Intro:

There were gold medals for hosts France, China and Germany on the opening day of the Track Cycling World Championships in St Quentin en Yvelines on Wednesday.

Script:

The opening day of the Track Cycling World Championships took place in France on Wednesday, and in the men's gold medal contest the hosts took on New Zealand.

New Zealand, the defending champions, crossed the line first - but were stripped of the gold after race officials deemed that their first relay began a fraction too early.

To the delight of the home fans, France took top spot on the podium with a winning time of 43.136 seconds for three laps of the 250m track.

Germany claimed the bronze.

There was a new world record in the women's team sprint.

The Chinese team of Jinjie Gon and Tianshi Zhong stormed to the gold in a time of 32.034 seconds, beating Russia by 0.404 seconds.

Australia finished in third.

The final gold medal of the day went to Germany's Stephanie Pohl in the women's points race.

Pohl made her move midway through the 100 lap, 25km race - breaking away to lap the field.

The 27-year old finished ahead of Japan's Minami Uwano in second, with American Kimberly Geist capturing the bronze medal.