Picture this: you're competing in a triathlon and have finished the swimming portion of the event. You are now on your road bike, halfway through the 25-mile bike leg on a closed highway. Suddenly a man with a gun runs toward you, orders you off your bike and rides away with it.

Weird right?

That's exactly what happened to Brazilian pro triathlete Edivanio Monteiro in the recent Santos International Triathlon in Brazil.

On his Facebook Page, Monteiro wrote, "I was a short distance behind the peloton and on my own when a young man jumped over the central reservation and ran towards me pointing a gun at me and pushed me over. I ended up on the tarmac and he took off with the bike."

The 25-year-old Monteiro was given medical care and treated for scrapes and bruises after the incident. He later posted that the bike, valued at over $6,000, was found by police.

The theft took place on the Anchieta Highway linking Sao Paulo and Brazil's Atlantic coast. Event manager Nubio Almeida told The Sun, UK, "We raised the question of security several times during the meeting but unfortunately we can never be 100 per cent safe in our country."