Cycling: NZ quartet wins bronze

New Zealand cyclist Aaron Gate is part of the team who won a bronze medal in Melbourne. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand has won a bronze medal tonight in the men's team's pursuit on the first day of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne.

The quartet of Aaron Gate, Sam Bewley, Westley Gough and Marc Ryan clocked an impressive time of 3:57.592 in the 4000m team pursuit to beat Russia in the ride-off for the bronze medal.

The Russians led throughout most of the race, breaking out to a lead of 1.5 seconds but the New Zealand team finished strongly and snatched the lead with 500 metres to go.

It puts the Kiwis in a good position heading into the London Olympics, especially as they were without their team leader Jesse Sergent who is missing the World Championships because of commitments to his professional road cycling team Radioshak Nissan Trek.

It also set the tone for a New Zealand team who have peaked for these World Championships and are targeting a handful of medals in Melbourne in both endurance and sprint disciplines.

However London is the main prize, and the New Zealand team wanted a gauge on how their preparations are going.

The four had earlier clocked 3:59.156 to qualify third for the medal ride behind Great Britain and Australia, and 0.134 seconds ahead of Russia.

The New Zealand women's sprint team were 9th fastest in qualifying for the women's team's sprint.

Natasha Hansen and Katie Schofield have made a late bid for Olympic inclusion and were targeting a good finish to earn enough points for Olympic selection.