KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's campaign at the world track cycling championships has been delivered a blow, with Tim Gudsell ruled out of the team pursuit by the flu.
Gudsell was struck down by an illness that has affected several European teams and opted to withdraw from the championships.
National track coach Terry Gyde told NewstalkZB that Gudsell showed a lot of character to put the team ahead of himself.
Gyde said he will be forced to field an inexperienced team pursuit lineup in Gudsell's absence. He will pick four from Marc Ryan, Jesse Sergent, Westley Gough, Sam Bewley and Peter Latham.
Fiona Carswell and Jocelyn Rastrick open New Zealand's world championships in the team sprint on Friday morning (NZ time).
- NZPA
