KEY POINTS:
Most of New Zealand's Olympic medal-winning cyclists return to the venue of their success in Beijing for the third round of the UCI World Cup starting on Friday.
The World Cup will provide the first major shakedown for the squad ahead of their goal of the world championships in Poland in March.
Seven of the Olympic team are competing in Beijing, including men's team pursuit bronze medallists Jesse Sergent of Feilding, Wes Gough of Waipukurau, Marc Ryan of Timaru, Sam Bewley of Rotorua and Peter Latham of Te Awamutu.
Also there are Alison Shanks of Dunedin, fourth in the Olympic individual pursuit, and Catherine Cheatley of Wanganui.
There is considerable interest in the first ever World Cup outing for the women's team pursuit, with the squad including Shanks, Cheatley, Ashburton's Lauren Ellis and Auckland's Kaytee Boyd, who earned her spot from the recent power to podium women's talent identification programme.
Simon Velt Voothoven will compete in sprint events while fellow-Cantabrian and world omnium champion Hayden Godfrey will race in the scratch race, 200m time trial and Madison with Ryan.
BikeNZ national track coach Tim Carswell said he is looking for a solid first-up effort from the squad although he is not expecting Olympic-standard performances.
One reason is the weather in Beijing is considerably colder than at the Olympics.
"It's certainly a lot more low-key this time," Carswell said.
"It is very cold here. It was six degrees below today and they have not turned on the track heating this time, so it was only 15degC degrees on the track surface.
"So the times will be slower as a result.
"For the Olympians, this is their first competition since Beijing. We are nine weeks out from the world championships so this signals the start of the final build-up to the worlds."
Cameron said he would be happy if the men's pursuit get within 2-3 seconds of their Beijing time. Going under four minutes may be too much to ask, he added.
They have recovered from a crash in training on the eve of their departure for Beijing.
"We snapped one of the bikes, and there were some injuries to Sam and Pete and Wes had lost a fair bit of skin. But they are training just fine here which is great."
Sergent, who emerged as the strong man in the squad at the Olympics, has earned his chance in the individual pursuit in the absence of Hayden Roulston.
Carswell is excited and challenges with the new women's track programme.
"We are all feeling our way at present as we work out just which combination works best," he said.
"Kaytee had never ridden on a track 10 weeks ago, and Lauren has stepped up from the junior ranks.
"They are showing some good progress and Alison has really stepped up as the leader on the team."
Shanks and Sergent are first up on Friday in qualifying for the individual pursuit, followed by the points race and Ellis and Cheatley in the scratch race.
The men's team pursuit is on Saturday along with Van Velthooven in the kierin, Godfrey in the scratch race, Cheatley in the points race and Boyd in the 500m time trial.
Val Velthooven and Godfrey will race in the 200m time trial on Sunday with the women's time trial and Godfrey and Ryan in the Madison.
- NZPA
