Alexandar Richardson willing to meet knife-wielding gang that stole his bike
The British pro rider has offered to meet the gang to try and understand their reasoning
British pro Alexandar Richardson has extraordinarily offered to meet the gang that attacked him in London's Richmond Park on Thursday October 7, and he is even willing to buy his bike back off of them.
The 31-year-old Alpecin-Fenix rider was left bloodied and bruised after a gang of four men purposely crashed into him in a bid to steal his bike worth thousands of pounds.
Despite the attack, Richardson is willing to talk to the attackers, who drew a machete on him, to try and understand the reasoning for their actions.
Richardson told The Times: "I'm a very positive human being and I know what it feels like to be rejected.
>>> British pro Alexandar Richardson has bike stolen by knife-wielding gang in Richmond Park
First imagery of the Richmond Park bike-jackers. From today, I understand. Fourth attack in six days. pic.twitter.com/JqJqPzuu5aOctober 11, 2021
“I’m not saying these people are bad people - they need the right environment. We are not in a position to judge where they came from or what experience they’ve had in their life and why that has led them to doing that action.
“This can all be changed, they can become better people. I would happily sit down around and have a coffee with these guys and understand why they did it if they feel resentment towards people riding around on a bike.
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“I would even buy the bike back off them and pay for them to go somewhere to do something constructive so they can better themselves as people.”
Richardson's attack coincides with three other bike-related thefts over the last six days in the same area, from reportedly the same gang on mopeds.
Members of the public have managed to capture images and videos of men on mopeds parading stolen bikes around, which have consequently been shared with the police.
And while Richardson is willing to converse with the knife-wielding gang, he is also keen to press charges and seek justice.
"I'm not just going to roll over on this." he said. "They will be prosecuted at the highest level with the best lawyers in London, I promise you. This is organised crime."
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Ryan is a staff writer for Cycling Weekly, having joined the team in September 2021. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before making his way to cycling. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer.
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