On a day when the Games finally took off for Britain, with that all-important first gold for rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, the man now known universally as "Wiggo", obliterated his 36 rivals, covering the 44km course in 50mins 39.54secs at an average speed of more than 52 km per hour.

In an Olympics that was supposed to be all about regenerating east London, it was ironic that this double breakthrough was achieved in the west, first at Eton Dorney and then at this magnificent Tudor palace, built for Cardinal Wolsey in the early 16th century.

But those who had started to get just a little jittery at the home team's below-par performance will not be complaining.

The day was another of London 2012's great one-off, set-piece occasions, with hundreds of thousands lining the route, which wound through such bastions of the rolled-umbrella and pinstriped-suit London stockbroker belt as East Molesey, Esher and Thames Ditton.

"I don't consider this London over here," said the inimitably candid gold medallist afterwards, letting it be known that he would shortly be off for a few vodka tonics.

There was no doubting the level, or volume, of support as Wiggins and his fellow competitors blasted around, straining every muscle, however.

Wiggins receives an embrace from Germany's silver medallist Tony Martin oafter a spectacular performance

"Coming back around the roundabout in Kingston, the noise was just incredible," the man with the most famous rouflaquettes in sport remarked.

"I'm never ever going to experience anything like that ever again in my sporting career."

The day was also a triumph for Wiggins's quieter, more introverted Tour de France sidekick Froome, who snatched a bronze medal that he was not necessarily expecting behind Tony Martin of Germany, the only man to get within a minute of Wiggins' scorching time.

"To be quite honest, I wasn't that optimistic," Froome told reporters afterwards.

"I have never really had a decent result in a one-day time trial and being a flat course doesn't really play to my advantage too much either."

Today was not about redemption for the British road cyclists: the Tour de France victory was much too special for that.

But after the team failed to live up to fantastically inflated expectations in Saturday's road race – a contest in which Wiggins rolled in 103rd and Froome 109th – it was important today to the British team that the pair delivered.

Silver medallist Tony Martin of Germany, gold medallist Bradley Wiggins and bronze medallist Christopher Froome

Their dominant display will have taken some of the pressure off a lot of people at the sharp end of British Olympic sport - not least their cycling teammates who are about to get their home Olympics under way in the Velodrome.

As so often with cycling, the format of yesterday's events took some getting used to for the uninitiated.

One by one, the 37 riders in their aerodynamic "smurf" hats sped away, exiting the palace through the majestic Trophy Gate, surmounted by lion rampant and chained unicorn, and pursued by BMW motor cars carrying their spare bicycles.

The proverbial Martian landing might have thought that the race was between the bike and the car.

In fact, of course, it is against the clock, with riders pedalling off alone at 90-second intervals, and the first competitors to leave arriving back more or less as the last man leaves.

With even the slowpokes averaging more than 45km an hour, it must be doubtful if any vehicle, under human power or mechanised, will ever again travel around this traffic-clogged area of suburbia so quickly.

Wiggins emphasised afterwards that "it is never over until you have crossed the line."

But his performance was so dominant that the spectators lining the finishing straight – and good naturedly banging the boards lining the course at the approach of each competitor – were sure of the identity of the winner long before his red-helmeted figure sped around the final bend.

He trailed Martin at the first checkpoint, but had opened up an 11 second lead before halfway.

Wiggins was the penultimate rider, so technically the home crowd needed to await the last – Fabian Cancellara – before saluting their hero.

But the yellow numbers on the digital clock denoting the Swiss rider's progress had surpassed Wiggins' finishing-time long before he came into view.

Hundreds of fans cheer on Wiggins as he approaches the finishing line

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year award will surely follow for this most down-to-earth of athletes, and perhaps a knighthood.

Asked how he thought "Sir Wiggo" sounded, the man of the moment said he thought it "doesn't quite sound right."

Honoured as he would be at its bestowal, "I don't think I would ever use it.

"I would just put it in the drawer."

"I would always just be Brad."

The win also makes Wiggins – with four golds, a silver and two bronzes – the most bemedalled Briton in Olympic history.

He sought to play down the significance of that too.

"There was only one colour today," he said.

"The most important number is number four for me, not number seven."

The women's race brought victory for a cyclist called Armstrong – not Lance, obviously, but Kristin, the reigning Olympic champion.

For Britain, Lizzie Armitstead, who won silver in the road race, came 10th and Emma Pooley sixth.

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