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The goal was one thing alone: gold in Beijing. Its intent first became clear in January with the announcement that a British women’s team was being created along professional lines with bikes designed by Chris Boardman, the former Olympic gold medal- winner, and sponsored by Halfords Bikehut.

Pooley was clearly a crucial team member. The final piece in the puzzle was found, out of the blue in the new year, when the news arrived at British Cycling headquarters that a 33-year-old with British roots and an impressive career in mountain biking and adventure sports had finished second in the Australian National Road Race Championships.

This was Laws, it was only the eighth time that she had ridden a road race and among those who finished behind her was Sara Carrigan, the Athens Olympic champion. At the time, Laws was working as an environmental consultant but, a few months and a big phone bill later, she was persuaded to swerve the flirtations of the Australia team and was recruited to Team Cooke.

So when Cooke et al arrived in Beijing, they had trained and raced together. They looked a fairly formidable force, but for the fact that Cooke’s summer results suggested she may be under-raced and under par.

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This, however, was yet another part of the plan. She has mistimed her season before; this time, peaking in Beijing has been the entire justification of every decision made.

Did this prove the convictions of Team Cooke right? “Totally,” Brailsford said. “That structure was set up for one thing only and that was winning that bike race. The plan was exactly what you saw.”

Pooley, who utterly accepted her unrewarded role in the victory, said afterwards: “It’s really satisfying to help someone else get a medal.”

From a race and a performance like that, you cannot help but feel that Pooley deserves something, too. But she does have a chance — she goes in the individual time-trial event on Wednesday. And yes, there is a plan for that one, too.

One medal - three stars

Sharon Laws, who came from adventure-racing anonymity to road-racing fame, is another example of Team GB’s ability to transform rough diamonds into world-beaters. Until this spring, the 34-year-old Kenya-born environment adviser was racing in her spare time, on and off road, while working in Australia as an adviser for Rio Tinto Zinc, the mining and exploration company. Her greatest success had been in the eight-day Cape Epic mountain-bike race in South Africa in 2004.

Emma Pooley, 25, started cycling at the age of 11 alongside her father when he went out running. Last year she had top-ten rides in both the time-trial and road race World Championships. At Cambridge University, where she is studying for a doctorate in soil engineering, her first Blue was in the triathlon. Her big strength is her ability to climb, something that she admits comes naturally, but one that she also practises. “You always like working on what you enjoy doing and I’m built like a climber and can’t sprint, so I had to work on something I can do,” she said.