Cooke braves wet to grab third gold

Nicole Cooke of Britain produced another standout performance to take the junior women's time trial at the World Championships yesterday, collecting her third world title in a year.

Braving wet and slippery conditions on a hilly forest circuit outside Lisbon, she added the gold medal to the junior road title she won last October and the junior mountain bike trophy she took this year in the United States.

She completed the 11.8 kilometre (7.3-mile) circuit in 18 minutes 45.76 seconds, eight seconds faster than Russia's Natalia Boiarskaia.

Cooke, a powerful climber who will also compete in Friday's junior road race, recently tested the Lisbon circuit and found it favoured her style. "The course was suited to my strength, with two big climbs in it," the Welsh rider said. "When I saw a time trial course that was so hilly I was really happy."

The élite women's and junior men's time trials will take place today.

There was also success yesterday for the American Danny Pate who won his first world title, powering to a 38-second advantage in the men's Under-23 individual time trials.

The 22-year-old rider from Colorado completed the hilly 33.6km circuit through a forest outside Lisbon in a time of 46min 29.35sec. Sebastian Lang of Germany was second with South Africa's James Perry in third.

"Today was a perfect course for me," Pate said. "I just tried to ride as hard as I could uphill then catch my breath going downhill."