Nicole Cooke’s victory in the women’s road race has set the perfect tone for Team GB’s cyclists as this week’s track racing schedule comes into view.

On Friday, when Chris Hoy leads the Great Britain campaign on the boards of the Laoshan Velodrome, he will take extra motivation from Cooke’s long-awaited success.

This was Britain’s fourteenth cycling gold, on road or track, in the Olympics and harnessing the Welshwoman’s undoubted abilities so successfully represented a dream start for David Brailsford, the Team GB performance director.

In victory, Cooke, a prolific but maverick talent, has finally been fully integrated into Brailsford’s carefully constructed set-up. and that in itself will set the standard of excellence for the events to come.

“It was a brilliant ride by the whole team,” Brailsford, who also paid tribute to the selfless performances of Sharon Laws and Emma Pooley, said. “It’s easy at moments like this to forget the people who made the difference.

“The front of the gold medal is Nicole’s, but the back belongs to Sharon and Emma.”

Pooley’s post-race comments emphasised Team GB’s buoyant morale. “It’s a team race and if you work together, you are more likely to get a good result than if you don’t,” she said.

Brailsford’s ambition, to replicate Team GB’s track success in road racing, has been realised. Now the task will be to win again.

With that in mind, Cooke and her road-racing team-mate, Pooley, will compete in Wednesday’s 31.2-kilometre women’s time-trial. Although Cooke’s time-trialling has not always served her well, in a field of 25, she and Pooley, given their present vein of form, will be bullish about their medal chances.

Team GB’s cyclists have set a winning tone in the past three Olympic Games. In 2000 in Sydney, Jason Queally opened the Britain account, and four years ago in Athens, Chris Hoy followed suit in the same event, the kilometre time-trial, while Bradley Wiggins triumphed in the men’s individual pursuit.