Cavendish excited to see what he can deliver during this year's Tour de Yorkshire

Consider that statement coming in a year which has been little short of miserable and you get the feeling of how much this four-day extravaganza means to the Manx Missile.

Such is the injury hell he has suffered so far in 2018, Cavendish wasn't even supposed to be competing across the Yorkshire roads.

But with recovery from crashes at the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo in March going quicker than expected, the 32-year-old isn't just there to make up the numbers.

Remarkably this is the first Tour de Yorkshire Cavendish will experience but it won't be his first race on these roads, spectacularly suffering a dislocated shoulder during the Tour de France's grand départ in Harrogate three years ago.

"I know the roads well, not like the back of my hands, but there's one part of Harrogate that I know very well," joked the Team Dimension Data rider.

"I'm not far off where I wanted to be, I was really good after the winter and I had a couple of setbacks which pushed things back, but I just had to work a bit harder to get back.

"I'll see what I can do, I'm going to give it all that I've got because I'm not here with a sprint team, I'm not here with a general classification team – we'll see what happens.

"I know my form is good, I don't know where the top end is though so we'll have to see what happens there.

"I just want to do this race, sometimes it doesn't fit with the programmes and last year I was sick, but every time the Tour de Yorkshire has been on I've wanted to do it."

The Manx Missile he may be but Cavendish's roots spread from the Isle of Man to Yorkshire too, the birthplace of his mum, Adele.

And it's on familiar terrain where the winner of 30 Tour de France individual stages will look for yet more crowning glory to add to his palmarès – eyeing up the Yorkshire Bank and Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries blue leaders' jersey – the prize for the overall race winner after four days of intense action.

Indeed thanks to the Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries – who aim to give every child in Yorkshire access to a bike, with more than 50,000 chances created already – the very next Mark Cavendish could be on the sidelines over the next four days across the county.

"We're showcasing Yorkshire and we've got some good racing going on – the women's race is televised as well and that's a great thing," said Cavendish of the race that will span Beverley, Doncaster, Barnsley, Ilkley, Richmond, Scarborough, Halifax and Leeds.

"I've spent a lot of time in Yorkshire and it's very special to me, the grand départ was had here in 2014 was the best one we've had in my career.

"To be back racing in front of the family, friends and parents, that atmosphere is the same and it's all on TV, it's incredible.

"We've got a team that could do very well here.I'm so proud to be able to compete in the Tour de Yorkshire."