It’s almost a rite of passage for the budding road cyclist – if you haven’t been the victim of road rage then you haven’t ‘made it’.

‘You don’t pay road tax’ or ‘Get off the road’ are words ringing in the ears of cyclists up and down the country – although more often than not the air is turned blue, with a two fingered salute to match.

But as your confidence grows and you’re able to effortlessly weave between traffic, dodge AWOL pedestrians and predict traffic light sequences, you’d expect the abuse to slow.

Apparently not, according to Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas.

“Just got some right abuse off a van man for riding on the road,” he wrote on his Twitter feed. “Someone hasn’t had any nookie in a while!!”

If an Olympic gold medallist, multiple world champion and Tour de France white jersey wearer stills suffers the same fate, what chance have we got?