Christchurch’s Jason Allen went within a wheel from qualifying for the medal ride-off on the opening session of the UCI World Cup cycling meet in Melbourne yesterday.

Allen is part of a development squad sent by BikeNZ to the second World Cup meet, with their Olympians still building up towards next year’s world championships following a break after Beijing.

National track coach Tim Carswell said the world class meet in Melbourne was an excellent opportunity to blood the next group of young riders, with a squad of 15 competing.

“To have a meet of this quality so close was a great opportunity for us,â€