Great Britain’s Emma Pooley stormed to gold with a dominant performance in the women’s time trial at the Road World Championships in Geelong, Australia.

Pooley, who won time trial silver at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, clocked 32 minutes, 48.44 seconds over the 22.9km course.

The 27-year-old was quickest at every checkpoint, eventually beating Judith Arndt of Germany by 15.17 seconds while New Zealand’s Linda Melanie Villumsen completed the podium.

Pooley has enjoyed a stellar 2010, winning the Flèche Wallonne in April before dethroning Nicole Cooke as British road race champion and topping the Tour de l’Aude general classification. 

“The Olympic Games is pretty special, but in a way, that was easier for me because I had no expectations and no pressure,” said Cervelo TestTeam rider Pooley, who will attempt to do the double in the Saturday’s women’s road race.

“This time it was different. I trained specifically for this, doing a lot of hill training and intervals on my time-trial bike.

“Now I get to wear the world champion’s jersey with the stripes for a whole year.”

Meanwhile, Alex Dowsett’s hopes were dashed in the men’s under-23 time trial when he suffered a puncture close to halfway on the 31.6km course, forcing the 21-year-old to finish on a road bike.

Dowsett eventually came home 31st, while American Taylor Phinney – who Dowsett led by 2.5 second when he punctured – justified his status as pre-race favourite by taking gold.

“On a strange bike I was unable to sprint, unable to pedal, so I was just losing time all the time,” said Dowsett, who has signed to Team Sky for 2011.

Read RCUK’s full World Championship preview here.