CANCELLARA RETAINS WORLDS TT TITLE

Click here to see a gallery of photos of the Elite Men's Time Trial

Once again, Switzerland?s Fabian Cancellara clinched the World Time Trial Champion with a faultless performance on Stuttgart?s hilly, rain-soaked circuit on Thursday.

Although not quite as strong as in 2006, when he finished 1-29 ahead of CSC team-mate Dave Zabriskie on a slightly longer course, Cancellara?s 52 second margin over Hungarian Lazlo Bodrogi left little room for doubt who was the strongest, particularly as he caught and passed Zabriskie two minutes from the line.

Bronze was taken by rising Dutch star Stef Clement - after the Under-23 time trial win for Lars Boom, Holland?s second medal in two days - and a fine result for the Bouygues Telecom rider just three days after his 25th birthday.

The winner of the London prologue in the Tour (and a stage into Compeigne to boot), the 26-year-old Cancellara knew full well he had taken his second straight gold when he crossed the line at Stuttgart, raising his right fist in the air in triumph.

The Swiss rider - who said before the race that the World Championships was not such a huge objective as it had been in 2006, when he missed out on the Tour de France - never looked uncomfortable on a course where the corners, climbs and technical sections made it hard to get into a race-winning rhythm.

For Britain, Bradley Wiggins respectable 10th place, 2-10 behind the Swiss rider, means that the UK will have two slots in the Olympics in 2008. Team-mate Dave Millar also took a top 20 result - 18th at 2-40.

Britain's Bradley Wiggins on his way to tenth. Photos by Andy Jones

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ELITE MEN TIME TRIAL: RESULT

1 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 55-41.35

2 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary) at 52.06 secs

3 Stef Clement (Netherlands) at 57.71 secs

4 Bert Grabsch (Germany) at 1-12.12

5 Sebanstian Lang (Germany) at 1-17.43

6 Vladmir Gusev (Russia) at 1-46.91

7 Jose Gutierrez Palacios (Spain) at 1-56.18

8 Andrey Mizurov (Kazakhstan) at 2-02.67

9 Vasili Kiryienka (Belarus) at 2-03.44

10 Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) at 2-10.78

British

18 David Millar (Great Britain) at 2-40.06

2007 ROAD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS NEWS

Bettini denies supplying drugs to Sinkewitz

Valverde can race at World Championships

Eddy Merckx not welcome at Worlds

Cooke out of Worlds, Brailsford names GB squad

British team get extra places for U23 Worlds

Boonen out of Worlds

Should Valverde ride the Worlds?

2007 ROAD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE

2007 Road World Championships preview

Elite Men Time Trial: full start list

Elite Women's Time Trial: Pooley takes eighth,

Under-23 Time Trial: Boom takes second world title in 2007

TV guide: World Champs on British Eurosport

TV guide: World Champs on BBC

2007 ROAD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS PHOTO GALLERIES

Click here to see a gallery of photos of the Elite Men's Time Trial

Elite Women's Time Trial World Championships

Men's Under-23 Time Trial World Championships

2006 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

World Champs 2006: Cancellara nets gold in TT

World Champs 2006: Cooke blasts to bronze in Salzburg

EXTERNAL LINKS

Official 2007 Road World Championships website: www.radwm2007.com.

Union Cycliste Internationale: www.uci.ch.