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Ballerup Super Arena, Copenhagen

I've watched countless riders flash past my eyes while sitting in the inner-circle at the Super Arena over the past five days but, although the action on the boards is now over, it is clear that track cycling will not stop being a fast-moving sport.

Whether it is the pace at which rival nations are moving to try to steal Great Britain's crown ahead of the , the shift in the way the interpret their own rules or the continual fluidity in the demands of some of the disciplines, the next few years might also be a blur.

So it was encouraging to see the British squad in Copenhagen provide evidence that they have an extra gear or two to call upon themselves should they need them to stay ahead of the pack. Because the likelihood is they will.

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Ballerup Super Arena, Copenhagen

It only take a glance at the medal table at these World Championships to see that Australia is the country that represents the biggest threat to Great Britain's hopes of continuing the domination they enjoyed at the Beijing Olympics when they host the London Games in 2012...but then we probably knew that anyway.

The debate at the Super Arena all week has been whether the Aussies' results here prove that they are capable of snatching Britain's cycling crown when it really matters but, whatever you think about that, the six gold medals they have collected shows their resurgence on the track is gathering a head of steam.

Not only are they mopping up across the board, they are doing so whilst retaining the same focus on Olympic events that Britain holds; although Australia have less medals here in the five disciplines that will be fought out in two years time, they have out-gunned Britain for golds in those events after winning the both team pursuits and the women's team sprint to out-do Sir Chris Hoy and Vicky Pendleton's exploits in the keirin and sprint.

Perhaps more significantly, has done all that with a squad with an average age of just 21. If Britain's performance manager Dave Brailsford can claim with confidence that his riders will get better over the next two years, then Australia's high performance manager Paul Brosnan could respond that his will too.

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After the sheer elation of on Thursday night, seeing Great Britain's team pursuit squad pipped for gold by a rampant Australia was undoubtedly a bitter pill to swallow for British cycling fans in Copenhagen.

But, if there is one track event where there is definitely a silver lining in defeat for British Cycling's performance director Dave Brailsford, it is in the four-man 4km race around 16 laps of the Ballerup Super Arena.

Yes, Brailsford had to watch riders from Australia - Team GB's fiercest cycling rivals - for the fifth time this week, and in a highly-valued Olympic discipline to boot.

But keeping London 2012 in mind, we should remember Britain were without three of their strongest pursuit riders, Bradley Wiggins , Geraint Thomas and Peter Kennaugh, who with Brailsford's approval - not to mention under his jurisdiction at - are currently concentrating on the road, not the velodrome.

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Ballerup Super Arena, Copenhagen

The message from British Cycling so far this week may be that medals don't matter much at these World Championships - but try telling that to Sir Chris Hoy.

Sweat was still dripping from the Scot's face after he stepped off the podium where he had collected gold for the keirin, and his first request was for a pair of trainers so he could release his aching feet from the discomfort of his painfully tight cycling shoes.

Yes, the road to London 2012 is more important but personal success matters too - especially with a landmark victory such as this - as well as giving the British fans who travelled to Denmark something to cheer about.

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At Ballerup Super Arena, Copenhagen

If Britain's track cyclists needed any reminding that it is not just a case of turning up at London 2012 to collect a clutch of gold medals, they got it in spades in Copenhagen on Wednesday.

Fortune was certainly absent for GB at the Ballerup Super Arena, where a freak accident saw Sir Chris Hoy's pedal snap off as he approached the start line of the men's team sprint qualifier - something that has never happened to the Scot before in his long career on a bike.

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Ballerup Super Arena, Copenhagen

On the eve of this week's , it seems strange to hear Britain's squad talking about doing anything other than cleaning up in Copenhagen; after all, this is the sport in which GB have almost become accustomed to global domination in recent years.

But, while GB can still expect to collect plenty of medals of various colours over the next few days - as they should with the likes of and in their 19-strong squad - the message is already loud and clear - success in Scandinavia is secondary to glory on home soil at the .

In fact, when I arrived in the Danish capital - appropriately known to locals as Bike City - on Tuesday afternoon, I half expected British Cycling's head coach Shane Sutton to have put up signposts outside the velodrome at the Ballerup Super Arena, pointing back towards London and reading '28 months to go'.

That's how palpable it is that the team management view these championships as just a stepping stone towards winning when it really matters.

The riders agree too. Hoy says he would "sacrifice any future medal to be a champion in London", while Pendleton says these Championships, in the grand scheme of things, are "unimportant".

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