As Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain swept through Ilfracombe in Devon on Monday, it should have been Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas grabbing the headlines; however by the next morning it was a John Thomas that instead caught the attention of passers-by, as it became apparent that a giant celebratory road bike erected on Capstone Hill had been reconstructed into a chopper overnight.

‘Land art’ has become a popular fixture of cycling events in recent years, and this particular piece was commissioned to promote the reduction of plastic waste in Devon, made mostly out of cardboard and reclaimed plastic. While the giant bike had already garnered some attention during stage 2 on Monday, it wasn’t until the land art had become glans art that it went viral on social media. The pranksters responsible had impressively kept the two wheels in place to form the base of their new creation, and after some hard labour managed to fashion the bicycle frame into a colossal shaft.

Seth Conway, who was the project co-ordinator for the bike before it was crudely sabotaged, told Devon Live: “The bike was designed to highlight the great work of the Plastic Free North Devon organisation in helping to clean our beaches and encourage people to cut out single use plastic as much as possible. It was going to have to be taken down anyway but someone got there first.”

It’s not known who the perpetrators are or what their motive was behind the controversial recommissioning of the bike, but we’d imagine they’ll have to serve a stiff sentence if they’re ever caught by the authorities…