The wife of Lidl-Trek pro Jasper Stuyven says she left Paris-Roubaix this weekend “disappointed in this world”, that after bikes, bags and a laptop were stolen from her car as she watched the women’s race on Saturday.
Along with a group of friends, Elke Bleyaert rode the Paris-Roubaix Challenge sportive on Saturday, before leaving their bikes and kit covered and locked in a car while they watched Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s comeback win in the women’s race later in the day.
However, they returned to the car to find it broken into and the two bikes, a laptop, suitcase and backpack had been stolen, Bleyaert spending two hours at a police station but “quickly realising” there was little hope in it being recovered, especially when the police told her “welcome to Roubaix” as if “we should just accept that this is normal”.
“Some assholes broke into our cars and stole our bikes,” she later wrote on social media. “They also took my suitcase, my backpack and bag with cycling clothes… everything. My heart was broken. I was so disappointed in this world. In my backpack was my laptop and my hard drive… These two together are literally my entire world. I work from everywhere. And all my work for the last three years was in here.
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“We had no choice but to park our cars in a street near the parking lot. We covered everything as best we could: I put a blanket over my bike, suitcase and backpack and even threw some random coats on top of it, so it looked like it was a mess in the car.”
Bleyaert said the “most frustrating part” was that she could track her laptop to a location one kilometre away through an app on her phone, but the police did not want to do anything as it “did not count as proof”.
“They said they would keep an eye on that house and street but two days later and we still have no news,” she said, explaining how the street they parked on had been “quite busy” with “lots of cars and people passing”.
Pre-empting those who, like the police, would point out how notoriously dangerous Roubaix can be, Bleyaert responded: “Of course we did [know that there are often thefts during Roubaix weekend]… but when you are at an event you would at least expect some extra surveillance on the streets. We rode the cyclo in the morning and were invited to watch Paris-Roubaix Femmes in the afternoon.
“The parking was full in the morning so we had no choice but to leave our cars in the street.”
The weekend did not get much better on the Sunday, Stuyven caught in a crash before the men’s race had even reached the first cobbled sector.
The 2021 Milan-San Remo winner had hoped to be in contention, having finished fifth at the Tour of Flanders last weekend, but rolled home in 95th, more than 13 minutes after Mathieu van der Poel.
4 thoughts on “Bikes stolen from Jasper Stuyven’s wife during Paris-Roubaix trip, but dismissive police say: “Welcome to Roubaix””
The attitude of the police is
The attitude of the police is wearily familiar. I passed through Roubaix several times when staying in Lille. For all the town’s rich industrial history it has a population that seems disinterested in their own surroundings. Cross the nearby border with Belgium and there are museums celebrating their cloth industry, so it can be done.
My bike was stolen from a
My bike was stolen from a supermarket car park in Calais, it was locked on a roof carrier.
The reply when reported to the police was “we get a lot of thefts from that car park”.
Although this was over the phone I could see the dismissive shrug.
It has to be an organised
It has to be an organised group. My mate had his Canyon gravel bike with every single upgrade going on it. So many go each year, but the sleepy place doesn’t have the skills and the police know it.
why didn’t you go to where the laptop was tracking to? Kick off and the police will come running.
Old Bill must be the same all
Old Bill must be the same all over the world whern it comes to bike thefts. You might get a bit more sympathy from our plods, but unless you can give them the frame number and a detailed description you’ve no hope of seeing it again.
Reminds me of the 1970s bike theft advert when the Desk Sergeant wearily records a litany of bike thefts and which ends with a PC coming into the station and saying “You’ll not believe this sarge, someone’s just nicked me bike”