The pair were aiming to roll back the years to the last time the Championships were held on British soil in 2008, when they claimed the world title in the discipline in Manchester, before failing to medal at the Beijing Olympics later that year.

Their failure had left Cavendish as the only British track rider to miss a medal at those Games and after missing out on the road in London he opted to return to the velodrome, where he is pursuing Britain’s berth in the omnium.

After failing to medal in the omnium yesterday, the 26-time Tour de France stage winner proved to be in inspired form during the early stages of the madison, combining with Wiggins to secure 17 points in the opening five sprints of the 50 kilometre event.

Crucially, though, the pairing were a lap adrift of the Colombian, French and Swiss teams after they successfully broke clear in the early stages.

Inside the final 20 laps, the British team joined forces with Spain’s Sebastian Mora and Albert Torres to attempt to gain a lap, which would place both pairings into the medal positions.

After successfully catching the back of the field, Britain catapulted themselves into the race lead on 21 points.

A late Cavendish crash provided the home crowd with a scare, but 2012 Tour de France winner Wiggins remained in control to guide them to their second madison crown as a duo.

France’s Morgan Kneisky and Benjamin Thomas claimed silver on 14, while Mora and Torres were rewarded for their efforts in the break by claiming bronze with 12 points.

British success had also come earlier in the day, with Laura Trott repeating her triumph at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the women’s omnium.

The newly crowned scratch race world champion was tied with Sarah Hammer overnight, but the American’s 10th place in the time trial discipline had given Trott the advantage, as the Briton had ended third.

Another third place in the flying lap had given the 23-year-old a 12 points cushion heading into the final event and after scoring regularly at the start of the points race, her second gold was comfortably secured.

Trott eventually ended on a tally of 201, while France’s Laurie Berthon outsprinted Hammer in the finale of the event to edge one point ahead of her rival to claim silver on 183 points.

After his victory in yesterday’s men’s sprint, Trott’s fiancé Jason Kenny was unable to replicate the feat after advancing to the men’s keirin final.

Instead, Germany’s Joachim Eilers sealed his second title of the Championships, as the kilometre time trial champion led from the front of the race and powerfully held off his rivals.

New Zealand’s Edward Dawkins ended 0.002 seconds behind to Eilers to secure the silver medal, while Malaysia’s Azizulhasni Awang finished with bronze for the second consecutive year.

The women’s sprint event delivered an all-Chinese final as Tianshi Zhong and Lin Junhong impressively advanced through the rounds.

Zhong was ultimately able to defeat her compatriot in straight rides to claim the gold, while keirin champion Kristina Vogel sealed bronze, after the German beat Australia’s Anna Meares in both their rides.

The Championships drew to a close with Britain finishing top of the medals table on five gold, one silver and three bronze, while Germany were second after earning three titles.

A flag handover ceremony between Britain and Hong Kong took place following the completion of competition, with the latter having been named as hosts of the 2017 Championships yesterday.