Alex Dowsett

England's Alex Dowsett snatched Commonwealth Games gold away from Rohan Dennis of Australia with a stunning late sprint in the men's time trial in Glasgow.

Dowsett's success come after he clamed silver in the same event in Delhi four years ago, and following the disappointment of missing the Tour de France due to illness.

Dennis led Wales' Geraint Thomas with only a handful of riders to come through the finish and Dowsett, who had trailed by five seconds at the final checkpoint, powered to victory in 47 minutes and 41 seconds, a full 10 seconds ahead of his closest rival.

Scotland's defending champion David Millar was unable to stage a genuine attempt for gold as he finished well off the pace in a tightly fought contest in Glasgow Green.

"No-one wanted that more than I did today," Dowsett said. "Silver in Dehli and not being selected for the Tour de France I've been angry this whole month and when I was a kid I usally pulled somthing out of the bag when I'm argry so it is pretty speical that."

Such was the dearth in quality between the competitors in the men's competition that the pack was split in half, with the elite athletes going off an hour later in Glasgow.

The early advantage through the first checkpoint was Dowsett's, who led Jesse Sergent and Luke Durbridge, while Thomas was fourth. The defending champion Millar meanwhile was only eighth fastest.

Approaching the mid-way point on the variable course around the east-end of Glasgow, Dowsett extended his lead ahead of new leader Dennis of Australia but Millar continued to fall back to leave his title defence in tatters.

Thomas continued to power through the course and had a 50-second advantage at the three-quarter mark as the group of riders in contention for the medal started to dwindle.

However, Dennis then overtook both Thomas and Dowsett with 12km remaining, with the Garmin-Sharp rider taking a grip of the gold ahead of the British pair.

The critical downhill section, as with the women's race, would decide the order of the podium, with Dennis, Dowsett and Thomas the runaway leaders going into the closing stages.

Thomas finished in 47 minutes 55 seconds to take a health lead, but was forced to sit and wait to see if his advantage would be overhauled s the final riders came into the finish.

And Dennis produced a sterling sprint finish to lead Thomas by four seconds as Dowsett approached the finish. However, the England produced a monumental ride on the downhill section to storm to gold, as their lead over Australia at the top of the medal table was extended.

Gold