Ross Edgar secured a place in the last 16 of the men’s sprint at the Olympic Veldorome in Athens tonight.
The young Scotsman, who has spent the last two years training at an elite cycling school in Switzerland, demonstrated the fruits of his education with a win over Barry Forde.
The Barbadian is an old hand with plenty of track wiles and he tried to catch Edgar out with a surge from behind.
However, Edgar, considerably smaller than his rival, had enough power to resist his advance until after the line.
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Victoria Pendleton was denied a place in the quarter-finals of the women’s sprint after coming last in the repechage.
She had had to rely on a second chance after losing her tie to Tamilla Abassova of Russia.
Abassova allowed Pendleton to take the lead and set a steady pace for most of the three laps only to burst away going into the last circuit.
And the Hitchin rider - who had been in with a chance of a medal - came last in her repechage, beaten by Katrin Meinke of Germany, who claimed the place in the last eight and Yvonne Hijgenaar of Holland.
She said: “It’s crazy because the last three weeks I’ve been really positive and really happy. I just didn’t have the legs. I just wasn’t here. I don’t know if it was the nerves.”