World Championships elite women's time trial – Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the UCI Road World Championships elite women's time trial!

Today's race was hanging in the balance until just a few moments ago, with heavy rain and standing water along the route having potential to cause big problems, after a similarly-affected men's U23 time trial on the same course.

It's just been confirmed that the race will go ahead as planned, though. Moving it to tomorro wouldn't have been possible, thanks to the required road closures given the course is different to tomorrow's men's time trial.

Check out our report, results and photo gallery from the U23 men's time trial, which was run earlier today.

The elite women's race is run on the same course, a hilly 32km route from Ripon to Harrogate.

Here's a statement from the UCI. The start has been put back to 15:30 local time.

"Due to the heavy rains experienced this morning and considering the inclement weather forecast for the rest of the day, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the organising committee of the 2019 UCI Road World Championships have reviewed the conditions for this afternoon’s Women Elite Individual Time Trial race. Following the discussions, it’s been decided that the start will be delayed to 15:30 to allow water to be cleared. The organising committee and the county are deploying marshals to yellow flag areas with standing water and staff and vehicles are draining water on the roads to ensure riders’ safety. Gaps between riders will be reduced to 1 minute instead of 1’30 so that the finish time comes close to the original schedule. The UCI and Yorkshire 2019 will continue to monitor closely the events and take any appropriate decisions."

So that's a 40-minute delay to each rider's start time. You can check out the start list and times here.

The last rider off, Annemiek Van Vleuten, will set off at 16:22 local time now.

So we're now just under 40 minutes away from the first rider off. That's Noura Alomairi of Kuwait.

Here's our news story on Van Vleuten, the two-time world time trial champion. 

"I think all the Dutch riders are good technically, and that's also the reason I train a lot on my time trial bike because it helps to improve skills. I know that my skills are pretty good," she said of the wet course.

Read our news story on the rain delay here.

Heavy rain and floods cause delay for women’s World Championships time trial

We're 15 minutes from the start now.

Here's the map of today's race, heading due south from Ripon to Harrogate, with a more technical section in the second half of the course.

And we're off! Alomairi kicks off the proceedings.

Riders split over safety of water-logged World Championships course

The first five riders have got underway now.

The first time check comes after 14.2km.

The riders are going steadily through the early corners here.

Great Britain's first rider, Hayley Simmonds, sets off.

There's some time to go until the big hitters head out, but we'll get a decent idea about exactly how tough conditions are by looking at how the early runners cope.

The earliest big name to get underway is Amanda Spratt (Australia), who sets off in a minute.

She sets off. Just over 20 riders have started their efforts now.

The first 12km or so are largely flat, so riders will start faster than they finish.

22:41 for Tiffany Keep at the split. That's the early benchmark.

Alena Amialiusik (Belarus) immediately smashes the South African's time by two minutes.

Amialiusik passed two riders in that first stretch. She's flying.

Former world champion Lisa Brennauer (Germany) and Chloe Dygert (USA), one of the main favourites, both get underway.

The course is still wet, but it's drying a bit, at least. That's what one of our reporters on the ground, Dan Benson, says.

Lucinda Brand (Netherlands) and Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (South Africa) are the latest big names away.

Amialiusik is still easily the fastest at the checkpoint. The big names are yet to roll through, though.

British TT champion Alice Barnes is off.

It's still raining, though on the ground it looks dryer than it was earlier on.

Van Der Breggen is off now. Meanwhile, Dygert has caught Brennauer! What a ride so far.

Just three riders left to start now, including Van Vleuten.

Another rider down for Dygert, who is flying.

Dygert's time of 18:57 is easily the fastest at the checkpoint.

Amialiusik's time of 45:29 at the finish is over two and a half minutes faster than anyone else so far. 

Dygert's average speed is almost 45kph so far.

Dygert, Amialiusik and Brennauer are the top three through the checkpoint.

15 riders yet to pass through the first checkpoint, including the Dutch duo.

Van Der Breggen is second at the checkpoint.

Spratt beats Amialiusik at the finish, but we're waiting to see just how fast Dygert is...

Van Vleuten is 1:09 down on Dygert at the checkpoint. This could be over already!

Dygert finishes her ride, collapsing on the ground after going three minutes faster than the next best rider. Three minutes...

 That's a 43kph average speed for Dygert.

It looks like the Dutch riders will be fighting for podium spots here.

Van Vleuten is only losing time to Dygert.

Brand, 3:15 down, is the second-fastest rider at the finish.

Van Der Breggen goes second.

 1:32 between Dygert and Van Der Breggen.

It's over. Chloe Dygert (USA) is the new world champion!

hVan Vleuten faded to third at the finish.

The Dutch duo duo were the only riders to finish within two minutes of Dygert.

1 Chloe Dygert Owen (United States) 0:42:11

2 Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) 0:01:32

3 Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) 0:01:53

4 Amber Leone Neben (United States) 0:02:38

5 Lisa Klein (Germany) 0:02:41

6 Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) 0:03:02

7 Leah Thomas (United States) 0:03:13

8 Lucinda Brand (Netherlands) 0:03:16

9 Alena Amialiusik (Belarus) 0:03:18

10 Lisa Brennauer (Germany) 0:03:20

What a phenomenal ride by Dygert.

Dygert is the fifth American to take the elite women's time trial title at the Worlds, after Kristen Kurreck, Mari Holden, Kristin Armstrong and Amber Neben.

Dygert on the way to a dominant victory.

That's almost it for the time trials at the Worlds, then. Just the elite men to come tomorrow before a day's break and then the road races get underway.