London 2012 - 10 million watch Chris Hoy win historic sixth Olympic gold medal

Sir Chris picked up the sixth Olympic gold medal of his career after winning the men’s keirin cycling competition, making him the most successful British Olympian of all time as he surpassed the five medals Sir Steve Redgrave amassed during his stellar rowing career.

Speaking shortly after his historic win, Hoy said: “I just drove like I’ve never driven before”.

He added: “Steve Redgrave is an inspiration. I used to be a rower many years ago as a schoolboy and we looked up to Matthew [Pinsent] and Steve and all the rowers. To even be mentioned in the same sentence as this guy is an honour to me. To me, he will always be the greatest no matter how many medals anybody wins.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Laura Trott’s golden performance in the omnium attracted 8.2 million BBC viewers and Victoria Pendelton’s last ever cycling race, in which she was narrowly pipped to the gold medal position by Australian Anna Meares, was watched by 9.4 million. 5.6 million viewers saw Alistair and Jonny Brownlee take the gold and bronze medals in the men’s triathlon at lunchtime, and just after 4pm, 4.4 million watched Great Britain's equestrian team win its first ever dressage medal.

The biggest Olympic TV audience of the evening came towards the end of the athletics session when 12.1 million watched Australia’s Sally Pearson win gold in the women’s 110 metres hurdles.