The New Zealand men's team sprint have won gold at the Track Cycling World Championships in London, reclaiming the rainbow jerseys they lost last year.
The New Zealand men's sprint team of Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The trio of Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins qualified fastest in the morning heats before coming from behind to beat the Netherlands in the final.
New Zealand finished in a time of 43.257 seconds, pipping the Dutch team by just over 200ths of a second.
They needed a strong final lap from Dawkins to edge past surprise finalists Netherlands in the final.
They were behind at the 500m mark by 0.1 seconds before Dawkins provided the power finish for New Zealand, overtaking his Dutch rival in the final lap of the race.
New Zealand won the world title in 2014 and were second last year when they were relegated for an illegal changeover after posting the fastest time and crushing France in the final.
Germany pushed defending world champions France out of the medals in the ride off for the bronze medal.
In qualifying earlier this morning New Zealand clocked a time of 43.096s to finish 0.2s faster than the Netherlands, who surprised the traditional powerhouses of France and Germany who will meet to decide the bronze medal.
Yesterday Dawkins said last year's relegation after winning the final was not going to be a factor, but the team was simply focussed on executing a strong performance.
Netherlands set the pace in the fourth of seven heats, building well to clock 43.266s.
The hosts Great Britain looked to eclipse that as they led through two laps but faded to sixth, while defending world champions France and Germany also fell short.
Riding last with France, New Zealand produced a slick effort, second fastest after the opening lap, second by less than 1/1000ths of a second after two laps before Dawkins powered home to put last year's runners-up into the final.
They won the world title in 2014 and were second last year when they were relegated for an illegal changeover after posting the fastest time.
In the wake of victory a jubilant Mitchell said: "We came here in the best form ever, so to come here and win was the only option for us.
"The more and more we race we prove to ourselves that we are one of the best teams in the world, if not the best team in the world. To come back from last year's disappointment was a big hurdle for us to overcome."
Dawkins said of the victory: "It is always really good to win and to do so in the year of the Rio Olympics is awesome. It puts a big bullseye on our back for the next couple of months but it is good to be the bullseye."
Meanwhile New Zealand will take on perennial rivals Australia in the first round of the men's team pursuit tomorrow, with the winners to earn a place in the final.
The quartet of Dylan Kennett, Piet Bulling, Nick Kergozou and Aaron Gate were third fastest in qualifying in 3:57.050.
Alex Frame placed 21st in the men's scratch race.
Earlier New Zealand were 10th fastest in the women's team pursuit with Natasha Hansen and teenage debutante Olivia Podmore clocking 33.932.