Australia has got off to an impressive start at the road world championships with Orica-AIS taking silver in the women's team time trial in Spain behind the all-conquering Specialized-Lululemon squad.
The Australian outfit finished 1 minute 17.56 seconds behind the US-based squad which covered the hilly 36.15km course in 43 minutes 33.35 seconds.
Specialized-Lululemon have now won all three TTT golds since the discipline was reintroduced for trade teams at the world championships in 2012.
Italian-backed Astana rounded out Sunday's podium in Ponferrada, finishing just over a minute behind Orica-AIS.
The Dutch-based Rabo Liv team was on pace for what would have been a second-place finish until three of their riders crashed.
Anna Van der Breggen was taken away by ambulance.
The Orica-AIS silver medal-winning squad included four Australians: Annette Edmondson, Melissa Hoskins, Jessie MacLean and Amanda Spratt.
Completing the outfit were Swede Emma Johansson and Italian Valentina Scandolara.
The men's TTT will take place later on Sunday in north-western Spain.
Orica-GreenEDGE has vowed to make up for the narrowest of defeats in 2013 by winning gold over the 57.1km course.
Australia heads into the world championships as perhaps the most dominant nation with favourites in the TTT, the under-23 road race and the flagship elite men's road race.
Edmondson later said the women's team was thrilled with silver given Specialized was at another level.
"We gave it a good crack, we were able to pull off second and we are absolutely stoked about it," the South Australian rider said in a team statement.
"A month ago we raced the Sweden World Cup and we were about three minutes behind Specialized-Lululemon.
"We pulled back two minutes on them (on Sunday), so we had a really good ride."
Orica-AIS sport director Gene Bates said the squad had focused on the world championships from the start of the season.
"It didn't go our way in Sweden, the team was pretty disappointed, but today they were all class to bounce back so well," he said.
"We're over the moon and it's definitely an accolade they deserve."
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