Austrian Christiane Soeder finished second to take the silver medal with Germany's Judith Arndt claiming the bronze. Neben, who finished fourth last year and fifth in 2005, clocked a winning time of 33 minutes and 51.35 seconds on the rolling 25.15km course to claim her maiden world title at the age of 34. "I'm just lost for words, I'm so happy and excited," said Neben, who started 14th last from the 43-strong field and led at both intermediate checkpoints before pushing Russia's Tatiana Antoshina off provisional top spot. After finishing way down the time trial field at the Olympics, the unassuming Californian, who rides as a professional for Dutch Team Flexpoint, had decided on a tailor-made program to bring her to Varese on top form.

Still, she was ill prepared for the nervous wait in the hot seat, with no TV pictures to indicate the times of her rivals. "There were 13 riders behind me so the only chance I had was to finish fastest and then wait. I tried not to get too excited…I was just praying and waiting," she added. Neben last week won the difficult Tour de l'Ardeche stage race, and raced some time trials with here Team Flexpoint in between to bring her to peak form.