A red, white and blue Pinarello Paris bike used for training by Olympic Gold Medallist Philip Hindes has been stolen by burglars from his home in West Didsbury, Manchester. Det Con Rob Southern said: ‘The reason we have publicised this theft is so that we can catch the people responsible and return the bike to its rightful owner.’ It is thought that the incident – that also involved the theft of blue Volkswagen Golf which was later recovered burnt out – took place between August 23 and 26, although police have confirmed that the Hindes’s gold medal, which he won competing in his first Olympic Games in the Men’s Team Sprint with Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, was not amongst items stolen.
Hindes route to cycling success has not been a conventional one: born in Krefeld, Germany his initial passions were for athletics, ice speed skating and hand ball, he then took up rowing and represented his county at the National Championships. At 15 he took up cycling and showed an early talent for sprinting, representing Germany at the Junior World and European Championships before joining the British Cycling Academy, made possible by his dual nationality.
