Auto DevOps initial pipeline failed by missing branch

https://sentry.gitlap.com/gitlab/gitlabcom/issues/142479/

NoMethodError: ********
  lib/gitlab/git.rb:15:in `ref_name'
    encode!(ref).sub(%r{\Arefs/(tags|heads|remotes)/}, '')
  lib/gitlab/metrics/instrumentation.rb:159:in `block in ref_name'
    .measure { super }
  lib/gitlab/metrics/method_call.rb:36:in `measure'
    retval = yield
  lib/gitlab/metrics/instrumentation.rb:159:in `ref_name'
    .measure { super }
  lib/gitlab/ci/pipeline/chain/command.rb:37:in `block in ref'
    Gitlab::Git.ref_name(origin_ref)
...
(48 additional frame(s) were not displayed)

undefined method `sub' for nil:NilClass