Alison Shanks wants her world cycling title back.

Shanks (28) left Dunedin yesterday for the world championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, next week.

She won the 3km individual pursuit in Poland two years ago and lost the crown to Sarah Hammer (United States) last year.

"I would love to stand on the podium and get the rainbow jersey again," Shanks told the Otago Daily Times before leaving Dunedin.

Her main opponents are Wendy Houvenaghel (Britain), who finished runner-up behind Shanks at the Commonwealth Games, Vaida Pikauskaite (Lithuania), Tara Whitten (Canada) and Amy Cure (Australia).

Defending champion Sarah Hammer (United States) is concentrating on the team pursuit and the omnium and is not expected to defend her title.

Shanks realises it is more difficult to regain the title than to win the first one.

"It is harder to get it back," she said.

"You put a lot more pressure on yourself the second time around.

"I will just have to relax and think about what I have to do in the race and not worry about the result."

Shanks has worked hard with coach Craig Palmer after winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

"Ali had a short break before starting rebuilding again," Palmer said.

"I'm satisfied with her form."

Shanks' best time for the 3km individual pursuit is her world championship-winning time in Poland in 2009 of 3min 29.80sec.

Shanks has raced the 3km pursuit twice since the Commonwealth Games.

She won the World Cup in Cali, Colombia, in 3min 30.258sec in December and was timed at 3min 31sec when winning the New Zealand title in Invercargill last month.

BikeNZ has put the emphasis on the team pursuit and this has been Shanks' priority this season.

The team pursuit remains an Olympic event and the individual pursuit has been deleted from the Olympic programme.

The team pursuit will be held on the second day of the world championships at Apeldoorn and the individual pursuit the following day.

This will test Shanks' ability to recover from the team event before racing the next day.

"It will be a challenge," admitted Shanks.

"But it's what I train for. I will mentally go in with a fresh approach and start again. It is a new day and a new race."

Shanks has done more track training with the team in the build-up to the world championships.

"It is a different focus," Shanks said.

"I have done more top end work for the teams pursuit. It's made me more consistent and I have been able to transfer the work to the individual pursuit as well."

The New Zealand team pursuit broke the world pursuit record when winning the bronze medal at last year's world championships in 3min 21.5sec.

"They held it for nine months until it was broken by the United States in a meeting at altitude," Palmer said.

The United States' time of 3min 19.5sec has been ratified by the International Cycling Federation.

New Zealand won the team pursuit at the World Cup events in Cali and in Beijing in January.