The German team pipped Australia by 0.008 seconds to claim bronze thanks to a stunning final leg by Stefan Nimke, the only returning member from the Olympic champions in Athens 2004.

France had beaten Great Britain in three consecutive world championships, but an emotional final-leg showdown between Men's Sprint rivals Chris Hoy (Great Britain) and Arnaud Tournant (France) fell in favor of the British.

After topping both qualifying rounds, Great Britain sprinted to victory in 43.128 seconds with France settling for the silver medal with 43.651.

Great Britain were the fastest on all three laps, with Jamie Staff setting the tone ahead of Gregory Bauge in the first lap.

Jason Kenny held the gap against Kevin Sireau in the second lap, before Hoy sealed the victory.

The French team removed veteran Tournant in favor of Mickael Bourgain in the first round, a decision that almost backfired, with France only edging Germany by 0.046 seconds to pass to the gold medal round. Tournant was back in the rotation for the gold medal race.

The Dutch team, a medal outsider after taking bronze at the Manchester 2008 World Track Cycling Championships in March, failed to make the medal rounds.

The US team qualified for the final spot in the first round after the race jury relegated Poland for deliberately riding on the blue band during the initial qualifying round.

Chris Hoy said: "Sure, its just as special as the first title and it is a completely different feeling winning it as part of a team. You could see we were all a bit emotional on the podium there. This is the event we thought we were going to be up against it as the French have been so dominant for the last three years and they really thumped us at the world championships in Manchester when they beat us by half a second and to turn that around and beat them by half a second is the stuff of dreams."

"I have been struggling to get on the pace that Jamie has been setting.  I knew I had good form and personally did the best last three laps of my life tonight. I made it look a bit exciting when I was dangling a bit behind Jason but you don’t want it to look boring do you! Honestly, I gave every ounce of effort I had in my body tonight and to beat the French who have been so invincible means so much to us. We’ve really put all the pieces of the jigsaw together. We really focussed on the details."

Jamie Staff said: "France won the World Championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008. They were half a second up on us in March we really didn’t have any answers, so this has really got to hurt them. We knew we had more to come and we didn’t ever give up hope. It hasn’t sunk in yet. This means the world to me."

"I have had a solid last three years and this last year gave absolutely everything I could and it has paid off. The first round I was pretty happy with the time and then in the second round, Jason got caught up a little bit and I waited for a split second to let him get on because I know they have been panicking all week about getting on and in the final I was like ‘you’re on your own boys -- I’m going! I was very happy with the times. I wanted to get excited when I knew we had won a gold or silver, but we had to try to keep emotions out of it, because there was still a job to do."

Staff concluded: "Four years of work flashed in front of my face when Chris crossed the finish line, and it was all worth it," he added. "We’ve got a fantastically strong team. We showed everyone at the worlds how strong we are. I’m ecstatic."

Jason Kenny said: "I just concentrated on getting on that was all I was thinking about really. In that last one, I thought to myself you have done it twice, don’t cock it up now!” On the first heat, he says “it was awesome. We had no idea what we could do so we got up and rode it like a final. I could not believe it when I looked up at the board thought I had read it wrong when I saw a '42'."