Veteran Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten put a Rio horror fall behind her on Tuesday when she won the world individual time-trial gold medal by a comfortable margin.

Van Vleuten suffered a heavy downhill fall while leading at the 2016 Olympic road race.

The 34-year-old covered the 21.1km rolling route in 28mins 50.35sec, some 12 seconds faster than silver medallist and Dutch compatriot Anna Van der Breggen, who faded over the run in.

Australia's Katrin Garfoot took bronze over 18 seconds off the pace.

"I still cannot believe it," said Van Vleuten.

"This season I keep surprising myself with what I can do. To be world champion in the time trial I never thought I would be able (to do) this.

"To have up and downs, and sometimes some real downs, makes the ups even more beautiful," she added. "This is beautiful without a crash in Rio, but that makes the story really, really special."

source: AFP