Tejay van Garderen's 2012 Tour de France white jersey bike has been stolen

Tejay van Garderen has had two of his bikes stolen from a storage unit near his home in the United States, both of which are prized possessions. 

The American is in the process of moving to Denver, Colorado, so stored his bikes with other belongings in the unit while he settled in to his new house. However, thieves broke into the storage unit, stealing what they could.

Van Garderen posted four days ago that a five-year anniversary gift from his wife, a custom titanium bike built from his first sponsor Strong Frames, was stolen from the storage unit.

He said on Instagram: "If anyone in the Denver area sees this bike, has this bike, wants to return it, I will offer a reward no questions asked.

"You can recognize it easily with the V (for 5 year anniversary), with my wedding date written in Roman numerals. It has a picture of Mt. Daly (the mountain we named my youngest daughter after). An R for Rylan, my first born, with Roman numerals of her birthday, as well as a heart shaped picture by Rylan, saying 'go Dadda go.'

"Out of everything that was stolen, I really want this back! Please."

The 33-year-old then posted on Instagram again yesterday, highlighting that a second bike, the one he rode when he won the white jersey for best young rider at the Tour de France in 2012, was also taken. 

He said: "This bike was also stolen. Only rode it one time, I bet you can guess when. Still has (had) the race number on it. Would be nice to get this one back too."

Van Garderen rode for BMC Racing Team between 2012 and 2018, before finishing his career at EF Education-Nippo, where he retired this year. He will stay on with the team as a sports director in 2022. 

During his career, Van Garderen won a stage on the 2017 Giro d'Italia, both the 2013 and 2014 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, and the 2013 Tour of California. He retired after finishing third in the time trial at the USA National Road Championships.