Cycling New Zealand's High Performance Manager Martin Barras insists the plan is working despite another disappointing World Cup result from the hotly favoured men's sprint team.
Their bronze medal in Cambridge has seen them take the extraordinary step of replacing Eddie Dawkins with Sam Dakin for this weekend's Brisbane World Cup.
In the last decade, the men's sprint trio has only featured Sam Webster, Ethan Mitchell and Eddie Dawkins. But this weekend in Brisbane, Sam Dakin will join that group.
Barras is not prepared to risk a noticeably fatigued Eddie Dawkins in such an important year.
"Eddie is cooked, basically," Barras told Newshub. "It was by far the easiest and best decision to pull him and give him a rest and reset."
Dawkins was visibly disappointed with his effort in Cambridge and his fatigue was obvious, as he struggled to keep up during the team sprint.
Barras is hopeful some time off will be beneficial come next year's Tokyo Olympics.
"The name of the game for these guys is Tokyo and nothing else. It's the only race that matters… so everything you do between now and then is just getting yourself there."
Teammate Ethan Mitchell is confident Dawkins will come right.
"I think the strength we have as a team is that we solely trust each other like brothers," said Mitchell.
While the sprint programme hits the reset button, the endurance programme continues to reach new heights.
They brought home all three of the golds in NZ's seven-medal haul in Cambridge.
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