World Cup Title and Two Medals for New Zealand Cyclists

The New Zealand women’s pursuit team have won the UCI Track World Cup title and set a new fastest time on the opening night of finals at the last round in Manchester today.

The trio of Alison Shanks, Lauren Ellis and Jaime Nielsen had to be content with second place in the final behind hosts Great Britain who went within in whisker of the world record.

Experienced South Canterbury rider Marc Ryan picked up a bronze medal in the individual pursuit while fellow Timaru cyclist Shane Archbold leads the men’s omnium after the opening day, following wins in the flying lap and points race.

The women set up for an enthralling final after clocking 3:20.988 in their heat, just 26/1000th of a second behind the British combination. It was more than half a second inside their previous best, the 3:21.552 ride in the world championships which broke the world record. This was later broken by the USA team at high altitude.

The Kiwis went quicker again in the final recording 3:20.8328 with the British winning in the fastest time recorded at sea level of 3:19.757. The New Zealanders recovered after Shanks hit a marker on the inside of the track early in the race.

“That was pretty satisfying because we know we have some much we can improve on,” said Jaime Nielsen. “Our training has gone well and it was about setting up that pace and holding it for the rest of the ride.

“It was exciting to get the title today. We are taking things one step at a time and trying to build on our performances. It’s great although we would have liked to have won the final.

“It was a great recovered from Ali and Lauren and so to get a new best time after that was pretty satisfying.”

The Americans finished third, more than two seconds behind the Kiwis.

Ryan held off Dutchman Jenning Huizenga comfortably to win the bronze medal in the 4000m individual pursuit in 4:24.855 with Australia’s Dennis Rohan beating pro tour star Geraint Thomas in the final in 4:15.614.

Archbold, third in the World Cup standings going into the omnium, was on fire today. He set a new best time to be fastest in the flying lap in 13.291s, an average of 67kph. He got into the main break in the points race and then dominated a four-strong break to take out the honours from Poland’s Rafal Ratajczyk.

Archbold finished the day with fourth place in the elimination to lead going into tomorrow’s final three events – the individual pursuit, scratch race and 1000m time trial.

Earlier both Sam Webster and Ethan Mitchell failed to qualify in the men’s sprint.

Day 1 results:
Women’s team pursuit, final: Great Britain 3:19.757, 1; New Zealand (J Nielsen, L Ellis, A Shanks) 3:20.828, 2. 3rd-4th: USA 3:23.136, 3; Netherlands 3:23.804, 4. Qualifying: GBR 3:30.962, 1; New Zealand 3:20.988, 2; USA 3:23.048, 3; Netherlands 3:23.179, 4.

Men’s individual pursuit, final: Dennis Rohan (AUS) 4:q5.614, 1; Geraint Thomas (GBR) 4:16.477, 2. 3rd-4th: Marc Ryan (NZL) 4:24.855, 3; Jenning Huizenga (NED) 4:27.154, 4.

Men’s Omnium, 250m flying lap: Shane Archbold (NZL) 13.291, 1; Brian Coquard (FRA) 13.299, 2; Alois Kankovsky (CZE) 13.316, 3. Points: Archbold 13, 1; Rafal Ratajczyk (POL) 13, 2; Ella Viviani (ITA) 11, 3. Elimination: Viviani 1, Ben Swift (GBR) 2, Ratajczyk 3; Archbold 4.

Standings after day 1: Archbold 6 points, 1; Viviani 9, 2; Ratajczyk 16, 3.
Sprint qualifying: Sam Webster 10.470, 21; Ethan Mitchell 10.482, 24.

CAPTION: The New Zealand women’s team pursuit combination of (from left) Lauren Ellis, Jaime Nielsen and Alison Shanks in action at the UCI World Cup in Manchester. The team raced in the special UCI white race suits as the World Cup leaders.
Credit: Jerry McManus