The pursuit of happiness for golden boy Wiggins

The 28-year-old from Maida Vale battled against growing weariness and a sense of genuine worry to inspire Britain's pursuit team, featuring Ed Clancy, Paul Manning and Geraint Thomas, to another record-shattering triumph in the Laoshan Velodrome.

Yet this latest example of miraculous teamwork as the foursome worked in millimetre-perfect precision over 4,000 metres to destroy - and almost catch - their Danish opposition masked an incredible individual tour de force from Wiggins, who, following his individual pursuit triumph here on Saturday, was winning the third gold of his increasingly storied career.

It was his sixth medal in all over three Olympics - three golds, one silver and two bronze - and though it can't compare with Redgrave's half-dozen, which included five consecutive golds, Wiggins now has a chance to hold the record on his own when he attempts to win medal number seven with Mark Cavendish in tomorrow's Madison, the event at which the pair won the world title in Manchester.

"I hope I'll be able to back up what we've done today. Cav [Cavendish] is a bloody pit bull in the village at the moment," said Wiggins, laughing about our Tour de France superstar who has yet to compete at these Games.

"I did set out to get two golds here but to put it into practice is another thing. It's just such a relief when you cross the line but there's one more event to come."

You would not bet against him winning another medal with the way Team GB have been taking ownership over the track cycling programme here. This was their fifth gold and ninth medal in all out of only seven track events completed - a monopoly which has had the opposition here joking that they might as well leave the Union Jack on the gold medal pole permanently to save the organisers the trouble.

Yet today's race was the one which had 'Wiggo' more worried than any other. Exhausted and not able to get much sleep after five tough rides in three days, including his individual pursuit triumph, he said: "I was pretty down last night after the first couple of rounds because I wasn't my usual self after the individual pursuit stuff.

"I was disappointed because I didn't want to let these guys down, I know how much they've sacrificed while I've gone off and done my individual event."

He need not have worried. Not only was he back at his magisterial best but lead-off man Clancy, a 23-year-old Yorkshireman, his fellow Belgian-based team-mate, 33-year-old Manning, and Thomas, the thrilling 22-year-old Welsh Tour de France rider, were in such a different league to the Danes that a final which had promised to be a close-run affair turned into an absolute rout.

The British quartet clocked 3min 53.314sec, obliterating the mark they had set in yesterday's first round. The Danes finished more than six-and-a-half seconds behind. "To put that time into perspective, when we set the Olympic record in Sydney in 2000 we were eleven seconds slower," said Wiggins.

It really was phenomenal and had one distinguished observer, the great world champion pursuiter Hugh Porter, effusing here: "I never thought I'd ever see a performance as quick as that."

Yet in all likelihood, there's more to come. Victoria Pendleton, in the women's sprint, and Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, in the equivalent men's event, all qualified for tomorrow's semi-finals with the consummate ease which suggests they will take all the beating. Indeed, Kenny and Hoy, in separate semis, may end up racing each other for gold.

This Hoy versus Wiggins battle is shaping up as a wonderful contest in its own right. Both have two golds and are gunning for a third - and no Briton since swimmer Henry Taylor in 1908 has won a hat-trick of golds in a single Olympics.

There was, however, one 'hold the back page' moment - yes, the first track event in which Britain failed to win a medal! In the women's points race, Rebecca Romero, probably still feeling the effects of her gold medal-winning efforts in the pursuit the previous day and still a mere novice in the tactical minefield of this 100-lap affair, could only finish 11th as Dutch world champion Marianne Vos romped away with the gold. That, at least, will be of some consolation to the Dutch. Asked earlier about his chances of gold against either Hoy or Kenny in the men's individual sprint, another Netherlands rider, Theo Bos, could only wail: "I have a one per cent chance but if I have to race them, you never know ... it looks like they have swallowed a motorbike." Coming from the land of bicycles, we must take that as the ultimate compliment.