New Zealand’s Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Samantha Donnelly, Nicole ShieldsP contest the women's team pursuit qualifying at the Nations Cup track cycling meet in Hong Kong. Photo: SWPix
The New Zealand women's endurance team pursuit have outclassed Ireland and powered to gold at the UCI Nations Cup track cycling meet in Hong Kong.
The quartet of Bryony Botha, Sami Donnelly, Nicole Shields and Emily Shearman overlapped Ireland in the final to claim the elite 4000m title, made more impressive by the absence of key rider Ally Wollaston, who was a first round winner in the omnium.
New Zealand topped qualifying in 4min 17.898sec, nearly three seconds faster than the closest opposition, and lowered this to 4:13.685 to dominate Japan in the first round.
In the final, the Kiwi foursome held a one second advantage at 1000m and slowly pulled clear from that point.
The meet is second of three UCI Nations Cup meets to gain UCI ranking points to qualify for both the world championships and the Paris Olympic Games.
New Zealand leads the current Olympic rankings for the women's and men's team pursuit.
The men's team pursuit quartet of George Jackson, Keegan Hornblow, Tom Sexton and Campbell Stewart claimed the bronze medal with an impressive win over Australia.
They earlier qualified second-fastest behind Denmark but were beaten by an impressive Japan in their first round, after the two teams were locked until the final four laps.
New Zealand were without Aaron Gate, who arrived from road race duties at the Tour of Taiwan, where he finished fourth on general classification.
The women's team sprint trio of Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton, Olivia King qualified fifth in 47.810s but were edged by the powerful Netherlands combination in the first round.
