The New Zealand track cycling team won three medals on the second night of the latest World Cup in Cambridge.
The New Zealand men's sprint team of Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand men's sprint team of Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins took silver against Germany, in a rematch of Friday night's qualifying battle.
Webster secured the narrowest of leads briefly in the second lap, but the New Zealanders could not hold out against the European team.
Third-wheel Eddie Dawkins said while they were disappointed not to win, especially in front of a packed home crowd, there were plenty of positives.
"We have not peaked for this event, but training through it as a stepping stone to the world championships," Dawkins said.
"We had two good rides and we improved tonight but no doubt we wanted to win - we don't like coming second to anyone."
The gold medal men's team pursuit final was a trans-Tasman clash of current and former world champions.
New Zealand, who won the rainbow jersey in Paris last year, took an early lead, before slipping back against the Australian's pace attack.
Despite a strong push from Cameron Karwowski pulling the lead back in with six laps to ride, Australia reasserted themselves to win in an impressive 3:53.010 with New Zealand four seconds back.
The New Zealand team of Regan Gough, Pieter Bulling, Alex Frame and Karwowski had three solid rides in Cambridge, and are confident heading into the next rounds of competition.
"Coming second to the Aussies, there's a huge rivalry there. They (Australia) were treating this like their world championships and have been really well prepared for it. We still have gains to make" said Gough.
"We put a lot of trust and faith in the support staff we have and they spend a lot of time working out our training towards peaking at the world championships and on to Rio," said Bulling.
The New Zealand women's team pursuit quartet of Rushlee Buchanan, Lauren Ellis, Jaime Nielsen, Georgia Williams lifted their game to record a convincing win over USA for the bronze medal.
They were beaten by Australia in the semi-final, with their trans-Tasman rivals going on to win the final over favourites Canada by the slimmest of margins.
Sunday's final day of competition comprises the final rounds of the Omnium, men's sprint and women's Keirin races.
