“With the amount he’s won, he would be fully entitled to be apprehensive but he jumped in straight at the deep end,” Pope said. “On several occasions, we’ve almost binned it, and he just goes, ‘Yeah, it’s all right. Bad things happen’.
“He’s obviously a good bike rider, but he’s just a far better bloke. He’s juggling his family, a full-time job, and he’s still coming in every Wednesday – not overly happy necessarily all the time, but always giving me everything he can. So, in return, it’s easy to put in the work for him.”
Pope’s other responsibility on Thursday was to help visually-impared Fachie find Lora and Fraser, once the old man had leapt off the bike and gambolled up the steep banking towards the crowd.
“I could have been wandering that stand for a while trying to find them,” said the Scot, wryly. “Giving Fraser a big hug was was the best thing. I’m dying to go up and show him my medal soon as well.”
Fachie will be back here on Saturday. He doesn’t expect to win the tandem sprint, but he didn’t expect to win the kilo either.
But what he does expect is that it will be the last race of a career that has delivered more than he ever imagined it might.
“I don’t see any way I’m racing beyond Saturday,” he said. “Things happen in life, but I’m walking away saying that’s it, because there’s no better way to go out than racing here in front of a home crowd. It is the end. There’s no doubt.”