The mystery behind bizarre footage of a riderless motorcycle cruising down a Parisian highway has been solved.

A video, filmed last month and published by French newspaper Le Parisien last week, showed a motorbike travelling in the outer lane of the A4 Autoroute near a guardrail, before cruising out of sight of the camera.

The footage initially bewildered viewers.

However, days after releasing the video, Le Parisien interviewed the rider, who was able to shed light on the mystery.

The man said he had been knocked off his bike in a collision with a car before the footage was filmed.

The driver of the car stopped to pick him up, and the pair unsuccessfully searched for the bike before continuing on to hospital.

The rider, who suffered an arm injury, received a call days later from police to say the bike had been recovered far from the reported crash site.