Bad weather could play a significant part in the track cycling world championships that begin in Colombia tomorrow (NZT) after rain flooded the track during yesterday's second practice session.
The track in Cali has a roof but is open on the sides and BikeNZ head coach Dayle Cheatley said strong winds and wet weather could affect the outcome in some events during the five-day championships.
"We've been here before but not at this time of year and the open sides has not been a factor," Cheatley said. "But we've experienced winds during the training days and obviously today was a bit of a disaster when the heavy rain hit.
"It has forced us to rethink our approach. But the issue could come in something like the team pursuit qualifying, which is 90 minutes' duration, with a team getting still conditions at the start and then the wind coming up at the end. Warm temperatures are also expected and the New Zealand team travelled a couple of days earlier than usual to acclimatise.
"Obviously if it rains, then it will be impossible. I would expect plenty of hard questions at tomorrow's team managers' meeting.
