A BMW driver and his passenger are being hunted for deliberately shoving cyclists off their bikes.
A string of random attacks has left three people in Leicestershire injured in less than a week.
Each incident has involved an old silver BMW - which slowed down next to cyclists before forcing them off the road.
One of the victims was Andy Limb, 55. He suffered a broken collarbone when he was pushed off his bike as he cycled at 40km/h on Saturday afternoon.
He said: “The car pulled up alongside and then dived into me, forcing me on to the gravel and sending me over the handlebars.
“I didn’t really hear them coming and I didn’t see who was in the car as they appeared from behind.”
Truck driver Limb has now been forced to take three months off work.
Two days earlier, Martin Webster, who runs a bicycle shop in Wigston, was badly bruised and grazed after another run-in with the BMW. He said: “Somebody from the car pushed me on to quite a deep grass verge. I was going quite fast, doing about 50km/h.
“I went flying over the handlebars. I could have had a broken neck.”
And Colin Haynes, 48, was cycling home after work when he experienced a similar attack.
“They need to be caught because somebody could so easily be killed,” he said. “You wouldn’t jump out of a car at 25 or 30km/h and this is the same thing.’
Cyclists in the area have now been warned to be on their guard. Leicestershire road race junior world champion Lucy Garner, 18, said: “It’s scary to think people deliberately push people off to hurt them. I can’t imagine why they would do such a thing.”
Garner, now a full-time professional cyclist, added: “It is worrying as the incidents have happened around the roads I use to train.
“I can’t imagine why they would do such a thing.”
“Until these people are caught, cyclists need to be on their guard. If they hear a car slow down too much and think it is suspicious then they should take extra care.”
Local boxer Rendall Munroe, who cycles 160km a week near Leicester as part of his training routine, has also appealed to road users to help catch the culprits.
He said: “These people are idiots and they’re dangerous. They need to be caught as soon as possible.”
A spokesman for Leicestershire police said: “We are taking these reports very seriously. Officers are aware of the incidents and their similarities.” - Daily Mail