MELBOURNE, Nov 20, 2009 (AFP) – An untried Australian combination rode one of the fastest teams pursuit times here to beat arch-rivals Britain in the Melbourne World Cup round on Friday.

Cameron Meyer, Rohan Dennis, Michael Hepburn and Luke Durbridge clocked three minutes 59.599 seconds to win the gold medal ride-off.

The British, who broke Australia’s world record to win the teams pursuit at last year’s Beijing Olympics, fielded three members of their outstanding team squad — Steven Burke, Edward Clancy and Andrew Tennant — with Andrew Fenn coming in for Geraint Thomas.

Britain had qualified fastest ahead of Australia, but in the gold medal ride their pace line was broken at the three kilometre mark of the four kilometer distance.

They were down by just under a second when the second man briefly lost touch with the leader, ensuring they would lose, and they finished in 4:01.935.

The only other team to go sub-four minutes in Australia was Germany, who made history at the 2000 Sydney Olympics by becoming the first quartet in history to break four minutes with their 3:59.710 to win the gold medal.

“That’s awesome. To go under four minutes in front of a home crowd is just sensational,” Meyer said.

“It’s a great confidence boost and it gives the Brits a little bit more to think about ahead of the London Olympics.”

It was the second gold medal at this Cup round for Meyer, after Thursday’s win in the points race.

Australia won two gold medals on the second day of the World Cup with Scott Sunderland winning the one kilometer time trial.

The home nation leads the medal tally with five gold medals.

German Carsten Bergemann won the the keirin final and New Zealander Tom Scully took out the men’s scratch race.

In the women’s events, the Chinese combination of Gong Jinjie and Lin Junhong won the team sprint in 33.500 from the Netherlands and Australia, while Italian world champion Giorgia Bronzini claimed the 20-kilometer points race.

File Photo by: CorVos Pro