KEY POINTS:
New Zealand were beaten by Britain in the 4000m team pursuit gold medal race at the track World Cup cycling meet in Beijing, but showed that they have the riders to develop a quartet with genuine Olympics aspirations.
Sam Bewley, from Rotorua, Westley Gough (Waipukurau), Tim Gudsell (Te Awamutu) and Marc Ryan from Timaru took New Zealand into second overall for the event in the World Cup standings with two meets remaining, and appear odds-on for Olympic qualification.
The four broke the national record set in Sydney over the 4000m team event last week when Jesse Sergent (Manawatu) was riding instead of Gudsell.
The quartet clocked 4m 05.177s in qualifying second in Beijing, going under the old record of 4m 05.301s they set in Sydney.
New Zealand took it to Britain in the final, going out extremely fast and leading up to the 3000m mark.
But their brave attempt faded while Britain jumped up a cog to win in 4m 02.517s. The New Zealanders were 4/100 of a second outside their time set in the morning.
"They produced two outstanding rides again this weekend and showed they will be a factor in Beijing next year," manager Craig Adair said.
"This combination will continue to develop and really showed plenty of courage and application tonight."
Sergent, spelled from the pursuit team, finished 15th in the final of the men's scratch race won by American Michael Friedman.
Joanne Kiesanowski from Christchurch and Catherine Cheatley from Wanganui were 10th and 13th respectively in their heats of the women's points race and did not advance.
- NZPA
