Gold medal No3: Team pursuit 2008

Back then Brad was a big deal in the world of cycling. Eight years on, he is in a completely different ballpark of celebrity. We can’t go anywhere with him these days. People stop you in the street and take pictures of him. When you’re in cycling kit, people recognise him; when you’re not in kit, they recognise him. It is at the point where Brad cannot really go out around Manchester without getting hassled. The sport has just changed so much.

Thinking back to how we prepared for Beijing, we went out to Majorca a week or two before. We just thought we would try to get one more week in, so we rang Shane Sutton, who OK’d it and off we went. It was just me, Geraint Thomas, Brad, Paul Manning, one coach and a mechanic.

It was no more complicated than that. No one recognised Brad. There seems to be more staff now, more people involved in the whole preparation, from the mental coaching to the bike maintenance. Brad was ill at those Games. You saw it in the team pursuit. He had already ridden three rounds of the individual pursuit and was tired. He was still OK, but not like he had been in training.

Brad is a joy to have around now. And I am not just saying that. He is ruthless, singleminded. I never realised this eight years ago, but he thinks a lot outside of the box. He doesn’t just use our coach. He will speak to Shane if he feels the need. He will speak to other riders, other sports scientists knocking around here. He will almost make his own programme. He just does what he wants.

But he is brilliant. A lot of us, myself included, eight times out of 10 we will go to the track and smash out good efforts. But then I have days when I am not 100 per cent, maybe I don’t believe in the training or whatever. Brad doesn’t do that. He is great to have around. From what I see, there is no ego. If he has a point to make and wants to be heard, he will make himself heard, for sure. But he does not need to be the centre of attention. He trains hard and is an example to the rest of us.