Poised and powerful, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /?>
Great Britain ?s David Millar blasted the field Thursday to win the Elite Men?s Time Trial at the

World Cycling Championships. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

Millar?s time of 51 minutes, 17 seconds was a gaping one minute, 25 seconds better than that registered by runner-up Michael Rogers of
Australia. 
Rogers edged out Uwe Peschel of
Germany by a scant .56 of a second.

The race was run over two laps of the 20.8 km Long Time Trial Course. Millar?s average speed was a scorching 48.319 km per hour.

At a post-race press conference, Millar said it was too bad Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich, the two pre-eminent road racers in the world today, could not have been in Thursday?s race. ?Obviously, it would have been more fun racing against Lance and Jan,? Millar said.

Millar said the Union Cicliste Internationale needs to do a ?big rethink? of the racing calendar, so that an important race such as the Worlds Time Trial will attract the best competition.  ?It seems obvious that a racing season that stretches from February to October is impossible,? he said.

Italy?s Dario Frigo, who raced in the group before Millar?s, was the early leader. 
Rogers then took over the lead.  But as soon as Millar blasted down the starting ramp ? he was the second to last rider to start ? he promptly registered the fastest times at each succeeding time check.

Millar professed to be very nervous prior to the race, saying his greatest fear was that he might lose.  After studying the course, he decided on certain parts that he would go all out on.  But, on Wednesday night he changed his mind and decided that he would instead try to maintain a steady pace throughout the race.

?When I saw the time gaps I knew I could relax?it was just one of those days,? Millar said.

Indeed, the 31-year-old British rider seemed to be hardly raising a sweat as he streaked by the grandstand in front of
Hamilton?s City Hall after completing the first lap of the course.

Millar said his loss to Ullrich in the 2001 Worlds time trial in
Lisbon was a ?kind of monkey on my back.?   On Thursday, he added, he wanted to provide ?concrete evidence that I was one of the best in the world at time trials.?

He credited the British team for their ?back-up? and added that another reason for wanting to win on Thursday was to win an automatic berth next year on the British Olympic team.  He said he was looked forward to sure to hooking up with Ullrich and Armstrong at the Olympics time trial in
Athens.

Once again, race conditions were ideal as
Hamilton basked under sunshine and mid-summer temperatures in the 20?s C.  Substantially bigger crowds displaying a greater degree of excitement lined the streets of the course route Thursday.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for more coverage from the 2003 World Championships in Hamilton,