Vet Elliott show youngsters how it's done

At 46, Elliott - who won the points competition in the 1989 Tour of Spain and is still the only Englishman to have won a classification in one of the three big European tours - still has the legs to beat riders half his age.

And the Stannington rider underlined his return to form when, for the second weekend running, he outsprinted fellow Yorkshireman Tom Barras to win the north's top bunched road race of the day.

Following up his win over the Keighley rider in Cheshire a week earlier, Elliott came from behind to take the flag by half a bike's length from Barras, 29, the son of former British pro champion Sid Barras, in the Cycling Development North West race over a 75-mile course at Cockerham, Lancashire.

His back-to-back victories have marked a return to winning ways, following a string of placings, as he prepares for several key late-season events including next Saturday's floodlit Newport Nocturne in Shropshire, the London Grand Prix and the Warwick town-centre event which wraps up the National Elite Circuit race series.

The wettest summer on record wasn't the only thing affecting Elliott's mid-season progress. "June was a bit of a wash-out for me," he said. "I picked up a chest infection which dragged on through June and July, and my form suffered as a result."

Elliott put his vast experience to good use in the CDNW race, where a leading group of nine riders - reduced to seven by the finish - had been clear for all but the first eight miles. Neil Swithenbank, the former British Under-23 champion from Manchester, took an early flier but Elliott chased him down and, "after a bit of a breather," launched his race winning attack as Swithenbank was relegated to fifth place.

Jamie Burgan, riding for Sheffield's Rutland CC, and Mark Wordsworth, from Doncaster, finished in a chasing group in eighth and 10th places.

Elliott is not the only golden oldie showing younger riders the way home.

Wayne Randle, the 42-year-old Cudworth rider, took the individual crown as he and his colleagues Ashley Brown and John Tanner scored a clean sweep of the medals in the inaugural Yorkshire ten-mile time trial championship at Escrick, between Selby and York.

Randle covered the distance in 20min 17sec to beat Brown by 14 seconds.

Barnsley's Richard Dean, riding for the Halfords-Bike Hut team which is not affiliated to the Yorkshire district of Cycling time trials, won the non-championship Yorkshire Velo open event on the same course in 21-41.