NZ cycling back on right track

New Zealand cycling is excited about future prospects after a strong performance at the UCI World Track Championships in Colombia.

The team finished with five medals at Cali which equalled the previous best achieved in Melbourne two years ago in the leadup to the London Olympics.

The combination of Shane Archbold and Tom Scully finished eighth in the spectacular two-man madison, after initial results listed them as fourth, two points off a medal. This was later amended in the official results after four teams had put a lap on the field, with Spain awarded the title.

It brings New Zealand’s tally to 35 medals in the 44 years of the world championships, but significantly two-thirds of those medals have been achieved in the last five years.

BikeNZ high performance director Mark Elliott said he is pleased with the outcome given the squad only had a few weeks at the new Avantidrome in Cambridge.

‘‘There was some encouraging racing in individual disciplines but we need further technical and tactical improvement going forward.’’

Mark Elliott

‘‘The key targets were the Olympic team events and so to win a world title in the sprint and a bronze medal in the team pursuit was rewarding and testimony to their hard work and commitment,’’ Elliott said.

‘‘Aaron Gate’s fourth placing in the omnium was satisfactory given he had to compromise his preparation with the team pursuit.

‘‘There was some encouraging racing in individual disciplines but we need further technical and tactical improvement going forward.

‘‘Overall it is an excellent start and now they will need to recover before focusing on the national championships next week which is the final competition to push claims for the Commonwealth Games.’’