BARDOLINO, Italy (AFP) - Swiss racer Karin Thurig won the women's world time trial title at the world championships to claim her first major international crown.
Thurig, the winner of Olympic bronze in Athens last month, clocked a time of 30min 53sec over the 24.050km course to claim gold ahead of Germany's Judith Arndt, who finished nearly a minute behind.
Former world champion Zoulfia Zabirova, the winner in 2002, was third while reigning champion Joane Somarriba of Spain, the multiple women's Tour de France winner could only manage fourth place on Tuesday.
Thurig set a blistering pace over the rolling course to claim her first world crown having missed out on the bronze last year in Canada by barely a second to Zabirova, who will feature on the podium for the third year in a row.
Only last week, the 32-year-old Thurig was still recovering from a fever which she said was provoked by the many demands placed on her following her Olympics bronze medal success.
Australia's Oenone Wood, the national road and time trial champion who narrowly missed out on an Olympic road race medal in Athens, set the early pace with a time of 33:01.60.
However Wood's chances of a medal began to wane as a bunch of medal favourites ate into her time at the intermediate checkpoint at 11.8km, and she soon tumbled out of contention to eventually finish in ninth at 2:07.
Experienced Edita Pucinskaite of Lithuania finished nearly 12seconds faster than virtual leader Christine Thorburn of the United States, who had forced Wood off the top spot.
Another race favourite, Mirjam Melchers of the Netherlands finished on the virtual podium, but she too tumbled out as Arndt, Zabirova and then Thurig came bursting through.
Arndt set a new benchmark of 31:45.43 at the finish line on the shores of scenic Lake Garda, however Thurig blew the 28-year-old German rider's gold medal hopes out of the water with a time that was a massive 51 seconds faster.
Somarriba, the last rider to start from the 38-strong field, looked set for bronze until the 32-year-old Spaniard trailed off in the final part of the course to leave Zabirova in third.
The men's time trial will be held on Wednesday at the championships, the second part of which will resume Friday with the road races being held around the nearby Italian city of Verona.