"Like they were tipped off that our address has expensive bikes": Olympic cyclist's home raided by burglars, with doorbell recording suggesting they "had very specific information"

Irish cyclist Kelly Murphy — a four-time national time trial champion who has also represented her nation at the World Championships and Olympics — has lost bikes after burglars broke into her home in Birmingham in what she believes was a "premeditated" burglary with the criminals "tipped off that our address has expensive bikes".

Murphy was part of the Irish team pursuit squad that finished eighth at the Paris Olympics and lives in Birmingham. CCTV captured the men stealing a Giant TT frame — which is of extra sentimental value having been the bike Murphy rode to a national TT title and at the European Championships — as well as a Cannondale Synapse.

She told Irish cycling news website Sticky Bottle that the footage also "has their voices" and the men sounded as if they are "distinctively local to the Birmingham area" and had been "tipped off" about the high-value bikes that were at the address.

"The Ring doorbell has their voices and they're distinctively local to the Birmingham area," she explained. "The (recording) of their voices gives away it was premeditated, like they were tipped off that our address has expensive bikes."

The high-value nature of bikes has made them a concerningly common target for criminals in recent years. We've reported on numerous incidents involving professional riders, club riders and businesses being targeted in increasingly organised break-ins, as well as frightening bikejacking incidents where riders have been robbed of their bikes during training rides.

In 2022, pro cyclist Jennifer George said she no longer rides alone after two bikejacking attempts as she rode out to Surrey from her home in south-east London. Likewise, former Alpecin-Fenix pro Alexandar Richardson was threatened with a machete and dragged for 100 metres by moped-riding muggers in Richmond Park, a teenager later sentenced to 12 months for the attack.

Other incidents involving club riders have been reported across London, notably near Regent's Park, and across the United Kingdom, high-value bikes seemingly now an attractive target for criminals, something Cycling UK has speculated may be because of the perceived low probability of being caught by the police.

> Police force admits bike thefts "unlikely to ever be solved"

The burglars targeting homes and bicycle retailers appear to be more professional too. Just yesterday we reported that a rare gold Aurum Magma was among multiple bikes stolen in the latest professional raid on a bike shop in Northamptonshire, the same shop suffering four "Mission Impossible-style" burglary attempts last year which left police questioning if they were an "inside job".

> Are bike shop burglaries becoming more professional? Owner says shop was hit four times by "Mission Impossible-style" raids – and claims police asked if break-in was "inside job"

In September, the owner of C6 Bikes in Cambridgeshire told us that he'd believe us if we told him "the SAS did this", that after a targeted raid of his shop saw a 10m-high roof scaled, internet wires cut, access gained by a "super precise" cut to an exterior wall, complex alarms disabled, and £200,000 of stock stolen, all without the burglars leaving any CCTV footage.

In the same month, at the Shimano Experience Center in the Netherlands, some "irreplaceable" bikes of Peter Sagan, Mathieu van der Poel and Julian Alaphilippe were stolen.

"The stolen bikes are beyond any monetary value, having played their part in cycling history, at the Tour de France, World Championships, Olympics, and at countless other vital events in the cycling world," Shimano said.

Pinarello too suffered a break in at its Treviso showroom in November 2023. Masked raiders took bikes worth €250,000, even returning twice in the same day to take 19 items after cutting through a fence and gaining access via a workshop's emergency exit. It was believed the burglary was highly organised and well-planned due to the men targeting high-value models and knowing exactly where in the showroom to access them.

In 2021, Romanian police recovered 21 of the 22 Italian track cycling team's bicycles that were stolen from a hotel car park during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships of that year.

Filippo Ganna's gold Pinarello was part of the haul, worth an estimated £500,000, which also included the fellow newly crowned team pursuit world champions Liam Bertazzo, Jonathan Milan and Simone Consonni's bikes, each worth £25,000 and featuring a titanium 3D-printed handlebar alone worth £8,500.

In December 2021, two teenagers were sentenced to 18 months in prison for their role in the crime.

A few months later, in February 2022, organised criminals were believed to have used sleeping gas to incapacitate the driver of an HGV transporting a large number of Shimano components across Germany, the heist seeing components for 10,000 bicycles stolen.

> Great Chain Robbery: Shimano components for 10,000 bikes stolen from HGV by criminals using sleeping gas

Following the incident the largest Czech-based bicycle producer BIKE FUN International (BFI) warned the bike industry that components could be a new target for organised crime.

Professional cycling teams have also been targeted, leading Women's WorldTour outfit SD Worx the victims of a "brutal burglary" at the end of the 2022 season which saw Specialized Tarmac, Roubaix and Shiv models stolen.

At last year's Tour of Britain, British squad Lifeplus Wahoo was hit by a bike theft and lost all 14 bikes stolen from a mechanic's van. The team has since announced it will not be continuing due to financial troubles, citing the theft as a contributing factor and an "absolute hammer blow to our over-achieving team on a stretched budget".