In 1954 he competed in the Tour of Flanders and later that year won the Manx international – where he surged past Harry Hardcastle to claim victory in the last few hundred metres. He was selected the following year for the British team which finished sixth in the Warsaw-Berlin-Prague Peace Race and finished ninth that year in the world amateur road race championships. In 1958, he became the Commonwealth Games road race champion at Cardiff, winning in a time of 5h 16m 34s, three minutes ahead of the Australian Frank Brazier, who took silver.