Golden reward for NZ riders
The New Zealand men’s cycle pursuit team have won gold at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Canada yesterday, beating the hosts in the final.
The victory came a day after Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins won the team sprint, beating Great Britain for the gold medal.
Nick Kergozou, Jared Gray, Tom Sexton and Stewart, who replaced debutant Harry Waine in the pursuit final, found themselves one second down at the 2000m mark before the Canadians lost a rider who fell. The Kiwis came home in 1:55 for the final 2000m to win by a second. Their time of 3:59.00 was the fastest the combination, which has an average age under 20, has had in competition.
‘‘It’s unreal really because we have come here to focus on our processes and not time. We wanted to nail all three rides and execute to our plan and it came off, and got our best time as well which is a bonus,’’ Kergozou said.
‘‘Rather than racing against the opposition we just focused on ourselves. Even in the final we focused on riding to a schedule. We knew we had plenty in the tank and stayed relaxed even when Canada had a one second lead.
‘‘I am the old man of the team at 21. We are developing a great culture and starting to really click. There’s a long way to go but we are moving in the right direction, and keen to follow this up with another good performance in Chile next week.’’
It proved a strong World Cup for the New Zealand elite team, with six podium performances including the two gold medals.
The other medals on Monday were a silver to Ethan Mitchell in the individual sprint and third to Racquel Sheath and Michaela Drummond in the women’s madison. There were close fourth placings to Natasha Hansen in the keirin and Campbell Stewart in the omnium. Hansen was also fourth in the women’s sprint on Sunday.
The men’s sprint team won their final proved too powerful for Great Britain on Sunday.
The Britons were level with the Kiwis after the first lap, with Webster opening a 0.2s advantage in the man-two position, while Dawkins powered home in the anchor leg nearly half a second faster than his opponent for an emphatic win.
The women’s team pursuit quartet of Rushlee Buchanan, Bryony Botha, Kirstie James and Michaela Drummond claimed the silver medal after the host Canadian team turned up the heat in the 4000m final. The Kiwis had been fastest in the first round.
The team, minus the men’s team sprint trio, head to Chile on Tuesday for the fourth round of the UCI Track World Cup in Santiago at the weekend.