A FORMER Staff Sergeant from Tidworth made his GB debut at the weekend in Italy with an 11th place finish in a UCI para-cycling Road Cup event.

Steve Arnold lost both his legs above the knee when he stepped on an IED when leading a search team in Afghanistan in April 2011.

After taking part in the Help For Heroes Sports Recovery Program, he was selected by the British Cycling Development Team to race on national and European circuits.

The 11th place finish in the road race followed a 12th place in the time trial with Steve back in action next weekend in Brixia, northern Italy.

Martin Colclough, head of Help for Heroes sports recovery said: “We’re extremely proud that Steve has been selected onto the Great Britain team to compete at the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships, and will be making his international debut.

"Steve is a fantastic example of what wounded, injured and sick service men and women can do post injury, by using the power of adaptive sport throughout their recovery.”

The events are the first round of the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup with the world championships taking place in June and July.

Lead para-cycling coach Jon Norfolk added: “It’s an important time in terms of securing qualifying points for Rio so we’ll be travelling there looking for some strong performances and results.”