“At the end of the day it’s just riding around in circles.”

Will Tidball is being modest. England’s team pursuit win at the Commonwealth Games was far from straightforward.

Earlier in the day, after a ragged qualifying run, world champion Josh Charlton threw up over his team-mate’s bike.

It meant a late change in the line-up – to one they had never run before. Still they beat Olympic champions Australia to gold.

“I wasn’t actually meant to be doing this event this evening,” Tidball told BBC Sport.

“To get subbed in, having not done any efforts in this team, or in this track, or in this order, it was always going to be a bit of a gamble.”

The first signs of trouble came in the morning qualifying.

In the team pursuit, riders start as a quartet before dropping to three when the one at the front has given everything.

Those final three are supposed to cross the line together but Charlton, the world champion from the individual event, became detached with four laps to go and was still emerging from the final bend when team-mates Charlie Tanfield and Ethan Vernon crossed the line ahead.

Changes in personnel for finals are not uncommon in team pursuiting. In fact, the opposite is true.

But switching to an untested team is a gamble.

England had been two seconds adrift of Australia in qualifying. Something had to be done.

“There is strategy in play, different heights and orders,” said Tanfield, the veteran of this team at 29.

“Me and Ethan finished ahead of them [Australia’s qualifying time].

“We knew if we had a clean ride we could beat them.

“I just kept reminding the lads – even if you are behind things can change.”

The changes meant Tidball, Tanfield and Vernon lined up alongside 19-year-old Henry Hobbs, who is competing at his first major championships.

“You have just got to go through your own process,” Vernon said.

“It didn’t change what I had to do. I had the same role, same turn lengths and went through my own rhythm.”

Even in the final, momentum swung. England built an early lead before Australia crept their way back to have the advantage shortly after halfway.

But, crucially, Hobbs clung on – England staying as a quartet for three punishing laps after Australia had dropped to a trio.

Every extra turn helps those shielded behind him, leaving more in the tank for the finish.

“Henry did way longer than he should have done on the front and so did Charlie,” Vernon said.

“I could tell we were up [ahead of Australia] but we were also starting to fall apart a bit.

“I was glancing across the track and trying to do enough to not drop my team-mate but also stay ahead of the Aussies.”

Gaps began to appear between English wheels as the noise in the crowd grew louder.

Vernon and Tanfield were part of the Team GB quartet beaten by Australia in the Paris Olympics final. Spare a thought for Charlton watching on, helpless.

“It was more nerve-wracking than being in it,” he said.

“It was tight at times but I had faith they were going to pull away at the end and they did.”

In the end, England won by 1.131 seconds. Their time of three minutes 47.092 seconds was a new Commonwealth Games record and the Australians had been dethroned.

As ever in track cycling, there is a race on and off the track.

This was a marker from England for the rest of this event and the Olympics in two years’ time, when Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can add reinforcements too.

“The Aussies always turn up to Commonwealth Games,” Vernon said.

“They go full equipment, good skinsuit, good equipment, everything.

“In England we go with a different mindset. We save stuff for the Olympics.

“We don’t have the best skinsuits. We are doing the best we can and to beat them without that is special.”

For Tanfield this was a second Commonwealth gold, eight years after his first in the individual event.

Vernon added this gold to others in the national, European and World Championships. For him, only the Olympics remains.

Charlton, who hopes to be fit for the individual event on Friday, and Tidball now have their first Commonwealth medals to add to others won on the world stage.

“I wasn’t quite on the money today but we will see how it goes tomorrow,” Charlton said. “I will give it everything I have got in me.”

But the moment was, perhaps, most special for teenager Hobbs.

“It is my first year as an elite. Even getting selected for this was a big surprise,” he said.

“To pull off the win is amazing.”

There is far more to it than riding in circles.