There was no communication, no confirmation. But then, the little and large duo reemerged.
“Adrenaline is a wonderful thing,” a battered, bruised, but buoyant Fachie said, speaking to BBC Sport Scotland about their “little slide”.
“You don’t really feel a lot of pain at the time, but it created a lot of anger. I think Aaron casually walked me away before I said something I shouldn’t say, but we were so fired up to go and prove a point there.”
“You can’t really describe it,” Pope agreed. “You’ve got one race to try and win, give him the fairytale ending and live happily ever after.
“So, you’re on the floor, pretty upset, and then you’ve got all this stuff saying just keep your head up, go have a scrap and have a scrap for your best mate.”
“I said to Aaron before we went up, ‘the story’s written here, let’s finish it off’ and we were so determined to do that,” Fachie added.
And do that they did. It was less about tactics and more about tenacity. And there was only one winner there.
Fachie forced his way to the finish line just before Bell in a neck-and-neck encounter, but his tight grip on the bars was swiftly released, raising them in the air before pounding his chest.
“There was no way they were getting past,” Fachie said.
“It was almost like they poked a bear, inspired something in us, and once you get this crowd roaring, you know you’re winning. There’s no way they’re coming back in a million years.”