Kiwi cyclist gets World Cup Classic off to flying start

Alison Shanks of New Zealand won the women's individual pursuit at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic on Friday at Beijing's Laoshan Velodrome.

Shanks, who finished fourth in the same event on the same track at last year's Olympics, clocked a time of 3 minutes 30.685 seconds. Lithuania's Vilija Sereikaite followed he home in a time of 3:37.661, and Ukrainian Svitlana Galyuk was third in 3:41.892.

A total of 228 riders from 33 countries and regions are taking part in the three-day tournament, which runs through Sunday. China has a 15-strong team that will compete with some of the world's best, including Beijing Olympic women's points race champion Marianne Vos from the Netherlands and Britain's triple gold medal winner Chris Hoy.