Belarus and Team Sky's Vasil Kiryienka has won the World Championship time trial competition in Richmond, USA, beating Adriano Malori by nine seconds. 

The bronze medal went to France's Jerome Coppel in a surprising result which saw many of the pre-race favourites fail to make the podium. Spain's Jonathan Castroviejo finished fourth whilst Tom Dumoulin finished in fifth, clearly suffering after his exploits in the Vuelta a Espana.

It is the second year in a row that a Team Sky rider has won the competition after Sir Bradley Wiggins' victory last year.

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Brits Stephen Cummings and Alex Dowsett finished 14th and 17th respectively, whilst four-time World Champion Tony Martin could only manage 7th.

Victory at last

It was not an easy victory for Kiryienka, however, and he appeared to have let his chance slip through his hands late into the 53k course.

The 34-year-old Belarusian held a lead of around 25 seconds over Coppel with three-quarters of the route completed but Malori's strong finish but Kiryienka under severe pressure. He appeared to be struggling before the course's final climb, but recovered to storm up it and win gold convincingly.

The victory has been long awaited for Kiryienka who won bronze at the championships in 2012 but finished without a medal in fourth for the past two years. Not only does he win a gold medal, but his victory means he has earned the right to wear the prestigious rainbow jersey during time trials until next year's World Championships.

Anticipation builds for Sunday

Attention will now turn towards the week with Lizzie Armistead going for gold in the Women's Road Race on Saturday. Sunday will see the Men's Road Race take place over 16 laps of a course around Richmond.

The course should favourite sprinters with plenty of stamina, one day specialists and punchy riders who can make incisive attacks over short hills. Peter Sagan, Alexander Kristoff and John Degenkolb feature in our list of the favourites and possible contenders.

The withdrawal of Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas from the British squad means that Ben Swift will be the team's best chance of a medal.