Cancellara finished clear of Laszlo Bodrogi

The 26-year-old covered the 44.9km in an unofficial time of 55 minutes 41 seconds to retain the title he won in Salzburg last year.

Cancellara beat Hungary's Laszlo Bodrogi by 52 seconds, with Dutch rider Stef Clement another five seconds back.

Britain's Bradley Wiggins was 10th, with David Millar finishing in 18th.

606: DEBATE Give your thoughts on Cancellara's win

Last year's runner-up David Zabriskie of the United States finished 12th.

Cancellara, who wore the leader's yellow jersey for the first week of this year's Tour de France after winning the prologue, overtook Vladimir Gusev even though the Russian started one minute before him.

Last year, Cancellara ended the three-year-reign of Australia's Michael Rogers.

"When I saw this morning it was raining I had in mind the Tour de France stage when I crashed," said the Swiss star afterwards.

"I made a very fast start and it was important to know the time of the other riders. It was an advantage to start at number one."

"There was more pressure than last year," he added. "I just had one goal, to defend the title, and it was beautiful for sure."

The championships continue on Saturday with the women's and under-23 men's road race. The elite men's road race ends the event on Sunday.

Result:
1 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 55 mins 41 secs
2 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary) @ 52 secs
3 Stef Clement (Netherlands) @ 57 secs
4 Bert Grabsch (Germany) @ 1 min 12 secs
5 Sebastian Lang (Germany) @ 1 min 17 secs
6 Vladimir Gusev (Russia) @ 1 min 46 secs
7 Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spain) @ 1 min 56 secs
8. Andrey Mizourov (Kazakhstan) @ 2 mins 2 secs
9 Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) @ 2 mins 3 secs
10 Bradley Wiggins (Britain) @ 2 mins 10 secs