Great Britain's Joe Truman said team-mate Matt Richardson's withdrawal was "not ideal" and they had started "on the back foot" as they exited in the first round of the men's team sprint at the World Track Cycling Championships.
Richardson was pulled from the competition on Monday amid allegations of misconduct.
The 27-year-old, who had also been expected to contend for medals in the individual sprint and keirin, said he would co-operate with a British Cycling investigation into the allegations.
His withdrawal overshadowed preparations for the event in Shanghai, though Britain's women did secure silver in the team sprint.
Emma Finucane, who is Richardson's partner, Sophie Capewell and Rhianna Parris-Smith finished fastest in qualifying, and beat France but lost to hosts China in the gold-medal race.
The men's team - Truman, Ed Lowe and Harry Ledingham-Horn - finished fifth in the qualifying stage but were beaten by fourth-placed Australia in the opening round of head-to-head races.
"We came with a bit of a last-minute change, obviously," said Truman. "We all said this morning we're here just to ride our bikes.
"We're on the back foot a bit but let's just put our best foot forward, put a time on the board at the start of Olympic quali and we got a time to be proud of.
"None of us are riding in ideal circumstances but we're professional athletes and so it's what we train to do - we train to race when it's not perfect - so I think we did OK. We're looking ahead to the next couple of years and think we're in a great spot."
Elsewhere on day one, Britain's women and men progressed as first and second fastest respectively in qualifying for the team pursuit events.
Meanwhile, Abigail Miller finished 17th of 24 riders in the women's scratch race.