When Steve McQueen road his motorbike across the fields in The Great Escape he won the hearts and minds of millions of people. Now, 40 years on, the actor has been given possibly the greatest honour that any bike rider could wish for - he has been crowned the most iconic biker of all time.

McQueen, who died in 1980, received a massive 25 per cent of the vote, which was carried out by the MCN London Motorcycle Show in conjunction with Yahoo Cars. The actor beat off competition from other legends such as double grand prix world champion Barry Sheene (21 per cent) and seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi (also 21 per cent).

Fourth place in the list went to Evel Knievel, who was followed by the Isle of Man's greatest rider Joey Dunlop. Marlon Brando ranked seventh, while Tom Cruise and Ewan McGregor, both well-known bike fans, were voted ninth and tenth respectively