Women’s team pursuit gold tall order

Cycling New Zealand’s high performance director Mark Elliott has admitted there’s a lot of work to be done if the New Zealand women’s endurance team are to compete against Australia and Great Britain in the team pursuit.

Women’s endurance coach Craig Palmer has decided to spend more time focusing on his sports science role, vacating his position at the helm of the programme that is just finding its feet after a quiet start to the 2016 Olympic cycle.

‘‘I think we’ve got to take it one step at a time. Certainly challenging for a medal is an opportunity for us in Rio, but getting that gold or silver, that next step is going to take a monumental effort. You’d never say never but it’s going to be a big challenge,’’ said Elliott.

The women’s endurance team has come under scrutiny particularly as the men look to have established themselves as a global force in the team pursuit, winning a gold medal at the 2015 world championships.

The combination of Rushlee Buchanan, Lauren Ellis, Jaime Nielsen and Georgia Williams made it to the bronze medal ride at the UCI track World Cup in Mexico. That fourth place finish came in their first competition back after a two-year absence, and the same result at the world championships hints at the talent of the squad.

‘‘The reality is we’d really like to be in a position to be a bit closer [to Australia and Great Britain] but the rest of the world is moving ahead. Our challenge now is to catch up and I guess the exciting thing is we’ve got some opportunities and kids who have the skill set to move into that space.’’