“My chips went cold”: Cyclists getting post-race kebabs forced to race again to catch “out-of-breath” bike thief in “40km/hr chase”

A group of cyclists, fresh off the back of participating in an amateur men’s race in New Zealand and trying to enjoy some hot kebabs and chips to refuel, had to undertake another race when a thief tried to steal a rider’s bike. What ensued was a high-speed chase, in which the two other cyclists managed to nab the getaway rider, and perhaps the thief earned a hard-learned lesson that trying to steal a bike with pro cyclists on your tail is likely to end in “remorse”.

Cyclist Zakk Patterson was in Invercargill for the ILT Criterium National Championships. He and two other riders were enjoying their dinner outside Mevlana Kebabs, when the unfortunate thief grabbed his road bike worth $15,000 and pedalled away with it.

But, to the thief’s surprise, the group pedalled into action immediately with Nick Kergozou De La Boessiere, who rides for St George Continental Cycling Team, and the third as-of-yet unnamed rider getting on their bikes and setting off after him.

“We were getting a kebab at Mevlana Kebabs, literally one street over from where we were staying. We thought we’d go get a feed after the race. It was late and an easy dinner,” Patterson told New Zealand news website Stuff.

“We parked our bikes out front, not thinking too much of it. We were sitting inside opposite our bikes and never thought someone would come and try and steal them, but I guess we were wrong.”

He added: “The chairs flung backwards and we raced outside. The other two jumped on their bikes and I started sprinting down the road, but was like, what am I going to do now as I couldn’t keep up?

“I grabbed the guys’ stuff and just chucked it inside, and luckily the kebab owner was pretty cool about it. He locked up the shop and told me to jump in the car and we started chasing them down the street.

“They caught him pretty quickly — we’ve got a couple of ex-professionals and one still professional chasing after him, so he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“We got there about a minute or so later and there was three cop cars and the dog squad already there and the guys had caught him.”

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22-year-old Patterson, a former champion in the New Zealand men’s junior road race, has also won two stages of the Tour of Southland and recorded a podium finish in the New Zealand Cycle Classic, a five-day UCI 2.2 stage race.

Zakk Patterson wins third stage of 2022 Tour of Southland (credit: Zakk Patterson on Facebook)

He said that the thief was intercepted about three streets away. The two cyclists threw him off the bike, and a passing motorist stopped to assist and called the police.

The cops arrived within 20 seconds, and by the time Patterson got to the scene, there were three police cars and the thief was already in handcuffs.

“I think [the thief] was pretty remorseful when he was on the ground,” he said.

“He was actually going pretty bloody fast, to be honest,” Patterson said, noting the thief reached a top speed of 40km/h.

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Patterson added that his bike thankfully emerged almost unscathed. “I was pretty stoked I got my bike back with minimal damage, just a broken spoke and cosmetic damage, because I had a race to compete in the next day,” he said.

“I think I was pretty lucky I had those two guys with me… as soon as I saw it happen and those two chase after him I wasn’t too worried because I knew he couldn’t out-pedal them. I just hoped he didn’t have a weapon or was methed out and hurt them.

“I was lucky that the cycling community had a spare tyre for me so I could race. They were all happy no-one was injured and that there’s a bit of a story to tell from it.”

Sergeant Geoff Sutherland said the “out-of-breath” man didn’t stand a chance against the cyclists who managed to “sandwich” him in and apprehend him, adding: “For him, the race was over.”

Nick Kergozou De La Boessiere of New Zealand at the 2023 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

Fans on social media have found some light-hearted positive takeaways from the news, with one person saying: “Perhaps they chose the wrong bike to try and steal… Kapai to those who intervened — not all heroes wear masks, some wear lycra!”

Another person jokingly remarked: “If he could hold off those guys wearing a pair of trainers I think CNZ [Cycling New Zealand] would be interested.”

Kergozou also commented under a post: “My chips went cold. Not ideal.”

The 31-year-old man was charged with theft and was scheduled to appear at the Invercargill District Court today.