New Zealand's track cyclists are ready to kick off their Olympic campaign at a venue that's seen plenty of Kiwi success in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Headlined by flag bearer and four-time Olympian Aaron Gate, the 12-strong team will compete at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome in Versailles.
The venue is where New Zealand's only men's team pursuit world title was won in 2015.
Gate said it was "bloody exciting" to be back for another Olympic Games and that he had a lot of confidence in the team.
"I'm by far the eldest member, so I've got to keep the young ones in line sometimes."
He said the team had "really gelled" and "got on well".
"That's an important part of being a successful team and we hope now we can turn that into a result."
Paris 2024 is a redemption of sorts for Gate, who crashed out of the team pursuit at Tokyo 2021.
He said it was "water under the bridge" now.
"I'm here to do my job well for the team, and I think the whole team is ready to give it their all too."
A tradition in the team is to ring a bell every time a personal best is achieved in training, he said.
"It was rung quite a few times in our final lead in, so everyone is just well charged and ready to go."
Women's endurance rider Bryony Botha said the last time she competed at the Versailles velodrome she won a silver in individual pursuit.
"I like this track and hopefully we can get more success out of it.
"It seems to be the case with Kiwi riders on this track, it's good for team pursuit, more of a bowl shape, so it’s a fast track for team pursuit riders."
Botha said she thinks success will take "everything we've got".
"It's going to be a hard one, so we got to make sure we're getting all those bits right, executing our race plans, and making good decisions. That's what we're going to aim to achieve."
Pundits are suggesting conditions could be favourable for world and Olympic records to fall due to the fast track.
"We’ve seen it in some of the times coming out in training session - conditions are hot, humid, muggy in there which tends to make for less air density which makes for faster times."
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