Cyclists strike gold again

The good times continued for the New Zealand track cycling squad at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome today, with another gold medal, a silver and two bronzes.

In the mens 40km points race, Tom Scully was brilliant, winning both his morning heat and then the final in the afternoon. There was more good news when Aaron Gate claimed the points race bronze.

Scully, Gate and Shane Archbold, who all looked impressive in qualifying, rode a smart final. Scully was aggressive and racked up early points. He put three laps on most of the field and always looked strong. However, he was assisted by some excellent work from his team-mates.

By the time they had completed their 160 laps, Scully had 98 points, Isle of Mans Peter Kennaugh was second with 84 and Gate was just behind on 82.

Scully, the world championship silver medallist in this event in Colombia earlier this year, is a great success story. He had a terrible crash while riding in Ireland and was forced to take a year out from the sport, but has come back better than ever this year. The medals won by Scully and Gate were the eighth and ninth of the New Zealand track cycling squad in Glasgow.

In the mens 1000m time trial, New Zealanders Simon van Velthooven and Matt Archibald grabbed silver and bronze behind Australian Scott Sunderland, the defending champion.

Archibald posted his time of 1min 01.162s, a games record, relatively early and it held up until the final ride, which pitted van Velthooven against Sunderland. It was a tight race, but the Australian drove through to the finish well and set a games record with 1min 00.675s. Van Velthooven was clocked at 1min 01.060.