It's an obvious thing to say that cobbled one-day races held in Northern Europe divide men from boys, and just as obvious to acknowledge that Ian Stannard is one of the toughest of the former. The 27-year old Briton started last year's spring campaign in the best possible fashion, winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and giving a promise that Team Sky would finally have some impact on Flemish classics, but a horrible crash during Gent-Wavelgem left him lying in a ditch with broken heart and spine. Now he's ready to come back and ride as hard as possible, making up on a lost time.

Stannard kicks-off his classics campaign with appearance in the opening weekend's races and ambitions to fight for a second consecutive victory in Het Nieuwsblad on Friday.

“I feel capable of going for the win [at Het Nieuwsblad],” he told Cyclingnews. “I expect myself to be back racing the Classics as hard as I can and doing as well as I can. You can never say you expect yourself to win, but I want to be up at the front putting myself in a position to win - I kind of expect that from myself.”

If results obtained in build-up races could serve as an indication, the 27-year old Team Sky rider would have good chances of repeating his achievement from 2014 edition of Omloop: he rode convincingly in the Tour of Qatar to finish 4th overall with strong performance in a short individual time trial, just as it happened one year before.

“Qatar went well. I was a little bit unsure after my crash last year just how the legs would be, but it went really well, especially that time trial. When you’re racing a road stage you can duck and dive and get through it but to be up there in the time trial as well was really positive for my head.

“From being on that hospital bed with a broken back to being back racing hard in Qatar and where I am now, I’m very happy with how it’s all gone.”

The British squad will enter cobbled one-day races without clear leader once again, this time with Bradley Wiggins replacing Geraint Thomas as their second option. While it is yet to be determined how the former Tour de France champion will approach smaller opening events, he left no doubts that winning Paris-Roubaix is his last objective as Team Sky rider.

“I’m sure Brad’s going there looking to race well and show his hand as well,” said Stannard.

“There’s a lot of luck in these races - you can’t guarantee you’re going to be there at the end. It’s just about communicating with each other, getting through that first half of the race as easy as we can, then having numbers at the end.”

The older Briton won't be provided with a leadership role in the Hell of the North in advance, though, as Stannard also fancies his own chances in the prestigeous monument and is eager to bounce back from last year's disappointments.

“Roubaix is definitely one I want to challenge for and I expect myself to be up there this year,” he asserts. “Especially after missing it last year – that’s a bit of a sore point in my head and I want to make up for that. I’m going to be there to race hard for sure.”