One day last year Sarra Hoy wandered into the garage of her Cheshire home and found her husband lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. As the wife of the most successful British Olympic athlete in history, the 34-year-old lawyer knew better than to react with panic or horror. Instead, she greeted this domestic spectacle with the weary familiarity of a wife who has just come home to find her husband clutching a hammer and standing guiltily next to a broken washing machine.

'I had been doing a turbo session in my garage,’ confesses Sir Chris, 40, relaxing in the cosy Merlin pub in Alderley Edge, not far from his home. ‘When my wife came in, I was just lying on the floor.’

The rain lashing against the window behind him adds sinister portent to his story, but he looks both amused and abashed at revealing the truth. ‘I had tried to do a similar effort to the old lactate sessions I used to do as an athlete and I pushed myself too hard. It was horrible. My wife just looked at me and said, “What have you done?” I said, “I can’t speak!”’

Since retiring from track cycling in 2013, after a career that yielded six Olympic gold medals, 11 track world titles and a knighthood, Hoy is finally able to associate cycling with pleasure again rather than pain. But he can’t resist the occasional foray back into the delicious darkness of a savage turbo session or heavy squat workout.