It’s the rivalry to end all rivalries.

Australia. Team GB. The team pursuit.

There are fewer races that are a greater test of a nation’s might in a velodrome.

Power, endurance and graceful precision from the riders marry with technological innovations that allow those riders to get the best out of their machines.

It’s a discipline where everything can change in the space of just a few short years, for both good and bad.

And, three years after the catastrophe in Tokyo, Australia is back on top.

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The team suffered a dramatic equipment malfunction in Tokyo that saw Alex Porter smash into the pine face-first at 65kph when his handlebars suffered a catastrophic failure. 

AusCycling were then forced to remove the handlebars from its track bikes being used in the 1,000m time trial at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games for a similar reason.

For that reason alone, most people were not giving Australia a chance.

“I think a lot of people kind of underestimated what we can do,”  newly crowned gold medallist Sam Welsford said. 

“We used that to our advantage here and we kind of kept under the radar.”

They were not under the radar after Tuesday’s sensational world record.

“I think we all knew that we had it in us,” Welsford said.

“You know, I think when we saw 40 up on the board yesterday I think we’re all a bit surprised, but then we backed ourselves in and we knew that we could actually do that.”

All they had to do then, was back it up, and back it up they did.

Legendary coach Tim Decker, who left the program in 2022, only to return a year later, was emotional after the team received its medals, saying that he “never” doubted that this team could get back to the top in track cycling’s marquee event.

“This is such a big moment,” Dekker said. 

“They deserve this. We’ve been to hell and back, and for them to make this happen has been amazing.

“People forget Tokyo and what happened in Tokyo. 

“We were a very, very strong team there and we got a bronze medal, probably with our third best line up, and the resilience the boys showed in Tokyo and to actually move forward from that and come back and make this happen [is inspirational].”

In a blur of speed and amid a wildly-pro British crowd, Welsford, Oliver Bleddyn, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien bested their Great British counterparts in the gold medal final on Wednesday to claim the Olympic title for the first time since 2004.

During a desperately tight race, with four lead changes in the first four laps, Australia managed to open up a lead of around 0.3 seconds in the third kilometre.

However, Great Britain fought back to within a tenth of a second in the final kilometre as the dark-blue line powered back.

Australia, though, held their form and composure to win a brilliant gold medal.

The pursuit is an event like no other on the track — with no discipline more receptive to the rapid advancements in technology in the sport.

Since the event became professionally incorporated at the 1993 UCI World Championships, the world record time has dropped precipitously from over four minutes to 3 minutes and 40.730 seconds, set by Australia on Tuesday.

This is the event where the synchronisation of rider and bike is at its most beautiful, one of the most aesthetically pleasing events in sport.

Four cyclists riding in perfect harmony at speeds of over 60 kilometres per hour, leaders switching with broad, sweeping rolls up the vertiginous banking before latching back on to the back wheel of the last in line.

The effortless look of the teamwork, each rider crouched in a tucked streamline, belies the power that is being produced by each and every one of the quartet.

Welsford had described a contest with Britain as “the biggest rivalry there is,” after his team broke the world record on Tuesday.

There’s no doubt it is a rivalry like no other.

Australia has won 13 out of a possible 32 rainbow jerseys in this event — more than double the next most successful team. Yep, Great Britain.

With a nod to our American cousins, in terms of medals won though, both nations are the joint-most successful with a total of 19 each. 

Perhaps more telling though is that seven of Great Britain’s 10 silver medals have come as a result of being beaten by Australia in that crucial match-up from alternate sides of the oval.

At the Olympics it’s a different story.

Since Australian quartet Graeme Brown, Brett Lancaster, Brad McGee and Luke Roberts broke the world record in 2004, Great Britain won the next three gold medals.

They beat Australia in the gold medal race in the latter of those three events, in 2012 and 2016.

“There’s, yeah, a bit of redemption there,” O’Brien, who was a part of that team, told Channel 9.

“They got us in 2016, and it was really close, by 0.7 of a second. 

“So for us to come here today and really nail the whole team pursuit week has been, really special.”

Having been the most dominant force throughout the early part of the century, Australia and Great Britain have dropped off slightly.

Team GB lost their Olympic title in controversial circumstances, when Denmark crashed into a distanced British rider in Tokyo during the semifinals amidst cheating allegations over the use of illegal shin tape by the Danes.

The equipment malfunction ensured things were hardly a bundle of laughs for the Aussies in Tokyo either.

“We copped a big blow in Tokyo,” Welsford said. 

“But I think that also gave us a bit of fire for us to nail it and really get it right and just come together as a team and do all the things that you have to do to win.

“We just stuck our heads in the sand, got to work and that was probably the most important thing for us.”

Australia and Britain have not contested a world championship final together since 2019, although Britain’s last world championship victory in the event was in 2022, at this very velodrome, with the Aussies coming fourth.

Italy, featuring Ineos Grenadier’s road-cycling time trial specialist Filippo Ganna and Team Lidl-Trek sprinter Jonathan Milan — who both put in massive turns to help win bronze — and Denmark have dominated in recent years.