Ben Swift is relishing racing on his home roads at this weekend's Tour de Yorkshire, with some of the world's best riders set to descend on his home county.
Team Sky's Swift is the bookmakers' favourite to win the three-day race, which starts on Friday, with the route's undulations suiting his strengths.
But with the likes of Sir Bradley Wiggins, Marcel Kittel and Greg van Avermaet all competing, Swift will have his work cut out to take the race's blue and yellow leader's jersey.
“I am really excited that the Tour de Yorkshire is coming now, after the Grand Depart that we had last year, the atmosphere you all saw was unbelievable,” the 27-year-old said.
“Now to have a race that I can call my home race, it’s not very often we get to do that, especially being a British rider – cycling is becoming massive now.
“There’s definitely a high class field, there are some big names coming – Bradley Wiggins is on the start line, and Marcel Kittel. I think that this race already feels like it’s a big race and it’s coming in at a higher level, and people are taking it seriously.”
In April, organisers revealed the four podium jerseys on offer at this year's tour, with a green sprinter's jersey (sponsored by Yorkshire Bank) and the P&O Ferries mountains jersey up for grabs.
Fans will also have the chance to vote for who wears the Dimension Data Digital jersey on Twitter, with voting open between the last 40km and last 10km.
Yorkshire Bank has agreed a three-year sponsorship of the sprinter’s jersey at the Tour de Yorkshire. The event builds on the legacy of the Tour de France and follows the ground-breaking Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries initiative. This partnership signifies the bank’s commitment to increasing the access to cycling across the county - visit www.ybonline.co.uk
