An anonymous letter, which purports to have been written by the cyclist, has gone viral, having been posted on a number of websites and cycling blogs.
The author wrote that an “overtly aggressive” Warne started yelling at him after he weaved through a number of cars, including Warne’s Mercedes coupe, to access the bike lane. The man alleged Warne “lurched his car forward forcing my bike wheel and almost my leg under the front of his car”.
Warne started the ball rolling by posted an extended account of the clash on his Twitter account. Warne claims he was abused by the cyclist after the man used his car to tow himself through traffic and said the cyclist also smacked his bonnet.
But today, the man claiming to be the cyclist wrote: “At no point did I ‘thump’ or ‘whack’ your car” or ‘hold on to your car’.”
Tweeting after the letter had gone viral, Warne wrote: “Have just seen bike riders version of events, please buddy – whatever ! I’m not going to get into a 5 year old tit for tat.
“Ps we both know what happened & people next to me shook their head at your actions ! Enough – all move on please !”.
Warne followed up by addressing media at the MCG, pointing the finger at dangerous cyclists who believe they “own the road”.
“I think what disappoints a lot of people is the attitude of the bike rider. They don’t own the road,” Warne said.
“My main concern is the attitude of the bike riders; just respect everyone on the road.
“And can we please have registration plates on bikes so we can report them if they’re doing something wrong?”
Warne has called for mandatory registration for cyclists and today said he was happy to work with cycling advocacy groups to make it happen.
“He was lucky I was polite and careful after smacking my car twice…I might have put my foot down and tried to hit him,” he said.
“My major concern is there is going to be a serious accident. My main concern is the attitude of the bike rider.”
