Israel-Premier Tech rider Guillaume Boivin's luggage has been missing for nearly a month now, after he flew from Montreal, Canada, to Copenhagen, Denmark, for the Grand Départ of the Tour de France.
Boivin competed in the Canadian road championship in Edmonton, but quickly made his way back to Europe after Israel-Premier Tech selected him as part of their squad for the Tour de France.
On July 1, Boivin took to the start line of the opening stage time trial in Copenhagen. However, he did so using a teammate's TT bike, because three of his bikes and a suitcase of personal belongings hadn't turned up at Copenhagen Airport at the same time as his plane.
The Canadian criticised Air Canada after completing the time trial, where he came 129th, but anticipated receiving his luggage after completing the Tour. Nearly four weeks later, though, and the airline still hasn't found Boivin's bikes or suitcase.
“I have nothing and they don't know," Boivin explained. "It's been almost a month and there are limits. It's annoying not having your stuff. I wanted to give them a chance, but I find it pretty extraordinary."
The 33-year-old completed 20 of the 21 stages of the Tour, failing to start the final day in Paris due to illness. Understandably, he doesn't want to file a claim for damages and inconvenience because he would rather have his luggage found, but he explained he is left with little option at the moment.
“My patience has its limits. I'm going home after the Tour and it's not settled. It is not a free service with volunteers.
“For anyone, a plane ticket is not cheap. I would have expected better. This is my situation, but I find it deplorable for everyone who is experiencing the same problem this summer."
Unfortunately, Boivin isn't the only cyclist to suffer this fate.
Amateur German cyclist Darius Braun intended to embark on a 14-month cycling journey across North and South America to raise awareness for brain tumour research, when his luggage was lost between Frankfurt, Germany, and Calgary, Canada.
At 15-years-old, Braun's left side of his body became paralysed, after surgery removed a tumour from his brain. Now 31, Braun recovered from his paralysis with extensive recovery and rehabilitation, and wanted to cycle more than 20,000 kilometres from Calgary to Ushuaia, Argentina, to raise awareness and money for brain tumour research.
However, with his bike and gear missing, Braun has had to delay the start of his cycle ride.
Meanwhile, earlier this month Edinburgh cyclist Richard Davison found out his luggage and bike, worth £14,000 in total, had ended up in Naples, Italy, rather than London Stansted.
Davison flew from Edinburgh Airport to Stansted on July 3, before making an onward journey to the south of France to compete in the Haute Route Pyrenees cycling race in France, but EasyJet staff at Edinburgh Airport had labelled his luggage with another passenger's information, meaning it ended up in Italy.
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