Racing bike stolen when elderly cyclist crashes, breaks hip

By Janene Pieters on April 6, 2015 - 11:33
799px-Mercedes_Ambulance_at_Amsterdam,_AMC_hospital
Picture: Wikimedia Commons/AlfvanBeem

Jan Verhaaren (73) from Grave, Brabant broke his hip and suffered a head wound during a fall with his bicycle on Zevenheuvelenweg in Groesbeek on Sunday afternoon. And as if his day was not bad enough already, his one-of-a-kind, handmade racing bike was stolen while he was being treated in the hospital.

Verhaaren was training for the Alpe d'Huzes on Sunday, which he planned on participating in with his grandchild and son in law, Brabants Dagblad reports. He was riding at a speed of about 45 kilometers per hour when his bike went out from under him. The police and ambulance were quick to arrive and transported the injured man to the hospital in Nijmegen.

Witnesses told the newspaper that the police tried to take the bike along with them in the car, but could not manage it. They therefore used a solid chain to lock the bike to a pole so that the family could pick it up later. But when family members arrived at the scene of the accident a few hours later, all they found was a cut chain.

"Who would do such a thing?" Henri Janssen, Verhaaren's son in law said to the newspaper. "My father in law was hit three times. He broke his hip and injured his head, he can't participate in the Alpe d'Huzes anymore and he's lost his beautiful bike."

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