Reusser retains world time-trial title

Swiss Marlen Reusser retained her world time-trial title in Montreal on Sunday as her main rival Demi Vollering finished a disappointing eighth.

Time-trial queen Reusser celebrated her 35th birthday with an ultimately comfortable victory, but not before Briton Zoe Backstedt gave her a scare.

Backstedt had been quickest at the first two intermediate time-checks on the 39.2km course but Reusser powered away in the second half of the race to beat the 21-year-old by 40 seconds, with German Franziska Koch finishing third, a further six seconds back.

Double world champion Reusser has been virtually unbeatable in races against the clock in the last few years.

She is a four-time European champion and has won time-trial stages at the Tour de France Femmes and Giro d'Italia Women.

Backstedt had been a junior and twice under-23 world champion in the discipline but this race was around 12km further than any previous time-trial she had competed in.

Koch's bronze medal continued a dream season for the German, who won Paris-Roubaix in April.

Vollering, the European road race champion, was never in the running for a medal.