Cycling: NZ coach upbeat before worlds

National cycling coach Tim Carswell. Photo / NZH

New Zealand head coach Tim Carswell believes his squad are in better shape than for last year's record four-medal haul on the eve of the world track cycling championships in the Netherlands.

Carswell said his team needed to be better to match the lift in intensity and quality at the championships starting today, with the London Olympics just 16 months away.

"It's clear from the recent World Cups and here in training that as well as the superpowers like Great Britain, Australia and France, that the big cycling nations of the Netherlands, Russia, Germany and Spain in particular are really improving fast with their track programmes," he said.

"We believe we have prepared well and across the board we are ahead of where we were at this time before last year's world championships."

He is not sure how this will manifest itself in results at the Omnisport Apeldoorn but the aim is to improve world rankings, secure crucial Olympic qualifying points, chase podium positions and continue the progress towards London 2012.

"The track looks fast. It's been quite cold here, especially in the mornings, but then quite nice in the afternoon so it's hard to say how that will equate in terms of speed out of the track."

The men's team pursuit and team sprint highlight action on the opening day, with Auckland 20-year-old Aaron Gate left off the final selection after the selectors opted for the experience of Beijing Olympians Jesse Sergent, Peter Latham, Sam Bewley and Marc Ryan.

Australia are the form team with Britain, while the New Zealanders, if the track allows, want to dip under their best of three minutes 57 seconds.

France, Australia, Britain and China are the big four in the team sprint but the youthful New Zealand combination turned heads with their fifth placing last year.

The trio of Ethan Mitchell, 20, Sam Webster, 19, and Eddie Dawkins, 21, form the combination at Apeldoorn.

"They are kids really in terms of ages in this form of the sport, where most are in their late 20s or early 30s," Carswell said.

"They have improved across the board and I know they are looking to further reduce their best time."

The women's team pursuit see action on the second day, with Kaytee Boyd winning a start at her first world championships, alongside 2009 world champion Alison Shanks and Jaime Nielsen.

"Of the six women in the endurance programme, five had won World Cup gold medals. And so to come down to the four to come here and the final three to ride has been a tough decision for the women's coach, Dayle Cheatley," Carswell said.

"It's testament to Kaytee, who has transferred back from the road and has worked so hard to force her way in to the line-up."

Sergent steps back on to the track to contest the individual pursuit, and without Britain's Geraint Thomas and American Taylor Phinney, it could be a repeat of last year's Commonwealth Games classic battle at New Delhi between Australian Jack Bobridge and Sergent.

Shanks contests the individual pursuit with Nielsen on the third day, when American Sarah Hammer defends her crown and world record in a demanding campaign with Shanks and Britain's Wendy Houvenaghel, second to Shanks at New Delhi, the other high-profile contenders.

NZPA