Until Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins stepped on to the boards of the Laoshan Velodrome in August, they seemed a perfect pairing, racing on the track as British Cycling’s Madison dream team and on the road in Europe for Team Columbia. After they won the Madison at the World Championships in Manchester last spring, their double act appeared live on television as they peppered an interview with leg-pulling and insults.

But as Cavendish prepared for his one shot at glory in Beijing, having cut short his hugely successful Tour de France, Wiggins had already secured gold in the individual and team pursuit events.

The pair’s Olympic Madison ride was a calamity as the fluidity and timing that had taken them to the world title deserted them. Cavendish’s turn of speed appeared intact, but the effort of winning the pursuit events seemed to have drained Wiggins. Cavendish flew home without speaking to Wiggins again.

Wiggins had previously told his younger team-mate that he was leaving Columbia at the end of the 2008 season for Garmin-Chipotle, stating that he wanted greater opportunity to ride for himself and no longer to act as a sprint lead-out man for the Manx rider. However, Bob Stapleton, the Columbia team manager, disputes that interpretation of events. “Bradley left for more money,” Stapleton said. “He should acknowledge that. Some of the rationale that he put out in the media I don’t buy. We never hired him to be lead-out man for Cavendish. We hired him to win prologues.”

Cavendish maintains that a rift between the pair has been exaggerated. “We spoke the other day,” he said. “People make assumptions that we hate each other, when there’s no evidence.” However, he also maintained that he would not ride the track again. “Maybe never is the wrong word, but for the foreseeable future I have no plans to ride on the track,” he said.

“If I win anything now on the track, it’s not going to make any difference in the history books of cycling or make my financial situation better.”