Commonwealth Games 2026: England win team pursuit gold despite sickness in camp

Gaps began to appear between English wheels as the noise in the crowd grew louder.

Vernon and Tanfield were part of the Team GB quartet beaten by Australia in the Paris Olympics final. Spare a thought for Charlton watching on, helpless.

“It was more nerve-wracking than being in it,” he said.

“It was tight at times but I had faith they were going to pull away at the end and they did.”

In the end, England won by 1.131 seconds. Their time of three minutes 47.092 seconds was a new Commonwealth Games record and the Australians had been dethroned.

As ever in track cycling, there is a race on and off the track.

This was a marker from England for the rest of this event and the Olympics in two years’ time, when Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can add reinforcements too.

“The Aussies always turn up to Commonwealth Games,” Vernon said.

“They go full equipment, good skinsuit, good equipment, everything.

“In England we go with a different mindset. We save stuff for the Olympics.

“We don’t have the best skinsuits. We are doing the best we can and to beat them without that is special.”

For Tanfield this was a second Commonwealth gold, eight years after his first in the individual event.

Vernon added this gold to others in the national, European and World Championships. For him, only the Olympics remains.

Charlton, who hopes to be fit for the individual event on Friday, and Tidball now have their first Commonwealth medals to add to others won on the world stage.

“I wasn’t quite on the money today but we will see how it goes tomorrow,” Charlton said. “I will give it everything I have got in me.”

But the moment was, perhaps, most special for teenager Hobbs.

“It is my first year as an elite. Even getting selected for this was a big surprise,” he said.

“To pull off the win is amazing.”

There is far more to it than riding in circles.