Thieves in Brussels early Sunday made off with a very special bike with even the city mayor enlisted in the hunt to find it.

The bike stolen from the Tour de France fanzone was part of a campaign by charity Qhubeka to raise money all over the world to provide under privileged women and children with bikes, helmets and training.

"We made four bikes in the colors of the jerseys (yellow, green, polka-dot and white), so when the riders are presented with them after a race, those bikes are there on the stage with the winners," Qhubeka's Jeremy Ford told AFP.

"The yellow jersey, which is the most prestigious one, was stolen from a stage in the fanzone last night despite lots of security.

The charity worker was with Colombian rider Rigoberto Uran of Education First at the team bus paddock in downtown Brussels with a sign reading #GiveItBack.

"So far we have distributed 96,000 of these bikes, mainly in South Africa," said Ford.

AFP