MotoGP champion Jorge Martin’s £17.5k bike stolen by thieves during race | Other | Sport
World MotoGP champion Jorge Martin had his prized £17,500 bicycle stolen during a race in Spain. Thieves are said to have accessed a private area where the motorbike riders had stored their personal belongings to take his personalised special edition Pinarello road racer.
The theft happened at the weekend during the Motul Comunitat Valenciana Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste, around 12 miles west of the east coast city of Valencia. Local media said the 27-year-old, rushed to hospital in February after suffering two horror crashes on the first day of pre-season training, had reported the theft to police.
Private security officials at the racetrack are now said to be checking CCTV footage to see if they can work out exactly when the theft took place.
It is believed to have occurred on Sunday although the road racer, which Martin had taken with him to the Cheste circuit, was not discovered missing until the following day for reasons which haven’t yet been made clear.
Madrid-based Jorge, who is now with Aprilia Racing and finished a lowly 21st in the weekend event, has not yet made any comment on social media.
He fractured his right hand and bones in his left foot in one of his pre-season training crashes with his new team in Sepang, Malaysia.
He posted a clip of the crash on social media at the time and insisted he would be back, saying: “Not the best start of the season but martinator always comes back stronger.”
He regularly posts selfie photos on his Instagram where he has 1.3 million followers showing him on his mega-expensive road racer. In one in September he had donned his lycra to take a ride around the Spanish capital.
