SHE may have felt the nerves, but they certainly did not show as Abbie Dentus put in a composed performance in just her second World Cup appearance recently.

The 20-year-old was the most senior member of Team Breeze – British Cycling’s academy outfit – and led them to sixth place in team pursuit qualifying as the TISSOT UCI Track World Cup returned to Manchester for the first time in four years.

Dentus, a former Palmer Park Velo rider who is now in her third year on the British Cycling senior academy, was being tried out as the lead rider in the team pursuit and guided her quartet to a surprise sixth in qualifying, clocking 4:28.895.

“I’m pretty pleased with how it went,” she said. “I was man one, so I was really nervous.

“It was a new position.

"I haven’t ridden man one really at all. I’ve only really raced two other team pursuits. To be man one was quite a big position.

“However it went really well. We did the fastest time we have done and were expecting to go nowhere near it, so to have done a 4:28, we’re all pretty happy about it.”

For a period in qualifying, Team Breeze looked set to take a place in the top four, meaning they had a shot at making the gold medal ride with a win in round one.

In the end their time fell just half a second short, but it gave the team hope for their encounter with Russia that they could post a time to get them into the race for bronze.

Dentus was left out of the team for Sunday’s first round and the quartet could only manage a time of 4:31.229, meaning they finished eighth overall – still a fine achievement for a team all aged 20 or younger.

“The nerves were very high when we thought we might get into the top four and I’m not very good with my nerves before the start of a race so I was feeling it a lot,” she added.

“I’ve done one World Cup before, in New Zealand, and that experience didn’t really help as the crowds were just as big and you’re at your home track so the pressure was even more.

“I put pressure on myself. You’ve got family and friends watching. Even though I’ve done it before you still get just as nervous.

“And it was even more nerve-wracking watching the team in the first round. Watching them, I know how they’re feeling so that made me just as nervous. I just wanted them to do well.”

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