SIR Chris Hoy and Great Britain’s cycling team proved their thirst for glory remains undiminished with a dominant display at the Track World Cup in Manchester.

On his international return from injury, four-time Olympic champion Hoy proved his indomitable spirit with three gold medals.

In total Britain claimed ten golds from 17 events, adding four silver and one bronze.

Hoy added team sprint gold on day three to his keirin and sprint titles – replicating his successes of Beijing – but the day belonged to the pursuit squads.

The men’s quartet – Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Andy Tennant – clocked the second fastest time in history.

They set a track record of three minutes 54.395 seconds, just 1.081 seconds down on the world record Britain set at the Beijing Games.

Britain’s women went one better, with Lizzie Armitstead, Joanna Rowsell and Wendy Houvenaghel breaking the world record with a time of 3mins 21.875secs, shaving 0.54secs off the previous best.

For Hoy, who suffered a serious hip injury in his last World Cup outing in Copenhagen in February and was forced to miss the World Championships in Poland in March, the return was beyond expectations.

After setting his second fastest flying 200 metres time in sprint qualification on day two, Hoy anchored Team Sky+HD to gold after laps from Jamie Staff and Ross Edgar in another scintillating performance to beat British trio Jason Kenny, Matt Crampton and David Daniell in the final.

‘‘I don’t think I could’ve expected anything more,’’ said Hoy.

‘‘Even this morning when I woke up with sore legs, I don’t think I could have expected to go as quick as we went today.

‘‘That last lap was a 13.02 (seconds) and I believe that’s the fastest time ever for a third lap of a team sprint. Quicker than Beijing.”

Hoy’s form is staggering considering he has had his longest-ever layoff from the bike, almost three months since his Valentine’s Day crash.

‘‘It gave me time to get over the whole post-Beijing period and made me realise just how much I missed being on the bike,’’ he added.

‘‘I’ve come back and I’ve enjoyed it as much as I was doing before Beijing.

‘‘There’s so many demands on my time when you come down here for training and it’s just you, the coaches and the teammates, that’s what I enjoy the most.’’ Hoy demonstrated his commitment to the team cause by watching and applauding as the team pursuit quartets thrilled a sell-out crowd.

First the men, buoyed by a stunning qualifying performance, sent the crowd into raptures.

Tennant replaced Ben Swift for the final as Britain made a seamless transition from their qualifying display with a second astonishing performance.

Britain caught silver medallists Spain little more than halfway through the four-kilometre event, but continued targeting a record-breaking ride, which they duly delivered.