Rio 2016 Olympics - The world champion track cycling team are hoping their run of good form carries them to gold in Rio.
The New Zealand track cycling world sprint champions Ethan Mitchell, Eddie Dawkins and Sam Webster with their gold medals and world champion rainbow jerseys. Photo: Photosport
The New Zealand track cyclists begin their Olympic campaign tomorrow morning.
The men's team of Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins clinched gold at the World Championships in March and are hoping to match that result.
Dawkins said he and his teammates are so familiar with each other their performance is like muscle memory.
"I've ridden a lot of times behind those two boys, we've had a string of really good races which we've been well prepared for and I don't think the Olympics would be anything different.
"We've done too much we've come too far to come away with anything other than what we expect," Dawkins said.
Eddie Dawkins expects New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, Germany and France to be the 'big five' on the track.
Meanwhile Lauren Ellis expects quick times and records to fall in the track events at Rio.
The New Zealand women's pursuit team Photo: Guy Swarbrick-BikeNZ
The New Zealanders are still getting used to the purpose-built velodrome but are a good shout to compete for medals.
Ellis will compete in the multiple race event, and in the women's team pursuit, four years after the team finished fifth in London.
There were several world records broken in 2012, and Ellis said Rio should be no different.
"I think potentially it's a really nice track, we're just getting used to it at the moment, getting our lines sorted and I definitely think it has the potential to put out some really fast times," Ellis said.
-RNZ