Cycling: Soft bronze for team pursuit

MELBOURNE - New Zealand barely needed to engage second gear to coast to one of the most unsatisfying Commonwealth Games bronze medals ever won in a team pursuit mismatch of epic proportions at the Vodafone Arena here tonight.

A sluggish qualifying ride this morning -- caused by tactical indecision in the final laps -- ruined any chance of New Zealand's quartet pushing England or Australia out of the gold medal ride and they justifiably looked far from enamoured with their podium finish in a five-nation field.

New Zealand missed the coveted ride for gold by 8/10ths of a second but were never going to miss bronze after the Malaysians clocked a qualifying time 17sec slower -- an eternity in the 4000m endurance test although it was a personal best for the developing nation.

Only a crash or mechanical failure could have denied the New Zealanders and thankfully they stayed upright and ended the contest prematurely when they caught the Malaysians well before halfway.

Jason Allen, Hayden Godfrey, Tim Gudsell and Marc Ryan combined for the opening ride with Allen being replaced by Peter Latham to give him a taste of action on the velodrome before heading to the time trial and road race next week.

It was New Zealand's second track cycling medal of the Games following on from Hayden Roulston's silver in the points race last night.

- NZPA