Great Britain’s reign at the velodrome came to an end on a dramatic day but there was a silver lining for a trio of Scottish cyclists. 

Katie Archibald and Neah Evans were part of GB’s quartet in the women’s team pursuit that failed to win gold for the first time in the event’s history at the Olympics. 

Germany had broken the world record in qualifying on Monday and did it twice more to leave Archibald and Evans, along with Laura Kenny and Josie Knight, to settle for silver. 

There was a sense of disappointment at missing out on the gold, but Archibald admitted that the team could not have done more.

She said: “We pushed things to the limit, but they caught up with us by the end of the day.

"To break a world record you have to put all the pieces together in exactly the right order and it always involves a bit of risk.  

“It’s five years of trying to finesse that. You think you can do it perfectly on the day and sometimes you can.” 

Evans was something of a surprise inclusion, preferred to Rio gold medallist Elinor Barker, who had taken part in qualifying. 

It was a show of faith in Evans, and despite a crash that saw Archibald and Evans collide after qualifying for the final, but despite missing out on gold, Archibald insisted it was the right call. 

“We thought we could make an easier switch to get the most out of Neah by moving the line-up," added Archibald, who is able to train full-time and benefit from world class facilities, technology, coaching and support teams thanks to National Lottery funding – which has never been more important in getting her to the start line after a turbulent year.

"It's Neah's strengths that have put her in the team rather than El's weaknesses that have taken her out.  

“It's something we've promoted this entire cycle, that we have five strong riders.”  

National Lottery support has been vital for GB cyclists and through playing the National Lottery, players have helped transform the fortunes of Team GB over the past two decades.

After the women’s team pursuit took silver and the men’s team pursuit saw their reign ended after three successive golds, it was the turn of the men’s team sprint to be beaten for the first time since 2004.

The Netherlands had been unbeaten since 2017 and they carried that form all the way to gold, beating the trio of Paiseley’s Jack Carlin, Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens in the final. 

And while Carlin was disappointed not to continue the golden tradition, there were no regrets. 

Carlin said: “We came for more but I think we can be proud of ourselves. 

“We broke the Olympic record at one point, the Dutch again took it off us. We are happy, we just want more.”

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