Although the race start is som six months away, Alex Dowsett of Movistar has said that he is confident of making his Tour de France debut when Leeds hosts the Grand Départ of the 101st edition of the race in July.

Dowsett made a successful grand tour debut last season at the Giro d'Italia when the Essex rider won the first individual time trial of the race after finishing 10sec ahead of former team-mate Sir Bradley Wiggins (Sky).

Following a two year spell at Team Sky Dowsett joined Movistar at the start of last season, a move that he feels was vindicated with his win in Italy last May.

"Movistar have given me every opportunity that I had hoped for, which is why I moved from Team Sky - I just wasn't getting the opportunities there," Dowsett told Telegraph Sport.

"Obviously competing in the Giro and then winning a stage I felt my move was completely vindicated. A lot of people at first were unsure of the move - including my mother - but anyone who was unsure can now see that it was the right move.

"It was a risk moving from Team Sky beacuse they're a good team and being a Brit riding for a British team was, in some ways, easy. It has been tough at my new team what with the language barrier and having to adapt to a Spanish way of life, but I've really enjoyed it."

With the Tour passing through his home county next July the 25-year-old is desperate to make Movistar's nine-man team, saying he would do "anything" within his powers to be selected.

"The buzz around Essex at the moment - even with non bike riders - is massive. Everyone's super excited," Dowsett said.

"I'm pencilled in for the Tour, but there's no free ticket. You have to be firing on all cylinders. A lot of people ask me if I'll be riding it, but I won't know for sure until I'm standing on that start line in Leeds on July 5. Until then anything can happen."