Lizzie Deignan (née Armitstead) added another World Championships title to her impressive palmares as her Boels-Dolmans team dominated the women's team time trial in sweltering conditions in Doha, Qatar.
The weather did have an effect on the race, with several teams seeing riders suffering with heat exhaustion and dropping riders in the early crosswinds, but Boels-Dolmans kept things steady on the 40km course to win by over 45 seconds.
The Dutch team have won three of the four TTTs on the women's circuit this season, so came into the event as favourites, but looked to face stiff competition from defending champions and four-time winners Canyon-SRAM.
Deignan, along with Chantal Blaak, Karol-Ann Canuel, Ellen van Dijk, Evelyn Stevens and Christine Majerus covered the 40km between the Lusail Sports Park and the Pearl Qatar island in 48-41, over 48 seconds ahead of Canyon-SRAM.
Rabo-Liv looked set to finish third on the day, but with the team down to four riders, Anouska Koster appeared to faint on the bike and crash hard into a barrier at the side of the road. The Dutch rider seemed delirious at the side of the road as she fought to get back on her bike.
The team's fourth rider finally crossed the line, leaving the team bottom of the pile, over six minutes behind Boels-Dolmans.
World Championships women's team time trial, Lusail - Pearl Qatar (40km)
1. Boels-Dolmans (Netherlands), 48-41
2. Canyon-SRAM (Germany), at 48s
3. Cervélo Bigla (Switzerland), at 1-57
4. Bepink (Italy), at 2-46
5. Twenty16-Ridebiker (USA), at 2-47
6. Hitec Products (Norway), at 3-24
7. BTC City Ljubljana (Slovakia), at 3-43
8. Rabo-Liv (Netherlands), at 6-03
