A few spokes might have been placed in their wheels in recent times but British Cycling shows no signs of slowing down as the next Olympic cycle begins. The fall-out from the Fancy Bears' expose of Sir Bradley Wiggins' Therapeutic Use Exemptions might have caused some reputational damage to the national brand but Sir Chris Hoy cut a contented figure as he sat in his eponymous velodrome last weekend to take in the opening round of the Tissot UCI Track World Cup. Not only did the smoothly functioning machine which has churned out success after success in this sport in the last decade click into gear with a number of fine performances from a new generation of cycling talent, particularly pleasing for Hoy were a hat-trick of promising displays from Scottish riders.

While newlyweds Laura and Jason Kenny were resting on their laurels, not to mention Scotland's team sprint gold medalist Callum Skinner, the only Olympic hero on site was Katie Archibald. She left the venue on the Sunday wearing both a gold medal and a splint, having been found to have fractured a wrist in an early crash which typically was insufficient to prevent her from winning the Madison with her Welsh partner Manon Lloyd. Rather than tackling six events at this week's Scottish national championships, Archibald has been prescribed some indefinite rest and it says it all for the brutal nature of this sport that Hoy thinks the injury might have been a blessing in disguise. If so, it is a pretty good one.

"Although it is a broken wrist and she will be disappointed right now, it might actually be one of the best things that can happen - because it is enforced rest," Hoy told Herald Sport. "Whilst I am sure she will still be onto the turbo trainer and doing stuff in the gym it means she is not doing this, this, and this and can mentally take her foot off the gas."

Hoy rails against the notion of some riders being more 'naturally talented' than others, but what is undoubtedly true is that the 22-year-old from Milngavie possesses the kind of star quality and versatility which others cannot reach. While Laura Trott, now Kenny, took gold in the omnium in Rio and is still only 24, Archibald is also putting her hand up for inclusion in the multi sport event which was won by another young Brit, Emily Kay, in Glasgow.

"It is a tricky one for the coaches but a nice problem to have because they have got so much strength and depth," said Hoy. "All her success is down to hard work, not some kind of magical gift, but she is very versatile and has that potential to turn her hand to shorter events. But accidents can happen at any time. Having a fall, breaking your wrist, that could be the week before the Olympics. That is why sport is always exciting."

Archibald might have had the big billing, but perhaps it was inevitable that the performance that a speed freak like Hoy really left the arena on Sunday night purring about came in the men's team sprint. Led out the traps by a lightning 17.36 turn by Jack Carlin, a 19-year-old from Paisley, Britain's 'B' team of Carlin, Ryan Owens and Joe Truman took gold by almost half a second from their French counterparts, in a time faster than anything recorded by Olympic gold medalists Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Scotland's own Callum Skinner achieved in the four years leading up to Rio. The World Cup action moves on to Apeldoorn in the Netherlands this week and Hoy believes all three will get the chance to nail down a place for the World Championships in Hong Kong in April.

"We have spent so long trying to find a solid man one and now we have got Phil who is the quickest in the world, but it is good to have Jack snapping at his heels," said Hoy. "He has got a long way to go still, he still hasn't reached his peak but I think we have seen that he is on a fairly steep improvement curve. The time may come where he starts to plateau a little bit then his morale starts to drop but I am sure he has got a level head and will deal with that when the time comes. It is great that they are dealing with that together. Britain could field a complete team who in theory who could step in as a unit and perform at the best."

Indeed, with Carlin's emergence and the form of Skinner, Scotland could field a competitive team in this event at the Gold Coast in 2018 - assuming, that is, they can find the third man capable of keeping up. Hoy, Craig MacLean and Ross Edgar took gold for Scotland in this event back in Melbourne in 2006, but sadly the 40-year-old from Edinburgh is less keen than Scott Brown on ending his international retirement.

"You could theoretically put a different starter in, push Jack back to man two, and Callum to man three, but then everything becomes a bit of a compromise," said Hoy. "I generally think you want to pick a team from the start back, but it is up to the Scottish coaches. That has to be the priority, finding the third man for that team, because they could potentially be in the running for a medal. If they really get the right one, potentially for a gold medal."

The third member of this Scottish grouping is Mark Stewart, a 22-year-old from Dundee who took gold in the team pursuit and narrowly missed out on a second medal in the points race. A bit like Archibald, this is a rider with enough versatility to specialise in either the track or the track. He spent some time working with Scottish road racer David Millar out in Brescia, Italy. "The road which can be quite an allure when you are young," said Hoy. "But I do hope he sticks to the track because he does have a big future ahead of him if he does commit to it.

"There are other Scottish riders who could get onto it but at the moment they are the three big ones I would say, plus Callum Skinner of course," Hoy added. "For a small nation that is pretty impressive but you are always wanting more, always looking for the next potential star of the future. Don't get me wrong, there are so many more riders riding the track than 10 or 20 years ago, but it is just about getting the support, and at the same time not getting them too specific too young."