New Zealand’s high-flying track team looking for Rio Olympics qualification points at Avantidrome-hosted World Cup.
New Zealand has proven track pedalling power, but tomorrow the country's cycling fraternity will also showcase their event management skills in Cambridge at the second round of the international governing body's three annual World Cups.
Organisers expect 28 world or Olympic champions to compete among 571 riders and staff from 39 countries in the gladiatorial atmosphere of the Avantidrome.
Such events are the means by which qualifying points are earned for March's world championships and August's Rio Olympics.
Confirmation came in April when Cycling New Zealand boss Andrew Matheson said New Zealand riders' dominance on the world stage had paid hosting dividends.
"We had a milestone with the men's team pursuit winning its first rainbow jersey or gold medal at the world champs [at Paris in February]. That came off the back of the men's programme winning the [team] sprint the year before."
Sprinter Eddie Dawkins also earned silver in the keirin, Aaron Gate was fifth in the omnium, Sam Webster was sixth in the individual sprint and the women's team pursuit and team sprint were fourth and ninth respectively.
"We're seeing on a daily basis how successful the Avantidrome is for our high performance riders," Matheson said of the velodrome which opened in April 2014.
A corps of tuned Kiwi pedallers will venture from the venue to Rio, aiming to add to the country's six Olympic velodrome medals. Gary Anderson's bronze in the individual pursuit was the first in 1992.
Sarah Ulmer's world record gold supplemented that at Athens in 2004, also in the now Games defunct IP. The remaining four medals have come at the past two Olympics as part of the legacy high performance director Mark Elliott is building.
Diligence, inspiration and a taxpayer investment of $17.4 million this Olympic cycle suggests more medals are on their way.
"We reflect every day that taxpayer money holds us accountable to perform," Elliott said of a programme coveted internationally. "The key thing is we've got a lot of riders who want to be the best in the world. It's more about excitement than pressure."
Now the world's best will experience the epicentre of New Zealand's track programme.
Most nations have sent their leading sprinters for this week's meet. Expect the pedigree of Frenchman Gregory Bauge, Brit Jason Kenny, German Joachim Eilers, Australian Matthew Glaetzer and Dutchman Jeffrey Hoogland to feature prominently against New Zealand sprint stars Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster in the men's races. The Kiwi trio are looking to recover from their shock 16th at the last World Cup in Colombia.
The trio's closest sprint rivals - London Olympic keirin bronze medallist Simon van Velthooven and Matt Archibald - will also be involved as part of a four-strong sprint group competing under the trade team banner 'High Performance Sport New Zealand'. They will be joined by development riders Zac Williams and Jeremy Presbury.
The women's fields include German Kristina Vogel, the individual and team world champion when she partners with Miriam Welte. Vogel will face Australian Anna Meares, the Olympic sprint champion. New Zealand are represented by Natasha Hansen and Katie Schofield.
In the men's endurance competition, Australia will be at full strength in the team pursuit and Britain and Russia are also expected to challenge New Zealand's world champions.
The Kiwis will be without the injured Dylan Kennett and Marc Ryan. Double Olympic medallist Hayden Roulston and emerging riders Cam Karwowski and Nick Kergozou have joined as cover.
Karwowski is also expected to contest the six-discipline omnium after former world champion Gate was rested following a heavy schedule as he builds towards the world championships.
Australia are likely to be the team to beat in the women's endurance competition. World omnium champion Annette Edmondson leads their world championship winning line-up. Canada and the United States are also expected to be in the reckoning.
New Zealand are represented by Rushlee Buchanan, Jaime Nielsen, Georgia Williams, Lauren Ellis, Holly Edmondston and Alysha Keith under new coach Brendon Cameron.
Annette Edmondson of Australia. Photo / Getty Images
Enters this meet as an incumbent world champion in the omnium and team pursuit, having moved from sprinting to the endurance disciplines in time for the London Olympics. Has since intertwined a road career with her track work. When not pedalling, Edmondson has volunteered in deprived areas of Indonesia. She is fluent in the language, having studied it for six years. She also once confessed to a chocolate milk addiction but, after a year's cold turkey in 2010, is understood to have satiated her thirst.
• Anna Meares - 32, Australia, sprinter, keirin
Anna Meares of Australia. Photo / Getty Images
Might best be remembered for her duel with Brit Victoria Pendleton to take the individual sprint gold at the London Games. Meares' silver to Pendleton in the sprint at Beijing might be just as significant. She recovered from a broken neck, dislocated shoulder, major ligament and tendon damage and skin abrasions sliding at 65km/h on wooden velodrome boards at a World Cup meet in Los Angeles seven months prior. And a measure of the double Olympic and 10-time world champion's impact? The Anna Meares Bike Path sits adjacent to Sir Donald Bradman Drive near Adelaide Airport.
• Lasse Norman Hansen - 23, Denmark, omnium, endurance
Denmark's Lasse Norman Hansen. Photo / AP
Returns from the World Tour pro road scene to guide Denmark in the team pursuit. He helped the team to second in 2013 and third in 2014 at the world championships. The Olympic omnium champion would have pursued engineering if he wasn't chasing gold medals, having originally been inspired by rides through the Danish countryside in a pillion seat with his grandfather. Wherever Hansen goes in the world, he pines for his brunsviger, a traditional Danish cake lathered in butter and brown sugar.
• Gregory Bauge - 30, France, sprinter
Gregory Bauge of France. Photo / Getty Images
Comes in as incumbent world champion in the individual and team sprint but has never transferred that success to Olympic gold. He collected team sprint silver in Beijing and London and added an individual sprint silver in the latter, losing to Brit Jason Kenny. He is a nine-time sprint world champion (five team and four individual) and it would have been two more if he hadn't received a year-long backdated governing body doping suspension due to "two breaches of applicable requirements regarding rider availability and one missed test in 18 months" encompassing 2011.
• Ethan Mitchell - 24, New Zealand, sprinter
Ethan Mitchell. Photo / Greg Bowker
"Going 85km/h an hour and feeling like you're going to ride through the track because your wheels are sinking in so hard ... I will never tire of that buzz." So said this genial lead-out rider in his Sky Next promotion after becoming, with Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins, the first Kiwis to win a team sprint world championship in 2014. They were relegated to second via disqualification this year but, if the 24-year-old's fast-twitch fibres deliver anywhere near their past power and explosiveness, New Zealand should be on the podium for the first time in the discipline at Rio.
Today 1pm-7pm: Men's and women's team pursuit and team sprint qualifying.
Tomorrow 9am-4.25pm: Men's and women's omnium, team pursuit semifinals, women's individual sprint qualifying and quarter-finals, men's keirin 1st round and repechages.
6pm-9.45pm: Women's team sprint and team pursuit finals, women's individual sprint semifinals and finals, men's and women's omnium, men's scratch race, men's keirin finals.
Sunday 9am-2.50pm: Men's individual sprint qualifying and quarter-finals, men's and women's omnium, women's keirin 1st round and repechages.
3pm-8.30pm: Men's madison final, men's individual sprint semifinals and finals, women's scratch race, women's keirin finals.
