LONDON — Dutch racers Lucinda Brand and Riejanne Markus flew across the line with 22.75 seconds to spare as the Netherlands won Sunday's inaugural mixed gender time-trial relay at the cycling world championships in Harrogate.

Amy Pieters joined their celebrations a few seconds later, the Dutch dominating the race after the men's trio of Koen Bouwman, Bauke Mollema and Jos van Emden set a huge lead on the first lap.

That came despite a fright on wet roads outside town which saw Bouwman, Mollema and Van Emden slide into each other on a tight corner.

The German team took silver and Great Britain the bronze in this opening race of the 2019 UCI championships in Yorkshire.

"It's incredible to be world champion," said senior rider Mollema. "We worked so hard but it was so interesting and exciting to work with the girls."

"Fighting for the gold medal down the home straight was just incredible," said Brand.

The team, who set a combined time of 38min 27.60sec, were then presented with their world champion rainbow jerseys, which they have the right to wear until next year.

In this new event with national teams consisting of three men and three women, the men set off first over a rolling course from Harrogate town center and out along the narrow, hedgerow-lined country lanes and back into town over 14km.

Rain-slick paving beneath the starting ramp clearly unnerved riders and the British held the pace early for some time despite being slower than expected.

Racing continues on Monday with the junior women's and junior men's individual time trials over the same 14km route used Sunday.

The championships culminate with the men's road race over 280km next Sunday with time trials and road races at junior, under-23 and senior levels. — AFP