Cycling: Weather issue at track worlds

Southland's Eddie Dawkins will have the heaviest workload at the track cycling world championships. Photo / Getty

Bad weather could play a significant part in the track cycling world championships that begin in Colombia tomorrow (NZT) after rain flooded the track during yesterday's second practice session.

The track in Cali has a roof but is open on the sides and BikeNZ head coach Dayle Cheatley said strong winds and wet weather could affect the outcome in some events during the five-day championships.

"We've been here before but not at this time of year and the open sides has not been a factor," Cheatley said. "But we've experienced winds during the training days and obviously today was a bit of a disaster when the heavy rain hit.

"It has forced us to rethink our approach. But the issue could come in something like the team pursuit qualifying, which is 90 minutes' duration, with a team getting still conditions at the start and then the wind coming up at the end. Warm temperatures are also expected and the New Zealand team travelled a couple of days earlier than usual to acclimatise.

"Obviously if it rains, then it will be impossible. I would expect plenty of hard questions at tomorrow's team managers' meeting.

"The key thing for us will be to stay focused if the weather plays a part. We have to focus on controlling what we can control."

Auckland's Aaron Gate, who will defend his omnium world title, and Southland's Eddie Dawkins will have the heaviest workloads at the event.

Gate will compete in the team pursuit on the first day and the omnium on days three and four, and Dawkins will contest the team sprint on Thursday, keirin on day two and the sprint on the final two days.

Track cycling team

New Zealand team for the track cycling world championship in Cali, Colombia, from February 26-March 2:

Team pursuit: Dylan Kennett, Pieter Bulling, Aaron Gate, Marc Ryan
Omnium: Aaron Gate
Scratch: Dylan Kennett
Points: Tom Scully
Individual pursuit: Marc Ryan, Shane Archbold
Madison: Shane Archbold, Tom Scully
Team sprint: Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster, Eddie Dawkins
Sprint: Sam Webster, Eddie Dawkins
Keirin: Simon van Velthooven, Eddie Dawkins
1000m time trial: Simon Van Velthooven.