Alexandar Richardson: Cyclist chased by machete-wielding men in park

A professional cyclist has described how he was ambushed by masked, machete-wielding men in London's Richmond Park.

Alexandar Richardson, 31, said he was chased by four attackers on two motorcycles who tried to force him to hand over his £10,000 bicycle while he was training on Thursday.

The UCI ProTeam Alpecin-Fenix rider rode off at speed but the men caught up with him, he wrote on Instagram.

He was threatened with a machete, at which point he handed over his cycle.

The Met said it was called to Richmond Park, west London, at 16:01 BST on Thursday to reports of a robbery.

"Officers attended and it was reported that a man had been assaulted by a group of men who stole his bike," a police spokesman said.

"He did not require hospital treatment. They carried out a search of the area but found no trace of the suspects. No arrests have been made."

Posting on social media, Mr Richardson, who lives in south-west London, said: "I knew exactly they wanted to take my bike.

"I turned around at East Sheen roundabout and started riding full speed to the cafe about 500 metres away.

"They simply rode one of the motor bikes into me at 60kph. I came off the bike and the first motor bike lost control.

"I held onto my bike, however the second motor bike then dragged me and the bike along the floor for another 100 metres. After this they pulled out a 15-inch machete."

He added that he had been left "pretty cut up and bruised with a swollen hip", but "tomorrow is another day".

"Please be careful in the area and note this is becoming a common occurrence in parts of London," he said.

Police have asked for anyone with information about the incident to come forward.