Scottish legend Sir Chris Hoy is more than familiar with track cycling’s world records, having held some himself during his glittering career and narrowly missed out on the kilo record during a weekend of efforts in Bolivia in 2007.
It was little surprise then to see the multiple Olympic champion taking to Twitter as first the men’s team sprint record – previously held by Hoy, Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny – was broken, before Francois Pervis obliterated the flying 200m and kilo marks.
Hoy Tweeted his congratulations to Pervis and also to Brit Matt Crampton who won keirin gold – pointing to him being Hoy’s long-term replacement in the men’s sprint squad.
But how the 37-year-old must have wanted to be out on the boards having seen the records tumble out in Mexico.
Could he be tempted back out of retirement with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on the cards next year?
He has joked in the past it may be the only way to get his family members tickets after they missed out in the public ballot, but do not count on it.
Just prior to the European Championships, organisers in Apeldoorn made a cheeky enquiry, asking the six-time Olympic champion if he might be tempted to return to the venue having, unusually, missed out on success on his previous visits there.
But Hoy – who was in Glasgow to launch HOY Bikes’ new Fiorenzuola track bike at Revolution earlier this month – reiterated his desire to stay retired.
Francois Pervis and Matthew Crampton will no doubt be among the men very glad of that.
