Alison Shanks believes her New Zealand women's pursuit team can still get back to featuring internationally, despite not being able to race outside of the country.
The women's programme will only compete domestically, with BikeNZ no longer unable to fund an international programme.
Shanks says they can still become a world class team, though not being able to race against the best is a huge blow.
"This is what we do. We're full time cyclists and we train to race. It's hard for an athlete. It's harder to gain that motivation to go out and train when you're not going to be going and competing internationally.''
Shanks says it's a shame their programme has to bear the brunt of a funding issue.
