By Scott Dougal, PA International

To say good things came in threes for the Australian cyclists at the Commonwealth Games would be something of an understatement.

They won all three medals in three events while Saturday's road race winner Stuart O'Grady won his third Commonwealth gold in three different disciplines.

O'Grady's victory, complemented by silver for Cadel Evans and bronze for Baden Cooke, was the product of the by-now familiar green and gold virtues of team-work, discipline and talent.

The six Australians in the race, as a unit far beyond any other in the Commonwealth, never lost control of the 187.2-kilometre race.

They tolerated a four-man break - boasting the talents of England's Mark Lovatt, Northern Ireland's Tommy Evans, Duncan Urquhart of Scotland and Gordon McCauley of New Zealand - for a stretch.

But then, as the 16-lap race pushed into its ninth circuit, they hauled the peloton forward, swallowing the escapees in the 10th.

Then they made their move.

O'Grady and Cooke, who only finished the Tour de France last week, Evans, gold medallist in the time trial on the same course, and Michael Rogers pushed away from the peloton.

Only South Africa's Robert Hunter and David George, Eric Wohlberg of Canada and New Zealand's Glen Mitchell were able to follow.

Rogers was dropped, but the three remaining men from Down Under kept up the pace.

A team meeting on the move elected O'Grady as the man to go for the gold medal and off he went with around 40km still to ride.

With two team-mates left in the chasing group, O'Grady - wearing the Francaise des Jeux helmet of absent compatriot Brad McGee - could be confident of staying in front as long as he kept pushing the pedals around.

"I felt pretty good but I think the other guys felt pretty good as well," said O'Grady.

"We had the numbers so it was better to play offensive than defensive."

O'Grady had to battle with his team Credit Agricole for their blessing to come to Manchester, but the win made the effort worthwhile.

"The French aren't too sure what the Commonwealth Games means to an Australian," said O'Grady, after a week in which their cyclists have dominated on road and track.

"But we've proved how strong we are as a nation."

With such a superior Australian squad in the race, a win for any other nation was always going to be difficult but for all three medals to go their way was still something extraordinary.

Evans and Cooke were caught by a chasing group which included England's Roger Hammond, who briefly reignited home hopes of a medal - albeit a silver or bronze one.

But first Evans broke, then Cooke hitched a ride in slipstream of Kiwi Glen Mitchell before sprinting for the line to ensure that the Aussies dominated the podium as they had dominated the race.

Hammond, the best-placed Englishman in eighth place - over three minutes behind O'Grady - summed up the outcome best when he spoke about the first Australian attack.

He said: "We all knew it was coming, but what can you do? When you're racing against guys like Cadel Evans there's not a lot we could've done."