Olympic silver medalist Emma Pooley of Great Britain won the pro women's time trial at the 2010 UCI Road Cycling World Championships, beating German veteran Judith Arndt by more than 15 seconds.

Denmark-born New Zealander Linda Villumsen was third, less than a second behind Arndt and more than 20 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Amber Neben of the United States.

Pooley, who finished behind Kristin Armstrong of the United States in the 2008 Olympic time trial, outperformed a strong field to complete the 22.9km course in 32 minutes, 44.44 seconds.

Pooley rides professionally for the Cervelo TestTeam for which she won last year's Grand Boucle Feminine, known as the Women's Tour de France.

Arndt, 34, won a bronze medal in the 3000m individual pursuit at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was a silver medalist in the Olympic women's road race at Athens in 2004. She finished Wednesday's race 15.27 seconds behind Pooley and .63 seconds ahead of Villumsen, who was also third in the time trial at last year's World Championships.

Villumsen competed for Denmark until December 2009 when she became a New Zealand citizen.

"I'm really happy and can't quite believe it. I am so proud to wear the world champion's jersey with the stripes for a whole year" said Emma Pooley. "It was pretty special to come second at the Olympic Games, but in a way, that was easier for me because I had no expectations and no pressure. This time it was different. I trained specifically for this, doing a lot of hill training and intervals on my time trial bike".

The whole team here at Roadcycling.com and Roadcycling.mobi congratulates Emma Pooley on her impressive time trial world championship win! Well done Emma!

The 2010 Cycling World Championships run until Sunday, culminating in the pro men's 262.7 kilometer road race. More than 500 cyclists from 53 nations are competing.

Watch 2010 World Road Cycling Championships video highlights in our Roadcycling.com videos section shortly after each event. (Only access from US)

Click here for complete 2010 Cycling World Championships Pro Women's Time Trial results.