A French court has sentenced two men who stole Tadej Pogačar’s watch during this year's Paris-Nice to four years in prison.
The men stole the Richard Mille watch, with a reported retail price of 165,000 euros, from a team hotel in Valbonne during the race in early March.
Pogačar told the court in Nice on Tuesday afternoon that the watch, which has not been found, had been given to him by his sponsor after the latest Olympic Games, Nice-Matin reported.
“It was a special watch for me,” Pogačar was reported to have told the court. "I find it curious that they could sell it so quickly, with no box or documentation."
According to Nice-Matin, the court heard that the robbery took place around 6 pm during Paris-Nice, on the eve of Pogaçar’s overall victory.
The two thieves had gained access to the hotel room and taken the watch after one of them deceived a trainee hotel staff member with a story that they were guests and that he wanted to serve a drink to his wife.
Pogaçar, who was having a post-stage massage in a room on the same floor, was not present in his room at the time, but had left his watch there.
The two men also were found guilty of robbing two more watches, both still missing, from a safe in a home in Nice.
On this occasion, the two thieves placed a tracking device underneath a couple’s car, followed them home and then one of them rang on the flat door bell claiming to be the upstairs neighbour who had lost a pet bird. After letting him in, the thief then removed the safe containing the watches.
Police arrested the two thieves on March 16, four days after the end of Paris-Nice.
In addition to the four-year prison sentence received yesterday at the court in Nice, the two were each fined 50,000 euros.
