SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AFP) - France won the men's team sprint title at the World Track Cycling Championships near Paris on Wednesday after New Zealand were disqualified.

The New Zealand trio of Edward Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster initially believed they had retained their crown from Cali 12 months ago, but were later relegated to second for an early changeover.

It meant that Frenchman Gregory Bauge, whose initial leg had left the French a third of a second down on New Zealand in the final, won his fifth world title in the discipline.

Kevin Sireau claimed his third team sprint gold while for Michael D'Almeida it was his first.

Germany trio Joachim Eilers, Rene Enders and Robert Foerstemann - the man with the biggest thighs in sport - took bronze ahead of Russians Denis Dmitriev, Nikita Shurshin and Pavel Yakushevskiy.