AUSSIE pedal-power put the brakes on York rider Charly Wegelius.

The former York Sixth Form College student was in the thick of the battle for a medal in the Road Time Trial at Rivington, 25 miles north west of Manchester.

He crossed the line in third place but his hold on a bronze medal vanished as Nathan O'Neill of Australia knocked him out off third spot.

That completed an Australian 1-2-3 with former world mountain champion Cadel Evans taking gold and Michael Rodgers silver.

Wegeilus, 24, who used to live in Bishopthorpe but now resides in Italy, finished as England's best placed rider in fifth place. He is a professional with the Mapei squad for which Evans also rides.

Stuart Dangerfield had finished in fourth place but the England man was controversially disqualified for riding in O'Neill's slipstream.

Wegelius clocked 1 hour 4 minutes 29.76 seconds around the 46.8-kilometre course with Evans roaring home in 1 hour 53.50 secs. Defending champion Eric Wohlberg was fourth.

Unlike regular road racing, time-triallists start separated by timed intervals and are banned from gaining an advantage by getting pulled along in a rivals' wake. However, Dangerfield - who had geared his efforts to this event since finishing sixth in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 - believes he stayed away from O'Neill's rear wheel after a warning from the race commissaire.

"I think he's made a wrong decision," said the Walsall-born rider.

The one-two-three was an ominous sign for the rest of the field ahead of next Saturday's road race on almost the same course when the men in green and gold will be reinforced by Tour de France veterans Robbie McEwen, Brad McGee and Baden Cooke.

However, Evans does not accept that the contest is over before it starts, citing England's Max Sciandri, who didn't race today, as a threat to Antipodean dominance.

Evans said: "He's a very smart rider but I think we're really confident because we've got the depth in our team."

Updated: 12:44 Monday, July 29, 2002