Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Olympic cyclist Amber Neben of Irvine, Calif., captured first place in the elite women’s time trial Wednesday at the UCI Road World Championships in Varese, Italy.

Neben’s time of 33 minutes, 51.35 seconds for 25 kilometers was seven seconds faster than Christine Soeder of Austria. Judith Arndt of Germany was another 14 seconds behind, taking the bronze medal in a field of 43 riders.

Neben placed fifth in 2005 and fourth in 2007. She is the fourth American to win an elite women’s time trial world title. The others are Beijing Olympics gold-medalist Kristin Armstrong (2006), Mari Holden (2000) and Karen Kurreck (1994). The U.S. is tied with France for most world titles since the event became a World Champs discipline in 1994.

Neben’s win Wednesday and Armstrong’s win at Beijing mark the first time one country has won women’s World and Olympic cycling titles in the same year in the same event.

Armstrong finished fifth Wednesday, 25 seconds behind Neben and two seconds back of fourth-place Tatiana Antoshina of Russia. Christine Thorburn of Sunnyvale, Calif., finished 12th.

A late-race mechanical mishap kept Neben from a shot at an Olympic medal last month. Since then, she also won the five-day Tour of Ardeche in France and had top-five time-trial finishes in Italy and Switzerland.