A well-designed circuit for the Commonwealth Games was rewarded with two great races, full of attacking.

With a punchy course featuring short, sharp ascents, it was a circuit which encouraged aggressive racing in what was almost a one-day Classic for the men.

Mark Cavendish’s victory in the national road race in 2013 showed it is a course on which the sprinters can excel but, like last year, the men’s race was won once again from a small breakaway group.

An attritional men’s race, not helped by torrential rain, saw just 12 riders finish – Geraint Thomas (Wales) the first of them.

It is perhaps the greatest testament to the course that one of the hardest working, toughest riders in the WorldTour peloton went on to win, with Thomas reaping the rewards for getting his tactics spot on, staying out of trouble at the front of the bunch early on before making his killer move when it mattered.

And with the women’s race having been an equally enthralling spectacle, with Emma Pooley to the fore again before Queen Lizzie Armitstead took gold, as well as a time trial course which also produced a thrilling spectacle, the Glasgow 2014 organisers will rightly be celebrating two great days of racing at the Games.