A DRIVER has been charged after a road rage incident in which he allegedly followed a cyclist and knocked him down before getting out of his ute and throwing the bike to the side.

The 23-year-old cyclist was riding through Summer Hill in Sydney’s inner west at around 7.50am when he was hit by a Toyota Hilux and threatened by the driver, NSW police were told.

The incident was reported to officers from Ashfield Local Area Command and a 44-year-old man was arrested at Ashfield Police Station this morning.

He was taken to Burwood Police Station where he was charged with negligent driving (not occasioning death), common assault and stalk/intimidate intent fear physical harm.

The man has been given conditional bail and will appear at Burwood Local Court on 25 September 2017.

A witness told 9 News the driver followed the cyclist after they almost collided and knocked him off his bike, before stopping the car, picking up the bike and throwing it to one side.

The driver was captured on video walking over to the cyclist, who yelled, “Man, what the f***? Why’d you do that for? Why did you do that?”

The driver told him: “I’m Lebanese mate ... I’m going to f*** you! I’m going to f*** your life you son of a b****”.

The driver continued to yell loudly which caused the cyclist to ask: “What the hell, man? What the f***?” Why are you so angry?”.

Perhaps aware the episode was being filmed, the driver screamed: “Now call the cops you f***wit! You call the cops. Take a picture.”

The ute driver told media this morning he was not a violent person and insisted he didn’t provoke the incident. “I didn’t hit him and then he got in front of me and he started driving slowly and sticking his finger up,” he said. “And then he took off — braked — and I was rolling in traffic and I hit his back tyre.”

He conceded the situation wasn’t right, but said he wasn’t a violent person.