A MAN in his sixties who died in a crash on Monday evening is the third cyclist to be killed on Oxfordshire’s roads in the last three years, according to statistics.

The man, who has not been identified, died at the scene on the A4260 Banbury Road north of Kidlington, near to the Sturdy’s Castle pub.

A motorbike rider who was also involved in the crash was critically injured and taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Though the circumstances remain uncertain, the incident is likely to prompt fresh fears for the safety of cyclists on the county’s roads.

According to the latest figures from the Department for Transport (DfT), the cyclist’s death is the third to occur in as many years after a single cyclist fatality in 2016 in Oxfordshire, and another in 2017.

While police accident figures show the particular stretch of road where Monday’s incident occurred, which does not have cycle lanes, has seen seven serious accidents between January 2015 and December 2017, two of those involving cyclists.

None of those were fatal, however.

Overall, DfT data shows 22 people were killed and 259 people seriously injured on Oxfordshire’s roads in 2017, including the single cyclist fatality and two pedestrians.

Last year Oxford University student Claudia Comberti, 31, was killed after falling from her bike into the path of a bus in Botley Road on May 9.

Following her death, local cycling groups launched the Claudia Charter for Safer Cycling which called for vulnerable cyclists to be given greater respect, and continuous, segregated cycleways to be introduced to the city as soon as possible.

Police have launched an investigation after Monday’s fatal crash and are appealing for witnesses.

Officers would particularly like to speak to anyone who may have dash-cam footage.

Anyone with information should call 101.