Houvenaghel and Rowsell successfully defended their world title with Armitstead, riding in place of Olympic champion Rebecca Romero, clinching a first rainbow jersey.

 

The British trio lapped consistently quicker than their New Zealand rivals and stepped up the pace in the final kilometre of the 3,000 metres event to triumph by over a second in 3min 22.720sec.

 

It was consolation for Houvenaghel, who had to settle for a silver medal in the individual final yesterday.

 

She said: "I had absolute belief we were going to win this event because I know how strong we all are.

 

"We've been working together for six months."

 

Armitstead took the first of what could be three medals in her first World Championships.

 

She said: "There's quite a lot of British support out here, which made it even more special."

 

After four medals on the opening day - two silver and two bronze - Britain were again frustrated when Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade were second in the women's team sprint.

 

Australia's Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch stepped up a level in the final as they blazed home in world record 33.149, with the Britons 0.231 behind.

 

Pendleton said: "We knew we had to find a tenth [of a second] and we did but the Australians went faster."

 

It was Pendleton's second medal of the Championships, having claimed a bronze in the individual sprint.

 

Reade, in her first high-profile event since crashing out of the Olympic BMX final, had only four weeks' practice on the velodrome behind her.

 

She said: "I did the best possible ride I could do on the day so I'm really happy."

 

But there was disappointment for the men's team as Ross Edgar and Matt Crampton missed out on keirin medals, as did Mark Cavendish in the scratch race. 

 

Olympic silver medallist Edgar finished fourth and Crampton fifth as German Maximilian Levy succeeded the injured Sir Chris Hoy as world champion.

 

Cavendish, a surprise inclusion in Britain's team having recently been concentrating on the road, finished seventh.

 

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March 2009:

Four medals, but no gold, for British cyclists