pull out of the final stage of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali after all of their Colnago bikes and frames were stolen from team vehicles the previous evening.
 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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8 comments

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handlebarcam | 12 years ago
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Perhaps the thieves will return the bike when they learn of the personal testing that Super Mario does to every one of his MCipollini bikes...
//3.bp.blogspot.com/-c7PQOkZAOME/TXZQaQ5p14I/AAAAAAAATYA/wlPzl2Bb4LE/s1600/Mario%2BCipollini42.jpeg)

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cat1commuter | 12 years ago
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Not sure there's any indication that the thieves were "targeting pro racers", since they also took the sat-nav unit.

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Simon_MacMichael replied to cat1commuter | 12 years ago
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cat1commuter wrote:

Not sure there's any indication that the thieves were "targeting pro racers", since they also took the sat-nav unit.

Perhaps not certain in the Visconti case, although with Team Type 1 it seems clearly more than just an opportunistic thief at work.

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handlebarcam | 12 years ago
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Somehow I doubt these bicycle thieves are going to use the bike to keep their jobs pasting up posters.

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Simon_MacMichael replied to handlebarcam | 12 years ago
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handlebarcam wrote:

Somehow I doubt these bicycle thieves are going to use the bike to keep their jobs pasting up posters.

 41

One of my favourite films, stood the test of being studied for a term in first year of my undergrad and I can still watch it again and again.

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antonio | 12 years ago
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Wont get far without a respray, a coat of hammerite will do the trick.

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Fringe | 12 years ago
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its gonna be kinda hard to flog that on ebay without drawing attention to yourself eh.

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zoxed replied to Fringe | 12 years ago
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Fringe wrote:

its gonna be kinda hard to flog that on ebay without drawing attention to yourself eh.

Probably stolen to order, or for a known buyer/collector.

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