The build-up to the Games certainly didn’t instill confidence in Britain’s chances of replicating their recent hauls, especially with both sprint teams regularly out of the medals and seemingly out of form in the intervening period between London and Rio.

But as soon as the men’s team sprint trio laid down the marker with an Olympic record and victory on the first night in Brazil, gold medals just kept on coming. Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner set the bar, and others continued to raise it from then on.

The results of the review into British Cycling, and Shane Sutton’s behaviour, remains to be seen but one thing the Australian can’t be faulted on is his ability to develop a winning team.

“As soon as the men’s team sprint trio laid down the marker with an Olympic record and victory on the first night, gold medals just kept on coming”

Controversial selection decisions had to be made along the way – Jess Varnish’s omission among them, but also Matt Crampton being dropped from the men’s sprint squad and Mark Cavendish being picked for the men’s endurance team ahead of Andy Tennant and Jon Dibben.

But on every single decision, British Cycling has been vindicated in Rio. Sutton told RCUK, in an interview shortly before his suspension and resignation, that he was a numbers man, a dealer in facts.

Well the numbers put out by the British team were clearly better than their rivals and the fact, as it was at the end of London 2012, is that Team GB is still the team to beat on the boards.

It is the attention to detail which shines through more than anything. As part of his excellent co-commentary role on BBC Sport, Chris Boardman gave an insight into how marginal gains have constantly been sought.

Everything from kit to bike position, diet to daily life, have been looked at to see what gains can be made in the pursuit of faster times and more medals.

Head physio Phil Burt, a bike fit specialist, did a recent interview with The Guardian in which he said research had been done into the effects of waxing and epilating on the women in the team, and comfort in the saddle – with changes made as a result.

Quite literally, no stone has been left unturned, meaning just as the rest of the world thinks it has caught up, the Brits take another step (or should that be pedal-stroke?) forward.

“Just as the rest of the world thinks it has caught up, the Brits take another step forward”

I was asked to predict how many medals the Brits would get on the track at these Games and – based on their recent performances – settled on three golds, two silvers and a bronze.

Instead, Britain will be returning from the Games with six golds, four silvers and a bronze – with every single one of the riders to have raced on the track in Rio having won a medal (only reserves such as Ciara Horne, who didn’t get a ride in the women’s team pursuit, missed out).

Even based on their past Olympic Games performances we didn’t see this one coming. For Tokyo, perhaps a safer prediction would be golds across the board.

And yet, as British Cycling continues the pursuit of excellence, such a prediction might not actually be far off.