Development Pursuit Team Impress at Beijing World Cup

A young New Zealand cycling team grabbed two medals and a fourth placing on the second night of finals at the UCI World Cup in Beijing.

The development combination of Hayden Godfrey, Shane Archbold, Myron Simpson and Aaron Gate claimed the bronze medal in an outstanding performance for the development squad.

Godfrey (Christchurch), the 2008 world omnium champion, followed with a silver medal in the men’s scratch race over 15kms, while Invercargill’s Eddie Dawkins was just pipped for a medal in the men’s kilo, finishing fourth.

The team pursuit combination were the third fastest qualifier in the morning with a 4:10.025 behind Australia and Netherlands and ahead of Ukraine who they faced in the bronze medal rider-off last night.

The kiwis upped their effort to clock an outstanding 4:05.278 with a controlled performance, going faster of each kilometre which delighted BikeNZ head coach Tim Carswell.

“The development boys have put in some great work over the least eight months and they really wanted the medal tonight,” Carswell said.

“Their performance is ahead of what our Olympic riders achieved at the same age which is exciting for the track programme going forward. To be going 4:05 is a very good effort.”

Australia dominated Netherlands to win the gold.

Godfrey recovered from his pursuit final to produce a strong effort to win silver in the 15km scratch race. The Canterbury rider was just edged by Canada’s Zachery Bell in the final sprint for the gold.

Dawkins finished 8/100ths of a second outside the podium in the men’s kilo time trial, clocking a slick 1:03.190 to be fourth fastest in an impressive performance, while fellow sprinter Simon Van Velthooven (Palmerston North) finished ninth in the keirin, after he went out in the second round.

The final day of action sees Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins in the sprint, Tom Scully and Myron Simpson in the Madison and the combination of Alison Shanks, Jaime Nielsen, Rushlee Buchanan and Lauren Ellis in the women’s team pursuit.

UCI World Cup, Beijing, day 2 finals:
4000m men’s team pursuit, Gold medal: Australia 4:01.226, 1; Netherlands dnf. Bronze medal: New Zealand (Hayden Godfrey, Archbold, Myron Simpson, Aaron Gate) 4:05.278, 3; Ukraine 4:10.039, 4.
Qualifying: Australia 4:05.635, 1; Netherlands 4:08.992, 2; New Zealand 4:10.025, 3; Ukraine 4:10.731, 4.
Men;s scratch race, 15km: Zachery Bell (CAN) 1, Godfrey 2, Werner Riebenbauer (AUT) 3.
Kilo Time Trial: Miao Zhang (Chn) 1:02.173, 1; Joachim Eilers (GER) 1:02.677, 2; Kamil Kuczynski (POL) 1:03.105, 3; Eddie Dawkins (NZL) 1:03.190, 4.
Kierin, first round, heat 4: Simon Van Velthooven 2. Second round Van Velthooven 6th (eliminated).
Ride-off 7th to 12th: Van Velthooven 3rd – 9th overall.