The team of Ryder Hesjedal, Roland Green and Max Plaxton, all of Victoria, and North Vancouver's Sydor successfully defended Canada's world title in the cross-country team event with a time of 1:43:36.

Each team in the event is made up of three male and one female cyclist.

The French were 53 seconds behind to take the silver, with the third-place Swiss trailing by another 31 seconds.

The French held the lead through the first lap, but were overtaken by Canada during the second of four laps and dropped way back to fifth.

French anchor Cedric Ravanel had one of the best rides of the day, reeling in Britain and the United States on the last lap before outpacing Petra Henzi of Switzerland on the final section of the race to grab the silver.

One rider, Andreas Markakis of Greece, was barred from competing when a pre-race doping test turned up illegally high levels of red blood cells.

In Sydor's absence from the Commonwealth Games, Chrissy Redden of Victoria won the gold medal in the women's mountain bike race. Sydor, an Olympic silver medallist and former world champion, is thought to be winding down her career.

The opening ceremonies for the world championships were scheduled for Wednesday night, with Susanne Riess-Passer, Austria's sport minister and vice-chancellor officiating.

Among the other Canadians competing, Commonwealth Games champion Green will be looking another gold medal as he attempts to defend his 2001 men's world title.