VETERAN cyclist George Bennett has made an amazing comeback to win his first world championship nearly 40 years after retiring from racing.

He has won the International Cycling Federation's top road race title for the Over 60s at a competition in Strafford, north London.

His win came three years after he got back into the saddle urged on by his colleagues in the successful Ferryhill Wheelers Club.

At first the retired businessman from Kirk Merrington dare not believe he could repeat the triumphs of his twenties.

He was King of the Mountains in the 1961 Tour of Britain, and runner-up in the National road race championships in the same year. He was selected to ride for Great Britain in the junior Tour De France, the Tour de l'Avenir, riding over the same course two hours ahead of the senior event.

He said: "I never thought about going back to racing until after I retired. I used to go out with the club and it was other members who pressed me to start again.

"I was going so well when I was out with the younger lads that they were convinced I could do it. It was hard at first but now I am back to the same form, for my age, as I was all those years ago.