Scotland’s David Millar destroyed a field of elite road riders to take gold in the Commonwealth Games time trial yesterday – winning by nearly a minute in the searing Delhi heat.

Millar, hot off a bronze medal in the men’s 168km road race, set a blistering pace to outgun his rivals in the first half of the 40km ride before pulling further ahead as the mercury hit 44C at the Noida Expressway.

“It was a very physical course, like being on a treadmill,” he said.

“It hurt. All year, I have been preparing for this. I do a lot of races outside of this like the world championships last week. This is my last big event of the year and it’s great to have got gold.”

Alex Dowsett, 22, of England had the ride of his life but could not live with Millar’s pace, crossing the line 55 seconds slower ahead of Australia’s Luke Durbridge, 19, who took bronze.

In the women’s 29km race, world champion Tara Whitten capped a gruelling week to take gold ahead of New Zealand’s Linda Villumsen and Julia Shaw of England.

Millar, who rode to silver in the World Championships in Australia earlier this month, never looked like he was in doubt for the gold.

The 33-year-old, who also represented Malta in the 2001 GSSE, went through the halfway stage first, in a shade under 20:59.59, three seconds ahead of Dowsett, who put in an assured ride with the wind behind him.

It was a long, lonely ride home into the wind for the Scotsman, who began picking off his rivals on the half-hour, breezing past Durbridge just before the finish.