Sprinters push case

Growing strength of New Zealand sprinting has resulted in six riders being named for New Zealand's 15-strong team for the UCI World Cup in London later this month.

Southland's Natasha Hansen and Dunedin's Katie Schofield broke three national records and claimed four titles between them at the New Zealand track cycling championships in Invercargill at the weekend.

They will join Edie Dawkins (Southland), Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster (Auckland) and Simon van Velthooven (Palmerston North) in the team.

Also making the trip will be the men's and women's pursuit teams and omnium riders Joanne Kiesanowski (Christchurch) and Shane Archbold (Timaru).

BikeNZ's high performance director Mark Elliott: "The women's sprint pair has continued to do everything we have asked of them. They have demanded selection on form and they are on track if they continue to improve to qualify for the world championships.

"The bigger picture of the Olympics is a bit further down the road. We are treating the qualification process one step at a time and not getting too far ahead of ourselves."

The New Zealanders will be using the London event as preparation towards the world championships in April in Melbourne and also a test of the facilities for the Olympics.

"We are definitely keying on the world championship at this stage. We obviously want to ride well in London but the whole focus is using this World Cup as a key preparation towards the world championships. And obviously it will be good to get a feel for the velodrome in London and just how everything lays out for not only the riders but the support staff," he said.

Westley Gough, from Hawke's Bay, has headed national individual pursuit champion Peter Latham for the final place in the men's pursuit squad, replacing Jesse Sergent who is unavailable due to his professional team commitments.

Gough will join the Oceania winning trio of Sam Bewley, Marc Ryan and Aaron Gate while the women's team is Alison Shanks, Jaime Nielsen and Lauren Ellis. The squad will go into camp in Invercargill before travelling to London at the weekend.