With eight gold, three silver and two bronze medals safely tucked away for the flight home from Beijing, cycling would appear to be one sport without a care in the world.

And yet, as any successful manager will tell you, getting to the top is easy, it's staying there that is the hard part.

Britain's cycling team have proved themselves to be the best at these Games - now they have to maintain their brilliance for the next four years.

Already, the man who is rightly credited with transforming the fortunes of Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Co, Dave Brailsford, fears his elite team of coaches will be poached by rival nations jealous of their success.

The Australian squad suffered more than most from British domination in the Laoshan velodrome, slumping to one medal having won six in Athens, and need a fresh direction.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone was also spotted in the velodrome, prompting speculation that he may be poised with an offer.

"I need to keep my staff, that's one of the problems I face," Brailsford revealed.

"It doesn't take a genius to work out most of my staff are the best in the business and the approaches have started already. We've all been made offers while we have been out here. The others have looked at what we have done and will try to copy us."

Brailsford admits that it will be difficult to avoid London being an anti-climax but the plotting starts now. He will sit down with funding body UK Sport early next year to decide the level of investment for the next four year. Cycling can expect an increase in the £22million funding it received up to Beijing.

The sport has delivered gradual improvements in podium performance as the cheques have got bigger with each Olympic Games.

The sport received £5.4m ahead of the Sydney Games, which produced three medals; in Athens £8.6m reaped four medals. The step change came after London won the 2012 Olympics, with British Cycling receiving a £22m share of the extra public funding which has resulted in 14 medals. About half of the money has been spent on developing talent for 2012 and beyond within the squad of 73 funded riders.

Brailsford said the extra cash would make little difference beyond helping to retain key backroom staff. "Cash always helps and there is a certain amount you need to do the job and after that the returns get smaller and smaller. The difference between us and professional teams is that we can't go out and buy players left, right and centre," he said.

Continuity will prove the key in 2012 as stalwarts of the team may be past their best. Londoner Bradley Wiggins will be 32 and has signalled he may make way in the individual event for a younger racer while "hiding" in the team pursuit.

Triple gold-medallist Hoy, who will be 36, insists he will defy the ageing process and go even faster. Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton hopes that by 2012 cycling chiefs will have changed the male-biased events programme that gave her only one shot at gold in Beijing. "Queen Victoria" will be 32 and is intent on battling younger riders for a spot.

According to head coach Shane Sutton, part of the success in Beijing has come from the pressure being exerted by a crop of four young riders with an average age of just over 20. Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas, winners of gold in the team pursuit, will be contenders in the individual race in 2012. Steven Burke clinched bronze in the individual pursuit and Jason Kenny won silver in the men's sprint after pushing winner Hoy harder than anyone in the past 10 days.

Sutton also believes the flat road race course around Regent's Park, instead of the mountainous one in China, will help sprint specialist Mark Cavendish, 23, who emerged without a medal in Beijing.

Sutton said: "I think you need to cheat within the rules. With the road course we have got the fastest sprinter in the world in Cavendish and he can only get better in 2012."