Ian Stannard looks back to his old self after being robbed of riding a proper Cobbled Campaign when he crashed out with a broken vertebrae at Gent-Wevelgem. He had a virtually write-off season after he crashed at the Tour of Britain and broke his wrist, which ended his year.

“I missed a hell of a lot of training and racing, I don’t know the precise amount,” Stannard told Cycling Weekly.

“It’s been hard getting the racing legs, I’ve started early in the Tour Down Under though and it’s coming on well now.”

His Gent crash was hard to take as he had won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad just weeks before and was in the form of his life heading into Flanders and Roubaix.

“It was tough, I was in the best form I ever had. I was going towards [the classics] with a real chance of doing well, but then just for it to disappear like that is pretty frustrating,” Stannard said.

But after a strong opening few stages at the Tour of Qatar, the Brit looks like he is back to his best and on for another great Classics season, where he is hoping to challenge in the classics and make up for 2014’s crashes.

“It’s good stead for the classics (racing in Qatar). Everyone’s got a lot of work to do heading there, but I know that I can still improve, as well.”

“Luke’s really stepped up his game, it’s good to see. It’s only going to add to our strengths in the classics.”

“We were all quite young at the start of the team in 2010, but we’ve been growing together and learning the races. It comes down to experience, knowing and learning them. We are all learning them, we all have a passion for those races. We enjoy them and look forward to getting there.”