Conor Dunne, the former pro rider and one-time Irish champion, and his colleague at YouTube cycling channel, GCN, have been robbed on a Spanish highway while making their way to the airport following filming.
Dunne, one of the main presenters on the channel and whose escapades are always depicted with great humour, had just ridden the Traka gravel race in Spain and had made a film about his participation in the event.
However, as he and a colleague were driving from Girona to Barcelona airport on Sunday - to catch a flight to Italy for another job - they fell victim to an apparently organised gang well known to police for operating in the area.
Dunne said they had just packed the car with all their kit - including an array of cameras, laptops and recording equipment - and had begun their journey when a driver on the motorway began flagging them down. The film of his Traka ride was also lost among the gear.
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"He came up next to use in a car and pointed at my front wheel," said Dunne, adding he suspected the other motorists may be warning him his front wheel was punctured as the vehicle had earlier been on rough roads.
"This guy came around me and out his hazards on and slowed down to about 60km per hour on the motorway. I was like 'what's going on?'"
Dunne said he initially overtook the car but when the driver began more animated in his gesturing - warning him he needed to stop - he then began suspecting the driver was genuinely trying to help. The driver was also in a nice car and appeared to be in his own.
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Dunne decided as the driver was on his own, he would stop as he felt, with the help of cameraman Liam, they could "keep an eye on him" in the event he tried anything untoward. Both vehicles came to a stop and when the driver got out of his car and continued pointing to one of the wheels on Dunne's vehicle, he too got out of his car.
"He seemed friendly enough," Dunne explained on GCN. "In hindsight you feel so stupid, but at the time I (decided) to get out and see the wheel. We got out and we were looking at the wheel.
"And in hindsight, it was so clever how he distracted us; shouting in Spanish over the noise of the motorway. And with my Spanish, I couldn't keep up. Then he brought us around the car… 'I'll show you, come here'. And then he brought us around to the back of the car, all in 20 seconds. And suddenly he just left."
The man drove off and when Dunne and his colleague resumed their journey, they saw the man throwing items out his window which they assumed was litter. However, they quickly determined the items were their passports and wallets.
And when they looked back into their car to where their extensive collection of recording kit - including a new drone - had been, it was all gone, along with their bags containing their personal belongings.
Though tempted to follow the man, Dunne said they stopped to retrieve the passports before going to a police station to report their ordeal. They were told by the police that stretch of highway was well known for organised gangs operating there, with even signs erected urging drivers not to stop for any other road users.
"I learned this was a really common thing to happen on the AP7 motorway between Girona and Barcelona," Dunne said of speaking to the police. However, though he had been to the region before - and had team mates who lived there - he had never heard of the crime type before, nor had any of his friends familiar with the location.
The gangs were so organised and prolific - flagging people down and distracting them while others stolen their belongings - that the police had photographs of suspects, including the man Dunne and his colleague were flagged down by.
