Jeannie Longo (39) completed a hat-trick of time trial titles when she snatched the gold medal by a split second at the world road cycling championships in San Sebastian, Spain, yesterday.

The French rider clocked 39 minutes 15 seconds over a 28 km circuit to edge out Russian Zoulfia Zabirova, who beat her to the Olympic time trial crown in Atlanta last year.

Zabirova was 0.85 seconds slower, according to official timing.

The bronze went to Germany's Judith Arndt, who was 29 seconds slower than Longo, whose title triumph was her eighth world road success, a sequence which began 12 years ago.