It is, undoubtedly, a time of change for Australian cycling. That's not unusual in the weeks and months following an Olympics. As one cycle ends, a new one begins. Some riders step away, others step up. However, this post-Olympic period has been more unsettling than most for AusCycling. With five medals, Australia recorded its best performance on the pine at a Games since 2004: a drought-breaking gold in the men's team pursuit plus two silvers and two bronzes in the sprint events behind the indomitable Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen. Matt Richardson won both those silver medals, in the individual sprint and keirin, while Matt Glaetzer claimed a bronze in that keirin race. The other medal came in the team sprint, featuring both Richardson and Glaetzer, alongside Leigh Hoffman. Only Hoffman, who on Thursday won the Australian sprint title in Brisbane, remains in the program. Hesitantly, let's talk about Matt Richardson. One gets a sense that even uttering his name is forbidden within earshot of AusCycling officials, the 25-year-old manifesting as some sort of muscle-bound, rapid-racing Voldemort of the track. Or perhaps it's more an issue for officialdom than the riders. "It is a bit like that," Hoffman told ABC Sport with a broad smile, before turning slightly more serious. "I'd say no bad blood, but at the end of the day, Aussies and Brits always have a rivalry, so why not keep it going? Richardson's dramatic defection to the land of his birth following the Paris Olympics definitively ensured he would be persona non grata among Australian officials at least for the foreseeable future, as evidenced by AusCycling somewhat impotently banning him for life from competing for Australia. It hasn't appeared to slow him down, though. Last month, the three-time Olympic medallist cleaned up at the British Track Cycling championships, winning gold in the sprint, keirin and team sprint — the same events he won medals for Australia in Paris. Richardson was, at that time, the two-time defending Australian champion on the track in both the sprint and keirin. "I set this [winning all three sprint titles] as one of my goals," Richardson told British Cycling in February. "I knew I was capable of it, but doing it and saying it are two completely different things, so I'm just really relieved and happy that I can go out there and achieve my goals." Those goals are being achieved in the navy blue of Great Britain, which he did in front of a record crowd of 11,077 across the three-day competition weekend at the Manchester Velodrome. "Being part of the racing and being in front of that amazing British crowd makes me feel British," Richardson said. "Hearing all those cheers for me and all that support out there makes me feel British. "Racing the national championships just adds to that." Richardson didn't stop there, winning UCI Track Nations Cup gold in the team and individual sprint in Konya, Türkiye earlier this month. He didn't race the keirin, where Hoffman won the B final, and Daniel Barber came sixth. Australia's team sprinters — Ryan Elliott, Barber and Hoffman, the sole survivor from the drought-breaking Paris Olympic bronze medal-winning team — won bronze. It was Richardson's first official outing for Great Britain: "A dream comes true," he said. Richardson even broke the world record for the flying 200m in qualifying at the medium-high altitude Konya track, riding a staggering 9.041 seconds to take 0.05 seconds off the previous record set by Harrie Lavreysen in Paris. Alas, the UCI ruled Olympic silver medallist Richardson had deviated from his line during his sprint and the record was not counted, mirroring the disappointment Richardson had felt when he held the world record for a matter of minutes in Paris before Lavreysen took it off him by just 0.003 seconds. Hoffman has, in fact, beaten Richardson in a sprint since his former teammate switched nationalities, bettering the Olympic silver medallist in a UCI Track Champions League win last December. However, in Konya he finished fourth, beaten by Frenchman Rayan Helal. Either side of that fourth place on the world stage, Hoffman picked up two champions jerseys in Brisbane, winning both the Oceania title in Feburary and the Australian national title this week. While the British Cycling development factory continues to churn out super-fast sprinters, as evidenced by the emergence of 21-year-old Harry Ledingham-Horn, who finished second behind Richardson in Konya, Australia has aces of its own up their sleeve. Hoffman, who admitted to feeling plenty of fatigue upon his return from Türkiye last week but still came within two hundredths of a second of erasing Richardson's championship record for the flying 200m from the record books on a cold and sluggish track in drizzly Brisbane, said by the time Los Angeles rolls around, the Aussies will be ready to fight for medals again. "The younger fellas definitely gave us a solid test," he said, after beating 19-year-old teammate Tayte Ryan in the sprint final. "I had to dig deep and happy to come away with the result. "It could have gone any way in that top four. All the rides were so close. "I think, with me at this level, I can hopefully drag the others up. "Once we've reset for this cycle coming up to LA, we're gonna have some young blood [come through], but if we can develop them, get them going as quick as possible, then I'm definitely confident. "We need these young fellas to get some exposure so their first big race isn't the Olympics." Pursuit to the fore Australia had other success in Konya. The defending Olympic team pursuit champions claimed gold again, albeit with a vastly different team from who won in Paris. An entirely new quartet of Joshua Duffy, Liam Walsh, James Moriarty and this year's Melbourne to Warrnambool winner Blake Agnoletto beat the USA in the final, with Olympic champion Oliver Bleddyn only used in the first round. "We're obviously super excited, it's the start of a new Olympic cycle and for us it was a big goal to come out swinging and make sure we keep momentum from the Olympics," Duffy said in Türkiye. The victory is Australia's first in this event since the second stop of the 2022 UCI Track Nations Cup in Milton, Canada. "We came together on pretty short notice but I think it just goes to show that we're a tight group and that we've got great culture within the squad," Bleddyn said. "There's a lot of depth." Queensland, featuring Moriarty, helped prove that in Brisbane on Thursday, ending several years of heartbreak to claim the national title despite losing Duffy to illness in the days before the race. The team even broke the national record with a time of 3:55.599, and lapped New South Wales out of the gold medal match for good measure in the process. Moriarty, who was in the heartbreaking position of being the travelling reserve for the team that won gold in Paris, told ABC Sport it had been a long time coming. "Since first year of under 15s, getting put away by Victoria a lot in the past, then coming into elites SA, and even WA last year," the 23-year-old said. "With those teams [last year's champion WA and perennial challengers SA] missing, there's only one way to make your mark and that's the championship record. "Super proud of these boys to have ridden the fastest time ever at a nationals." There are, sadly, no Olympics to get excited about this year — indeed, without the Nations Cup track event earlier this month, there would be no international competition for Australian riders at all outside of the World Championships, set to be held at the Velódromo Peñalolén in Santiago, Chile, in October. That may be part of the reason why Australia's top cyclists have been keeping busy on the road, including ProVelo Super League winner Sophie Marr, who inked her way into a contract with LIV AlUla Jayco's development team by winning the inaugural championships last weekend. Marr, an accomplished track rider, is competing in the endurance events at these championships fresh from her successful campaign for Praties Cycling. "I don't know if it's sunk in yet," Marr told ABC Sport. "I had two days off and track nationals was already on again. Maybe when I get home, but who knows." As is common with a number of endurance riders, Marr continues to ride on the track, with her eyes set on making the squad for major championships to go alongside her burgeoning road career in the same vein as several alumni of the Australian track squad, including Olympic champions Sam Welsford, Kelland O'Brien and Bleddyn. "I still keep in touch with the track, it's a really great sport," Marr said. "I can definitely see myself still on the track … I hopefully see myself going to an Olympics or Commonwealth Games on the track, and the road as well."