Pooley has to settle for bronze

Norwich's Emma Pooley had to settle for third as she lost her Elite women's time trial title at the World Cycling Championships yesterday on the streets of Copenhagen.

Germany's Judith Arndt proved too strong down the final stretch as she completed the 27.8km course in a time of 37:07.38.

There was then a 21.73-second gap to New Zealand's Linda Willumsen, a two-time former winner of this event when she rode for Denmark prior to 2009, with Pooley just 2.4 seconds further back in third.

The 23-year-old's hopes were perhaps hindered by the nature of the course, which hardly suited her climbing abilities.

'You're against the clock, all you can give is your absolute best – and if you don't feel like being sick and dying at the end of the race then you haven't tried hard enough,' Pooley said. 'I'm pleased with the result. It was not the nicest day, to be honest, and the course is quite technical.

'There were quite a few corners and lots of paint on the road which makes it slippy when it's raining. I'm more of a climber. I would have liked there to have been some kind of seismic activity in Copenhagen, and a mountain to have appeared.

'I think this time last year I would have been lucky to have been in the top 10 on this kind of course.

'Maybe it looks like a worse result, but last year the course was actually quite hilly and that broke it up, and so I think I've improved my time trialling to do better this year on a course that really doesn't suit me.'

Pooley now expects to ride in support of team-mate Lizzie Armitstead in Saturday's road race, adding: 'The road race has more hill than the time trial but is not exactly mountainous. We'll probably be riding for Lizzie and she's in awesome shape.'

In the men's junior time trial, Britain's Jon Dibben had to settle for eighth place as home favourite Mads Wurtz Schmidt edged out New Zealand's James Oram for gold, with Australian David Edwards taking bronze.