The Scottish pursuit champion was up against around 70 top cyclists in The Tour of the Lowthers hill race — four laps of 17 miles which takes in the highest village in Scotland Wanlockhead. His winning time was 2hrs 45.44mins.

Arthur, a kidney specialist, who cycles to work at Gartnavel Hospital, Glasgow, as part of his training regime, reckoned he might finish in the top 10 but had no idea he would win.

The Bearsden medic (35) said: "It was a seriously tough race and over this distance you have to be quite tactical. A group of nine broke away from the main section and we managed to extend our lead by about two minutes after 16 miles which can be hard to do if the main group work as a team."

Together with second placed Phil Brown they then broke away from the pack but four miles from the line Phil tried to accelerate too early in his bid for glory and briefly made 50 metres on Arthur.

Arthur was not ready to concede and reeled in his rival before launching a counter attack that saw him open up his impressive lead. Phil had no reserves left.

Arthur, who is sponsored by Dooley's Cycles, added: "Wins are usually measured in terms of bike lengths, so to win by 17 seconds is great. I had to work really hard to get clear and stay ahead. I've never dug so deep."

His game plan from the start was to preserve energy until near the finish.

This race was round two of the Scottish Power Renewables Super Six Series and Arthur dedicated his win to former team-mate Jason MacIntyre who was killed while training earlier this year.

Arthur said: "I was really motivated to carry Jason's name across the line and that's why I pointed to the sky as I crossed the line."

He said, like so many cyclists, he had been surprised at how deeply he had been affected by Jason's death.

An emotional Arthur added: "Like so many other people I have been living vicariously through his success for the last few years.
" I was really struggling up that final hill but I just remembered what Jason used to say about pain being temporary, and I managed to hold on."

Both Arthur and Phil wore black bands with Jason MacIntyre's name stitched into their jerseys.