Second gold for Zanardi

The 45-year-old now has two wins at the Kent motor-racing circuit where he first competed as an F3000 driver 21 years ago before losing his legs in an accident in 2001.

Zanardi, who claimed time-trial gold on Wednesday, won the 64km race in a sprint finish ahead of South Africa's Ernst van Dyk, with Belgium's Wim Decleir third.

"To win this race in this way, in such a dramatic way and sprinting makes me really proud," said Zanardi. "It shows that I am a complete cyclist, even if I have no legs.

Worked

"I just tried to save as much as I could during the race. I know I'm a good sprinter and just had to be confident in myself. And it worked.

"The race did not go as I expected. I thought that I could take off soon and that I would only need to stay calm, but at the fourth lap I tested my opponents and understood my tactic would not work, so I changed it completely and only tried to save.

"I used the uphills as rest, the others were overtaking me, then in the downhills I caught them up and regained my position.I managed my energies well. It's been a tough race, I could have very well lost it."

Meanwhile, the corresponding women's race was won by Andrea Eskau of Germany who stormed to gold ahead of Holland's Laura de Vaan and Germany's Dorothee Vieth, as Eskau added road race gold to the time-trial title she claimed on Wednesday.