HOVIS, which made Shaftesbury’s Gold Hill a national icon, has returned to the cobbled incline again to launch a new campaign with an Olympic medallist.

The steep slope, now forever associated with the brand thanks to the classic 1973 advert featuring a delivery boy struggling to push his laden bike up it, has had been revisited with a 21st-century twist.

This time the cyclist at the summit is Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton, who won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The superstar tested her mettle on the challenging ascent after signing a three-year campaign deal with the bread brand.

As part of her work with Hovis she will be encouraging a range of initiatives, including healthy eating and family cycling.

She posed for the cameras in a recreation of the famous ad to celebrate her new role as ambassador for the brand.

Hovis marketing director Jon Goldstone said: “We are delighted to announce Vicky as our new ‘Girl on a Bike’ and are very excited about our plans for the next three years.”

Victoria, 29, who will be training in Perth before March’s World Cycling Champion-ships in Copenhagen, said: “I hope my work for Hovis will inspire a new generation of ‘girls and boys on bikes’ who enjoy cycling as much as I did when I was younger and maybe even inspire some champions of the future.”

The champion, who has dominated women’s track sprint cycling since 2005, winning seven world championships and the Commonwealth sprint title, will defend her individual sprint title at the world championships in Copenhagen in March and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.