Cycling
ESPN staff 5y

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas appeals for return of stolen trophy

Cycling, Endurance

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas has appealed for the return of his trophy after Team Sky announced it had been stolen.

Police are investigating after the Coupe des Omnisports went missing at the end of The Cycle Show, a gathering of major cycling brands to show off their latest models and technology.

Team Sky had loaned the trophy to Italian bike manufacturer Pinarello along with the Giro D'Italia and Vuelta a Espana trophies, but it was left unattended during the event in Birmingham at the end of September.

Organisers discovered it was missing while clearing up at the end of the exhibition at the NEC Arena.

Thomas described the loss of the trophy as "incredibly unfortunate" and called for its return.

"It goes without saying that the trophy is of pretty limited value to whoever took it, but means a lot to me and to the Team," the Welsh rider said.

"Hopefully whoever took it will have the good grace to return it. A trophy is important, but clearly what matters most are the amazing memories from this incredible summer -- and no-one can ever take those away."

Thomas battled his way to the yellow jersey in July as part of an historic Grand Tours treble for Team Sky.

Earlier in the summer Thomas's teammate Chris Froome won the Giro D'Italia while Simon Yates secured victory in the Vuelta a Espana in September.

Both the trophies won by Froome and Yates were not taken.

The Managing Director of Pinarello UK Richard Thomas apologised for the loss of the trophy.

"We are obviously devastated about this," he said. 

"We accept full responsibility and have personally apologised to Geraint. Obviously we all hope that the trophy can be recovered."

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