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."

Upbringing

Hindes was born in Krefeld, near Dusseldorf in September 1992 and qualifies for Britain through his father, who was posted there with the British military.

After finishing fourth in the sprint and third in the team sprint - becoming the youngest to ride under 18 seconds for the opening lap in the process - at the 2010 Junior World Championships for Germany, Hindes approached Britain about switching allegiance and moving to Manchester.

He contacted compatriot and two-time world champion Jan van Eijden, now one of British Cycling's sprint coaches, who helped to facilitate the move in October 2010.

Van Eijden knows there is plenty of work to do in the team sprint and that Hindes faces a key period ahead.

"He's got some talent," Van Eijden said. "We just need to see how well he can progress and how the team is going to shape up. We need to see. It's another four months."

There are numerous permutations available to Britain, with Hoy, Kenny and Hindes joined by Matt Crampton and Ross Edgar in the sprint squad.

Despite trailing world champions Australia, France and Germany, Van Eijden is not overly concerned.

"We've got loads of options," he said. "We now go away, look at all the numbers and we'll see what's going to happen.

"Four years ago in Manchester the French beat us by half a second and, come the Olympics, we beat them by a good margin.

"Ideally you want to be sitting in top spot ahead of the others, but it makes us work."