Warne in road rage spat with cyclist who demands damages

An angry Shane Warne today slammed cyclists for ''antagonising'' car drivers after a road altercation but the bike rider at the centre of the furore called the Australian cricket legend "overtly aggressive'' and demanded damages for his cycle.

Warne has gone to police after a road altercation with a cyclist claiming that the rider was "reckless".

"Let me make it clear, I do not hate cyclists... I think what disappoints a lot of people is the attitude of the bike rider. Bike riders, please obey the road laws and stop antagonising car drivers," Warne told reporters today.

But the cyclist in the eye of storm refuted Warne's assertions, saying he was "dumbfounded at how overtly aggressive the driver had been" during the incident yesterday.

Warne had alleged that the cyclist thumped and whacked his car after holding on to it to get through traffic, a claim that was denied by the rider in question.
"...at no point did I 'thump' or 'whack' [Warne's] car... and at no point did I hold on to your car or use it 'pull myself through traffic'," he wrote on 'cyclingtipsblog.com'.
"I couldn't get through as easily as usual because a grey Mercedes Coupe in the centre lane was very close to the left turning traffic and allowed almost no space for cyclists to pass through," the cyclist wrote.

"As the traffic was stationary I unclipped my right foot and squeezed through the small gap. The driver in the car on my right, the Mercedes - possibly concerned I might damage his car - yelled out to me."

The cyclist said he merely responded to the yelling by Warne and was subsequently hit by the controversy-prone former spinner."Once I was through the gap I moved back into the centre lane, stopped and looked back at the driver, who was still yelling, to hear what he was saying. 'What are you doing? You don't own the road! Get out of the way, he yelled repeatedly," the cyclist wrote.

"I shook my head and probably yelled something similarly inane back. Now even more agitated, the driver continued to yell, 'you don't own the road'.
"I looked more closely and recognised him as Shane Warne, laughed and asked, 'What are you doing?', and began to get ready to clip into my bike to continue the ride home," he recalled.

"But before I could the driver lurched his car forward forcing my bike wheel and almost my leg under the front of his car. Dumbfounded at how overtly aggressive the driver had been and aware that we were now holding up the traffic, I pulled my bike from under the car and attempted to continue riding," he said.

The cyclist asked Warne why he did not stop at the spot and demanded damages.
"If you were aware that you had 'clipped' me then why didn't you stop to exchange details or see if I had been hurt," the cyclist wrote.

"I'd had no intention of making any of this public. I simply wanted deal with it privately and ask him to repair my bike.

"However Mr Warne, the public man that he is, seemed to want the whole thing in plain view. After reading his twitter account, I discovered the comments he'd been making about cyclists in the previous days.

"I was surprised by how angry and frustrated he seemed to be. Please acknowledge that you made a mistake and pay for my bike," he signed off.