Shanaze Reade's first experience of the vertiginous start ramp for the today's Olympic BMX final would have been here in China, were it not for the inventiveness and attention to detail of Dave Brailsford. When the performance director of British Cycling spotted some wasteland close to the Manchester Velodrome, he brought Beijing to Britain.

“We built a replica,” Brailsford said. “It seemed such an obvious thing to do. It's a brilliant facility and all the kids put down their knives and guns in a corner in Manchester and come and ride their bikes. Maybe if we did a bit more of that, they wouldn't go back and get their guns and knives.”

Brailsford believes that a boom in cycling in the aftermath of Beijing will act as a force for sporting and social good. “It's an accessible sport, so I'd like to think there's a wider legacy to come from this,” he said. “I don't see why cycling isn't on the school curriculum if swimming is.”

Brailsford is hoping to develop Team GB's skills as multiple medal-winners by producing riders who are able to win in more than one discipline. “Shanaze is very keen in the next four years to start developing herself as a track sprinter for London 2012,” he said. “She wants to be a track rider as well as a BMX rider.

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“I don't believe in humiliating a rider, or dictating to them,” he said. “It's more about supporting. I wouldn't entertain any bullying. Some key people in our programme have been let go because of that side of things.”

Brailsford believes that he and his staff are “brutally honest” and “compassionately ruthless” with each other, thanks to the efforts of Steve Peters, the team psychiatrist. “Steve Peters helped us tremendously with differentiating between personal and professional behaviour,” he said. “When people aren't succeeding, they have to be able to be told and accept it and move on. We really do tell the truth, warts and all, to each other.”

Brailsford's next quest, to win the Tour de France and to dominate the London 2012 Olympics, is already under way. But he insisted that he would be unlikely to be tempted by offers that might lure him away from British Cycling. “I wouldn't want Clive Woodward's job [as elite performance director of the BOA],” he said. “There are other challenges within the sport of cycling, like the Tour de France, which really excite me. Let's go and try and win the Tour de France with a British rider, clean.”