Philip Hindes believes he can be the solution to the problem which threatens to derail Sir Chris Hoy's bid to defend one of his three Olympic gold medals in London.
Competing at his first Track Cycling World Championships, Hindes clocked a personal best in his specialist starter position in the three-man, three-lap team sprint on Wednesday, but his changeover to second rider Jason Kenny - with Hoy third in line - was deemed illegal and Britain were disqualified.
However, after bowing out of the individual sprint in Melbourne, the 19-year-old German-born rider was bullish about his prospects of helping Kenny and Hoy defend their Olympic team sprint title.
"I reckon I can go much quicker," Hindes said. "I feel like I can improve in every training session. I did a good time (17.5 seconds) and we will see how I can improve in the next months.
"They (the coaches) were really happy with the time. Jason went faster (as starter) in recent years, but I'm second fastest at the moment in Britain."
Hindes is poised to travel to a training camp in Majorca later this month to step up preparations for London, with the team sprint taking place on August 2, the opening day of the Games track programme.
Key lessons were learned after the takeover between Hindes and Kenny took place too early.
"I won't do it again," added Hindes, who had been shown the permitted zone by sprint coach Iain Dyer before the ride. "You couldn't really see the line where you had to change.
"I wasn't really thinking about it in my ride. I had my head down, giving everything."