CLOVIS, California (AFP) – Police on Wednesday said they have recovered a one-of-a-kind bicycle swiped from Tour de France legend Lance Armstrong at a northern California racing venue.
A person brought the purloined Trek training bicycle to a police station in the city of Sacramento, where it was stolen during the weekend.
The person’s name was not released by police, who said the investigation of the theft is continuing. Police said they will return the bicycle to Armstrong, who was competing Wednesday in the Tour of California.
The seven-time Tour de France champion had used the bicycle Saturday at a rain-pelted, wind-pounded opening of the 750-mile race that continues through the week.
Armstrong’s bicycle was one of several stolen from an Astana team truck parked behind a hotel in Sacramento. A lock on the truck was clipped to get inside, according to police.
Armstrong on Sunday sent out a rallying cry to the more than 128,000 Twitter members who have signed up to receive the brief text messages he routinely fires off on the popular micro-blogging service.
A Facebook group called “1 Million Citizens Looking for Lance Armstrong’s Stolen Bike” had grown to 1,282 members by the time word of the Trek’s return hit the Internet on Wednesday.
“Score one for the good guys,” a Twitter user using the screen name ‘kraftmstr’ wrote as the news ricocheted about the website.
Attention on Twitter swiftly shifted back to Armstrong’s latest day in the saddle.
“Watching Lance Armstrong gently shove an idiot into the snow on the roadside in the tour of California,” Twitter user Pete Watson said in a message about what he was doing at the moment. “Falling over laughing – excellent.”
