BikeNZ development group impress in Melbourne World Cup

New Zealand completed their first steps towards the London Olympics with a real degree of satisfaction at the UCI World Cup in Melbourne.

There were no medals on the final night, with the best a fourth placing for a young and untried combination in the men’s team pursuit, won by Australia.

The New Zealand team finished with a gold medal, two silvers and a bronze from the first of four World Cup Classics which provided the qualifying points for London.

The performances pleased BikeNZ High Performance Director Mark Elliott, with a younger, development group competing in Melbourne as BikeNZ looks to expand the programme not only to London but beyond 2012.

The rookie team pursuit combination of Shane Archbold 21, Aaron Gate 20, Cameron Karwowski 19 and Myron Simpson 20 impressed with fourth place after a ride-off against Great Britain for the bronze medal.

The New Zealand quartet qualified in 4:08.802 before reducing this to a highly promising 4:02.364 in the medal ride, only just pipped by a full strength Great Britain combination by 1/10th of a second in an exciting ride-off.

Australia won the gold medal in 4:00.308 from Russia in 4:01.511.

Sprinters Sam Webster (10.311) and Eddie Dawkins (10.356) qualified 17th and 19th respectively in the men’s sprint, Gemma Dudley was 18th in the women’s omnium and Stephanie McKenzie did not progress to the quarterfinals of the women’s keirin.

BikeNZ will send a similar-sized team to the second UCI World Cup Classic in Cali, Columbia on 16-18 December and will target the third round in Beijing on 21-23 January with a full-strength team.