The New Zealand men's sprint team has been relegated from the gold medal position at the World Track Cycling Championships in Paris.
The New Zealand men's sprint team, Sam Webster, Ethan Mitchell and Edward Dawkins. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The defending champion trio of Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins scored a comfortable win over France in the gold medal ride, but were deemed to have made an illegal change.
So France take the gold medal and New Zealand the silver.
Sam Webster has Tweeted that he's devastated, saying he came under Mitchell a few centimetres early in their changeover and they went from winning to relegated. "42.808 REL, no rainbow..."
Webster later questioned the French team's start, saying it's "disappointing that our change overs can cause relegation but their false start didn't get reviewed. The rules stand, they rode to them".
Meanwhile the quartet of Dylan Kennett, Pieter Bulling, Alex Frame and Marc Ryan, in their first-ever competition, topped all qualifiers in the men's 4000 metres team pursuit at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
New Zealand men's track pursuit cycle team in action in 2014. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
