Australia have thrown down the gauntlet to Great Britain ahead of the Rio Olympics with a stunning gold medal ride to win the men's team pursuit at the track cycling world championships.
The Australian quartet of Sam Welsford, Michael Hepburn, Miles Scotson and Callum Scotson silenced the parochial crowd at London's Lee Valley Velodrome - the site of the 2012 Olympics - with an incredible ride to win the 4000m race on Thursday night (Friday AEDT).
Australia clocked a scintillating time of three minutes 52.727 seconds, cracking England on the final lap to win by 1.129 seconds after a desperate fightback from the home team inspired by six-time world champion Bradley Wiggins.
"That's the sixth rainbow jersey for me and for sure the most special," said an elated Hepburn, who praised the work of teammates Alexander Porter and Luke Davison in the earlier rounds.
"(We rode) against a GB quartet on home soil and in an Olympic year, and they just didn't let it faze them."
The result earned Australia a second gold of the meet following Rebecca Wiasak's successful defence of her individual pursuit title, while Anna Meares added silver in the keirin.
It returns Australia to the top of an event it has traditionally dominated, having now won five of the past seven men's team pursuit world titles, and stokes the rivalry between the two nations five months out from the Rio Games.
Historically, the world championship victors in Olympic years tend to take Olympic gold as well.
"I don't necessarily believe in that but of course if you're on top of the world six months out you've got a good shot at winning the Olympics," Hepburn said.
"(Four years ago) we were 0.1 seconds off the GB team at the worlds and they went on to whitewash us in this velodrome (at the London Olympics).
"So we've got a lot of work to do ... They've got guys that are riding three quick rounds and so it's going to be hotter than ever at the Olympics, as it always is between GB and Australia."
Earlier, Australia dismantled defending world champions New Zealand in the semi-finals, smashing them in the semi-final by more than six seconds with a sizzling time of 3:54:029.
Sprint champion Meares was unable to add a fourth keirin title to her extraordinary resume but managed to produce a stunning ride to grab second after appearing boxed in during the final lap before falling 0.078 seconds behind Germany's winner Kristina Vogel.
Earlier, Australia's women's pursuit team avoided an embarrassing early exit in their world title defence after flirting with danger in their qualifying round.
The strongly favoured quartet of Annette Edmondson, Georgia Baker, Ashlee Ankudinoff and Amy Cure snuck into the semi-finals after qualifying fourth fastest and will now face the top-ranked Team USA in a semi-final on Friday (Saturday AEDT).
The winner of that semi-final will then get a shot at either Canada or New Zealand in the gold medal race.
There will also be gold medals on offer in the women's 500m time trial, which Kaarle McCulloch will ride, and men's individual pursuit and points races.
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