Miguel Induráin has recovered the bicycle that three thieves stole from his van in the Catalan coastal town of La Pineda on March 18th. The Spaniard who was a five-time Tour de France champion in the 1990s was in the Costa Dorada locality with his team preparing their participation in the upcoming Titan Desert Morocco 2024 when someone smashed the window of his vehicle, parked near the hotel where they were staying, and removed a competition bike worth 6,500 euros that was inside. In addition, the criminals also broke into three other vehicles parked in the beach resort town, from one of which valuables were also taken.
Thieves caught while cycling through La Pineda
Miguel Induráin reported the theft to the Mossos d'Esquadra police, who opened an investigation into the events. After following several leads, the investigators were able to identify three people, two 18-year-old males and a third, under age, as the alleged perpetrators of the events. Days later, on March 27th, around half past eleven at night, while on patrol in La Pineda's beach area, officers from the Salou police station saw two young men with a bicycle in the street, who seemed to be on the lookout. When the officers identified themselves, the two suspects attempted to flee, but were caught and arrested.
When searching them, the officers seized a pocket-knife, as well as the bicycle they had. After making the appropriate checks, it was confirmed that it was the cycle that had been stolen from Miguel Induráin in the same municipality about ten days earlier. For this reason, both the young men were arrested. In addition, the following day, the Mossos made a third arrest related to these events, that of an under-age teenager who had also allegedly participated in the robberies. The two 18-year-olds were placed at the disposal of the investigating duty judge in Tarragona and the minor was placed at the disposal of the juvenile prosecution service. This Friday, the Catalan police returned the bike to the five-time Tour de France champion, who thanked the police for the effort they had made to recover it.