If the rest of the world thought that they had put the brakes on Great Britain’s cyclists, then a glance at the huge frame of Sir Chris Hoy adorned with gold yet again last night was a reminder that the nation’s talent on two wheels is still in top gear.

Hoy was back to his best and so were his team at the UCI World Cup Classics in Manchester, the first big international event of the new season.

Ten gold medals in 17 championship events, plus four silver and a bronze and two world records — never mind a sensational victory for Matt Crampton in the invitational keirin race, with its £13,500 cash prize — reflected another stunning performance by Britain’s most successful Olympic team.

The National Anthem was played so many times yesterday that knees were starting to creak among the 3,000 wildly enthusiastic fans packed into the Manchester Velodrome. But then they had turned up probably expecting nothing less than a medals board dominated by Team GB.

It is only eight months since Britain returned from the World Championships in Poland somewhat chastened and dragged through the Olympic haze to a cold reality. A paltry haul — for Team GB at least — of two gold, four silver and three bronze medals had the rest of the cycling world wondering if their domination had finally been punctured.

No chance. As Dave Brailsford, the British Cycling performance director, pointed out last night: “We are not comparing like for like. It is like Manchester United putting out a team of youngsters and expecting the result to be the same. We did not field the same strength as we have had here.

“Besides, Beijing was still in us when we got to Poland and London 2012 was too far away for us all to focus on. We were just emotionally and physically full up and we needed some time away to get hungry again. And that is what we have seen in Manchester.”

If beating Britain on the track does not work, the authorities have another plot. The UCI, cycling’s world governing body, is planning to introduce a rule from January 1 that all competition bikes are available for sale in an effort to rein in the exotic prototypes that have been propelling Team GB to such staggering success.

Britain’s prowess at blending man — and woman — and machine has been the envy of the world and plenty in the sport believe that this is a last-ditch attempt to curb their domination.

But Brailsford dismissed the threat, confident that his team, a heady blend of daring youth and powerful experience, could beat anyone — and on any machine.

“We are quite happy to share our technology,” he said. “We will share whatever we have got. I can’t share what I have got in my head, but we can go back to everybody rides the same skinsuits and the same bikes and I still think we would win.

“It’s in the head and the legs. The technology is overstated. Everybody is wearing pretty much the same skinsuits and riding the same bikes here, and we are doing well enough.”

The crucial ingredient Brailsford cannot share with the world is the ethic that infuses Team GB at every level. Hoy is the figurehead, winning three golds here after eight months out of action through injury, while Wendy Houvenaghel encouraged her young brood of Lizzie Armitstead and Jo Rowsell to a world record in the women’s team pursuit.

Team GB also have sensational youngsters, such as Armitstead, 20, with a gold in the women’s points race to add to pursuit gold, and Geraint Thomas, 23, who electrified the Manchester Velodrome with the world’s fastest official time and gold in the individual pursuit, plus another gold yesterday in the team pursuit with Steve Burke, Ed Clancy and Andy Tennant, missing the world record by less than a tenth of a second.

If there was one signal to the rest of the world how deep the layers of talent go in this squad, it was in the men’s team sprint yesterday, in which Team GB effectively took on Team GB in the final.

It was the Britain squad of Crampton, David Daniell and Jason Kenny up against Hoy, Jamie Staff and Ross Edgar, racing under the banner of Team Sky+HD, British Cycling’s leading sponsor. Hoy and his crew took gold.

Their victory was added glitter to the bagful of gold that Hoy took home to Scotland after a year ruined by a serious hip injury.

Hoy was tipped off his bike at a World Cup event in Copenhagen in February and spent ten weeks laid up before he could start training again. It was agony, but Hoy admits that the long break from international competition after the tumult of the Beijing Olympics — where he won the three golds that transformed his life from cyclist to knight of the realm and BBC Sports Personality of the Year — revived him physically and mentally.

“It was the first time in years I had not been on my bike for any length of time,” he said. “But it did me a lot of good. I realised how much I loved my sport and how much I needed to be back. There has been so much going on and now I can focus again on what I really want to do.”

But before Hoy gets back to training for the future, there was time last night to revel once more in that historic Beijing success as Manchester gave the freedom of the city to Britain’s Olympians.

Damp and dreary Manchester is not always thought of as a city paved with gold, but this morning it could lay claim to the title — thanks to Hoy and Team GB.

Britain’s medal winners

Gold

Women’s sprint: Victoria Pendleton.
Men’s sprint: Sir Chris Hoy.
Men’s team sprint: Hoy, Ross Edgar, Jamie Staff.
Men’s keirin: Hoy.
Men’s individual pursuit: Geraint Thomas.
Men’s team pursuit: Thomas, Steve Burke, Ed Clancy, Andy Tennant.
Men’s points race: Chris Newton.
Women’s individual pursuit: Wendy Houvenaghel.
Women’s points race: Lizzie Armitstead.
Women’s team pursuit: Armitstead, Houvenaghel, Jo Rowsell.
JKA Invitation Keirin: Matthew Crampton.

Silver

Men’s kilometre: David Daniell.
Men’s sprint: Matthew Crampton.
Men’s team sprint: Daniell, Crampton, Jason Kenny.
Women’s 500 metres: Pendleton.

Bronze

Men’s sprint: Kenny.