British Cycling Olympic Academy Programme athlete Beth Crumpton will ride her first round of the 2014 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup following an eight-month break from international competition.

Crumpton sat out the opening two rounds of the world cup, as British Cycling’s mountain bike coach Phil Dixon prioritised riders’ form for the upcoming Olympic Games qualification period.

It’s an approach which seems to be paying off, with Crumpton anticipating an upturn in speed at the right moment, following the first two rounds of the British Cycling MTB Cross-Country Series.

Crumpton assessed her domestic results to date, having finished sixth at the opening round where she was delayed by a puncture, before bouncing back to take her first-ever British series victory.

“The first national I knew I still had more work to do” the British under-23 cross country champion explained.

“But the last national was really, really good. I got my first win and that was just a really good confidence booster for me that I can win a race. I was riding well in the race and I know I’m coming into form which is good coming into the first two world cups.”

Crumpton’s results follow an off season during which she was joined by Academy inductee Alice Barnes and trained alongside downhill world champion Tracy Moseley.

With preparations over, attention turns to the benchmark of performance as the world cup circus arrives in Europe – a moment which Crumpton has been anticipating since September 2013.

“I’m really looking forward to Nove Mesto now, it feels like a long time coming this year so it’s going to be great to race when I get out there, getting in with the under-23 girls. I really just want to see how I’m going, hopefully just stay in that top ten, maybe break a top five, that’s where I really, really want to go.

“I don’t know how far I’ve stepped up yet because I haven’t actually raced the European race scene yet, so I need to put a really good ride in because I really want to see how I’m going and with Olympic points qualification starting as well it would be really good to get some good points on the board to get the ball rolling with that.”