Vittorio Podesta, Luca Mazzone and Alex Zanardi powered to a time of 34 min 12.80sec on the 22.5-kilometre course at the BMW Performance Center in Greenville, South Carolina.

With Italy and the United States having split relay wins on the 2014 World Cup circuit, their rivalry was settled at the World Championships.

The United States team of Will Groulx, Will Lachenauer and Dan Cnossen finished 40 seconds behind the Italian trio, stopping the clock at 34:51.10.

Bronze went to Switzerland in a time of 36:01.20.

Eleven teams raced in today's relay.

Navy veteran Groux, who raced the first leg for the US, said: "It was a great hard-fought race in a fantastic venue.

"Italy had a fantastic ride and earned a well fought win.

"Big thank you to BMW and the city of Greenville for hosting at such a great venue.

"It was a good start to the competition, and we'll only get better."

Competition will continue tomorrow with the first day of the time trial races, which run through until Monday (September 1).