Young GB quartet pipped by Aussies in team pursuit

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Australia's team pursuit quartet went under four minutes to pip Great Britain to gold on the second day of the Melbourne World Cup.

The British team of Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Andy Fenn and Andy Tennant topped qualification with a time of 4-01.914, just ahead of the Australians, who recorded a 4-02.755.

In the final the Aussie team of Rohan Dennis, Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn and Cameron Meyer was always on top and got just inside the four-minute mark. The British, with Andy Fenn stepping in to take the pace of Geraint Thomas, who was part of the team that won the World Cup in Manchester recently, were just a fraction slower than their qualification time. In the bronze medal race, the New Zealand team caught Denmark.

David Daniell, the youngster from Middlesbrough, missed out on a medal in the kilometre time trial, won by Scott Sunderland.

Germany's Carsten Bergemann won the keirin. Matt Crampton and Ross Edgar both won their first round races but both were knocked out when they could only finish fourth in round two.

Chris Newton won his heat in the scratch race but was sixth in the final, won by Kiwi Thomas Scully. There were gold medals for Italian Giorgia Bronzini in the points race and the Chinese pair in the women's team sprint.

The third and final day of the competition will see Matt Crampton, Ross Edgar and David Daniell take part in the sprint. Steven Burke and Andy Fenn team up for Great Britain in the Madison, Jessica Varnish rides the women's 500 metres and the Keirin. But Britain's strongest medal hope will be the team pursuit trio of Katie Colclough, Wendy Houvenaghel and Jo Rowsell.

MELBOURNE WORLD CUP - DAY 2 RESULTS

Men's kilometre

1 Scott Sunderland (Jayco) 1-02.171

2 Chongyang Wang (China) 1-02.204

3 Teun Mulder (Cofidis) 1-02.404

4 David Daniell (Great Britain) 1-02.708

Women's points race

1 Giorgia Bronzini (Italy) 16pts

2 Shelley Olds (USA) 11pts

3 Madeleine Sandig (Germany) 11pts

Women's team sprint

1 China (Gong, Junhong) 33.500

2 Netherlands (Hijgenaar, Kanis) 33.828sec

3 Australia (Meares, Rosemond) 34.238sec

Men's team pursuit

1 Australia (Dennis, Durbridge, Hepburn, Meyer) 3-59.599

2 Great Britain (Burke, Clancy, Fenn, Tennant) 4-01.935

3 New Zealand (Bewley, Latham, Ryan, Sergent) 4-00.237

Men's Keirin

1 Carsten Bergemann (Germany)

2 Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

3 Josiah Ng (Malaysia)

Men's scratch race

1 Thomas Scully (New Zealand)

2 Lukasz Bujko (Poland)

3 Viktor Shmalko (KTA)

6 Chris Newton (Great Britain)

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Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.