The Netherlands’ Ellen van Dijk won her second Road Cycling World Championship time trial title as Britain’s Joss Lowden finished eighth.

Olympic champion and two-time winner Annemiek van Vleuten finished third.

Lowden was a little under two minutes off the winning time, while Great Britain’s Pfeiffer Georgi was 25th.

Van Dijk, who won the World Championship time trial title in 2013 and rode solo to win the road race at the European Road Championships nine days ago, set a blistering early benchmark in Flanders, Belgium.

Reusser, the penultimate rider to start, looked set for victory after she was the fastest at the two timing points.

But the 30-year-old lost time in the final kilometres and matched the silver medals she won at the World Championships in 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics.

Van Dijk’s victory means Dutch riders have won four of the past five World Championship time trials – last year’s winner Anna van der Breggen opted not to compete in order to prepare for Saturday’s elite road race.

Earlier on Monday, Denmark’s Johan Price-Pejtersen won the men’s U23 time trial, 10 seconds ahead of Australia’s Luke Plapp, with Belgium’s Florian Vermeersch finishing third.

Britain’s Ethan Vernon came seventh, 43 seconds off the winning time.

Fellow Briton Lowden, 33, will attempt to break the women’s hour record in Switzerland on 30 September as she looks to beat Vittoria Bussi’s mark of 48.007km, which the Italian set in Mexico in 2018.

World Road Championships time trial

1. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) 36 mins 05.28 secs

2. Marlen Reusser (Swi) +10.29 secs

3. Anne van der Breggen (Ned) +24.02 secs

4. Amber Neben (USA) +1 min 24.28 secs

5. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) +1 min 29.66 secs

6. Juliette Labous (Fra) +1 min 47.11 secs

7. Lisa Klein (Ger) +1 min 51.99 secs

8. Joss Lowden (GB) +1 min 59.53 secs

9. Riejanne Markus (Ned) +1 min 59.64 secs

10. Alena Amialiusik (Blr) +2 mins 18.99 secs