British Cycling will hope the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships are remembered for the emergence of new talent despite the hype surrounding the return of Laura and Jason Kenny.

The Kennys came and delivered in Apeldoorn, taking home a silver medal each as part of the women’s team pursuit and men’s team sprint squads – highly significant results given it is only six months since Laura gave birth.

But it was the younger riders in Britain’s squad that caught the eye as Britain finished third in the medals table behind only hosts Holland and Germany.

Emily Nelson was a late replacement for Elinor Barker in the women’s Madison, but the 21-year-old showed her strengths as she and Katie Archibald took gold.

Two days earlier, Ed Clancy was very much the old man of a men’s team pursuit squad which claimed Britain’s other set of rainbow jerseys.

The 32-year-old was joined by converted sprinter Kian Emadi, 25, the 19-year-old Ethan Hayter and 21-year-old Charlie Tanfield – the latter one of two amateurs in the British squad here.

As a three-time Olympic champion, Clancy knows a thing or two about elite talent in this event, and he sees it in Hayter and Tanfield, comparing Hayter to Sir Bradley Wiggins.

“It’s hard to predict the future but he looks strong to me,” he said. “You look at the turns he threw. He did two, and then a three-and-a-quarter lap finish, so that is five-and-a-quarter laps from man four. As a 19 year-old? It’s pretty typical to get five laps out of a man four. It’s the sort of thing we’d get out of Bradley in Rio. But he’s doing that at 19.”

Tanfield, who also managed a fourth-placed finish in the individual pursuit, must wait to see if he can get on to the elite programme in the coming months, which would be a remarkable achievement for a young man who has been combining training with his university studies.

“He’s worked flipping hard,” said his fellow amateur and KGF team-mate Dan Bigham. “Some of the stuff he does is on another level. He does a whole day of university, 9am til 6pm, then he puts his lights on and does a five-hour
ride because he’s got to do it. Fair play to him.”

On the men’s sprint side, Ryan Owens, 22, Joe Truman, 21, and Jack Carlin, 20, continued their progression. They joined Kenny and Phil Hindes in winning silver in the team sprint before impressing in individual events, the
star turn coming when Carlin claimed silver in the individual sprint on Saturday.

Britain’s performance director Stephen Park beamed as he talked of “winning across the board” of disciplines, encouraging markers two years out from the Tokyo Olympics.

The only weakness remains in the women’s sprint, where Rio bronze medallist Katy Marchant set a personal best in qualifying for the 500m time trial but there were no medals.

Park remains hopeful that area can be addressed soon.

“We’ve got some promising young riders come through the academy set-up but the million dollar question is whether there is enough time for them to progress,” he said. “The coaches are confident we will be in a strong position.”

The performances were a welcome dose of good news as British Cycling was bracing for the uncomfortable reading which came with Monday’s release of the parliamentary report into doping in sport.

“For the Great Britain cycling team and our riders, it’s about focusing on the job in hand, which they are clearly doing,” Park said.

“It’s great for the cycling public to be able to see some new riders coming through, new riders to follow and new names to cheer. These are the shoots of the flowers that are going to go on and blossom in a couple of years’ time. Spring is coming.”