Olympic hosts Britain put themselves in the driving seat ahead of the London Games after trumping arch-rivals Australia in the battle for cycling supremacy at the track world championships in Melbourne.
The British team claimed six titles in Melbourne, including five of the 10 Olympic category events that will be contested at the London velodrome.
That haul eclipsed Australia's three Olympic category titles, a telling psychological blow for a proud cycling nation.
Britain's impressive showing continued the resurgence marked by their dominant World Cup performance at the Olympic test event in February and showed their riders peaking at the right time.
Meahwile Alison Shanks topped off New Zealand's most successful world track cycling championships by winning the gold medal in the women's 3000m individual pursuit on final night of the UCI meet.
It brought the New Zealand tally to five medals, one more than the four medals won in 2010 and 2011.
New Zealand's other medals comprised bronze to the men's team pursuit, men's team sprint, van Velthooven in the 1000m time trial and Westley Gough in the individual pursuit.
