Britain's cyclists peddle the appeal of their sport

UP IN the stand the Union flags have been packed up and the fans have headed off in search of other Brits to cheer.

After the most successful Olympic showing ever by a GB cycling team, they will leave Athens today with two golds, a silver and a bronze packed into the hand luggage, knowing they have more than justified the £6.7m lottery investment in their sport over the past four years.

Until Chris Hoy got the ball rolling last Friday night, the sum total of British cycling golds was two. Chris Boardman had triumphed in the Individual Pursuit in Barcelona in 1992, while Jason Queally ensured a 1km time trial victory in Sydney. Having equalled that tally over the course of five days, this squad proved that there is now strength and depth in a sport which, given its increasing appeal and harvest of medals at major championships, can no longer be categorised as a minority event in Britain.

And it wasn’t just the medals won. It was the performances they served up to do it. Olympic records were set and, along with the elite performances, there was enough excitement and nervous energy generated to power half of Scotland.

There were the heart-stopping moments as the likes of Hoy and Wiggins shaved enough off their rivals’ best times to gain gold, the drama as Rob Hayles came clattering off his bike for the second successive Olympics, but this time his Madison team-mate Wiggins covered him for two laps, he dusted himself down and then between them they clawed back a lap and earned bronze. While the gutsiness of the team pursuit showing ensured a silver lining.

There was also the desperate disappointment as the medals expected in the team sprint and individual sprint failed to materialise. But through it all, the Brits battled with the recognised cycling nations and completed the overall cycling programme second only to Australia.

"I think Chris Hoy’s ride on that first night didn’t just set the ball rolling, it was more than that," says Brailsford, a man who cannot contain the pride in his charges. "The mental strength that it took to do that, given the pressure he was under, the only thing I can equate it to is taking the final penalty kick at the World Cup final and he came up and scored the goal. It wasn’t just the fact he won the gold, it was the way he handled the pressure and the way he came through. It was awesome and what was great is that he is someone we work with every day and it’s inspiring when you know someone because everyone else in the team then thinks, OK, I can do that."

It was how it worked in Sydney. Hoy, inspired by training partner Queally, targeted gold this time round. "After the last Olympics, they sat Chris down and asked him ‘what do you want to do?’ and he said he wanted to do the kilo and he’s worked so hard over the past four years," said the 2000 champion. "It would be nice if I did inspire him in any way but Chris still had to go out there and do it and he’s proved he’s the kilo rider of the moment. I was so emotional watching him on the podium. I was so close to tears. It is such a great achievement and what a way to do it. What a competition. It just got faster and faster and how he kept himself focused and still pulled out that ride to win it after all that, I honestly don’t know. When I won four years ago I was fourth from last so I didn’t have that pressure. But being world champion and going last, watching people before you knock nearly a second off the Olympic record, that’s real pressure."

But if the atmosphere inside the velodrome has been intense at times, it was nothing new. According to Brailsford, the expectation rises from within. Determined to take the Games seriously, simply taking part was never going to be enough for this squad.

"We’ve taken the view that if you’re going to take £6.7m from the lottery over four years then you have to deliver the performances. I wanted us to better what we did in Sydney. We knew we could do it and we came here to be professional and do our job and repay the faith of the British public with a bit of happiness and excitement and a bit of glory.

"These lads are a joy to work with and they came here expecting to deliver. They did and it’s been a difficult task, because, if you like, they’ve gone from being hunters to being hunted. They’re the guys that others are trying to knock off the podium now. There have been a couple of medals that have slipped away, to be honest, and that doesn’t make me happy but that’s sport. If you go out and everything always goes by the form book and there aren’t a few surprises and the highs and the lows then nobody would come and watch."

This week people did come and watch and what they saw will ensure they will take another peek in future. While sports such as athletics and swimming perhaps struggled to justify their substantial lottery backing here, the cyclists, the rowers and the sailors, in accounting for almost half the entire GB medal haul, all proved themselves a worthy investment.