April 23, 2008 – In the run-up to the MTB XC World Cup kick-off at Houffalize the Multivan-Merida Biking Team became a victim of daring thieves. Overnight from Friday to Saturday, the basement of the team’s hotel (20km from the race venue) was completely cleared out despite sophisticated security measures.

Amongst the bikes that were stolen are six brand-new and un-sellable “96” fully-suspended race models, three “FLX”-type carbon fibre hardtails and a “Target 6” road bike. The fully-suspended race models are limited pre-production issues, each custom-made for the specific athlete. The stolen bikes are un-sellable as all of the parts are marked, having been produced specifically for the use by sponsored athletes.

Within a single day, the team’s mechanics succeeded in supplying all athletes with perfect equipment for the MTB XC World Cup race. Nevertheless, the Multivan-Merida Biking Team suffered severe losses estimated at 100,000 Euros.

The Houffalize World Cup has a questionable reputation for some years as an event where bike theft is particularly frequent. The fact that the Multivan-Merida Biking Team had virtually all of its bikes stolen despite the precautions taken is a sign of a highly professional approach by the thieves. The team consisting of riders such as Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå, José Hermida, and Ralph Näf was not the only victim. Using similar methods, a selection of race-ready mountain bikes were stolen from two other teams as well.

Multivan-Merida Biking Team’s management is going to increase the already sophisticated security measures given the high degree of professionalism shown by the thieves. While these measures will require more capital expenditures that further burden the team budget, they seem unavoidable as criminals become more and more ruthless. Some team watchmen have even been sedated in order to get access to the expensive bicycles.

“Unfortunately the teams are left on their own more or less when facing this problem. Especially in Belgium where this problem has been around for years, neither the race organizers or the police have shown any reaction,” said team manager Andreas Rottler regarding the incident, while hoping to get more support from local race organizers to prevent thefts like this in the future.