In the end there was no fairytale finish for Great Britain. Perhaps it was being greedy to expect a tenth gold medal.
Victoria Pendleton was edged into second place by USA's Jennie Reed in the final event of the World Track Championships, the women's Keirin.
It was a battling effort from Pendleton as she attempted to repeat the triple crown of team sprint, sprint and Keirin titles she won in Majorca last year.
But it was not to be and so Britain's medal total finishes at nine golds and two silvers from the 18 events in a phenomenal week of racing. They top the table by a mile and will go to Beijing for the Olympics this summer as the track team to beat.
So, Sunday was the day the gold rush dried up. Who, a few years ago, could have dreamed that Britain would be so dominant?
The last time the championships were held at Manchester, in 2000, British fans thought they'd witnessed a successful championships.
There was gold for Yvonne McGregor in the pursuit, silver for the team pursuiters and team sprint trio and bronze for Jason Queally in the kilo and Rob Hayles in the pursuit.
That was when the Lottery funding and Peter Keen's vision for the World Class Performance Plan was first felt. Eight years on Britain sits at the top of the tree.
Not only that, but Great Britain's class of 2008 must be considered the most successful track cycling team of all-time.
Bring on Beijing.
In the day's other events, Dutch riders Eleonora Van Dijk won the women's scratch race, Teun Mulder took the men's kilometre and Hayden Godfrey of New Zealand won the men's omnium.
2008 TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAILY REPORTS
Sunday, day five>>
Saturday, day four>>
Friday, day three>>
Thursday, day two>>
Wednesday, day one>>
RELATED LINKS
Women's Keirin: Reed denies Pendleton the perfect finish
Who are Brit's golden nine?
Hoy wins the Keirin
Eighth gold for Britain in the Madison
Gold for Pendleton in the sprint
Chris Hoy wins sprint gold
Pursuit women take fifth British gold medal
Jo Rowsell's gold: the toast of Sutton Cycling Club
Belarussian wins men's points race
Britain going for more gold on Friday
Comment: How many more gold for GB?
Hat-trick of golds for Britain
Britain break team pursuit world record
GB into women's team pursuit final
Gold for Romero in individual pursuit
Reade and Pendleton cruise into team sprint final
Track World Champs: results
Romero breaks British pursuit record
It's Britain vs Denmark in team pursuit final
Britain aiming for team pursuit world record
Britain take silver in team sprint
Crowd step in as French anthem stalls
Hayles denies cheating after failing blood test
Wiggins: "I'm pleased I got the job done"
Wiggins wins pursuit gold
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Hayles fails pre-race blood test at Track Worlds
Cycling Weekly's 2008 Track World Championships preview
PHOTO GALLERIES
CW's online gallery section>>
Day three in pictures
Day two in pictures
Day one in pictures
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