Lance Armstrong's bike is HOT !!!

Lance Amstrong the rock star of Team Astana and 7 times Tour de France winner was an unhappy bunny Sunday morning. He was due to take part in a Sacramento prologue event in the Amgen Tour of California 2009 due to start at at noon in Davis, and end 108 miles later in Santa Rosa . The team woke to find Lance's distinctive hi-tech US$ 10,000 time trials bike and three other colleagues (teammates Steve Morabito, Yaroslav Popovych and Janez Brajkovic.) bikes had disappeared overnight.

Konrad Von Schoech, spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department said the distinctive bikes were stolen from an unmarked moving truck parked in the alley behind the Residence Inn at 1501 L St. between 10 p.m. Saturday and 6:45 a.m. Sunday when the theft was discovered.

Detailed photos are available on Lance's Twitter site .. http://twitpic.com/1i8t1

Two-time defending Tour champion Levi Leipheimer's bike wasn't stolen. Levi finished the stage 2nd behind Francisco Mancebo of Spain of Rock facing in foul heavy rain. Lance, after a fall ended 1oth ahead of first days -place leader Fabian Cancellara of CSC Saxo Bank.

Fabian has now pulled out of the race with a "flu" infection.

Lance won't need to use the bike until the time trial in Solvang on Friday.

The 16-city Tour of California started on Saturday and ends Feb. 22 in Escondido. The 750-mile route take riders throughout the state and comes briefly to San Francisco on Monday. Lance Armstrong told a group of reporters at an Amgen Tour of California news conference on Thursday that he's "clean as a whistle" and that his mind is "fresh" for the event after a break from cycling.

"I'm telling you, I'm clean as a whistle, and I think that the testing will prove that," Armstrong said.

When quizzed on the latest round of steroid revelations in baseball, surrounding Alex Rodriguez and Miguel Tejada, - of interest to the President Armstrong -- who few believe hasn'tbeen using drugs -- professed hope that cycling's more stringent regulation and his personal testing regimen have reduced fans' disbelief in the sport's top athletes.

The police are contacting local pawn shops in their seach for Lance's bike.

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