He may have worn the leader’s jersey at both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España but one jersey, probably the most coveted of all jerseys in international cycling, still eludes Mark Cavendish: the yellow leader’s jersey at the Tour de France. However, Cavendish will have the opportunity to rectify this situation when the Tour kicks off in his mother's home town on July 5.

Seven years ago, when Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) rode his first ever Tour de France, his one chance to win a stage in the United Kingdom bit the dust when he crashed. At the time, following his accident on the way to Canterbury from the Grand Depart in London, his sense of regret could not have been more intense. It was, he said, "probably my only chance ever to win a Tour stage on British soil".

Seven years and 25 Tour stage wins later, Cavendish has a chance to set the record straight in Harrogate, when the Tour de France begins in Yorkshire.

"I don't think people yet realise how massive it's going to be this summer," Cavendish told The Independent during a break in training in the coastal resort of Calpe, Spain, last week as he and his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team-mates prepared for the long season ahead.

"In 2007, cycling wasn't even popular in the UK and it was absolutely incredible, the best Grand Depart there's ever been. This year's it’s going to be spectacular. And who'd have thought that for the second time in my career they'd be starting the Tour in Britain?" Cavendish asked rhetorically in The Independent.

For Cavendish, that one day starting in Leeds and finishing in Harrogate is "going to be what my whole season is built around. If I had to choose one stage of the 21 in the Tour, that's got to be it.

"It's my mum's home town, it's designed for a sprint, I haven't yet worn the maillot jaune [the Tour leader's jersey, which would fall automatically on his shoulders should he be victorious] and I want to do it." Furthermore, as he points out, "If I'm going well that day, I'll go well in the whole Tour."

Cavendish’s focus on taking the opening stage of the Tour, though, puts into jeopardy his presence at the Giro d'Italia. Just like the Tour, Italy's biggest stage race uses a foreign excursion as its launching pad this year: in Belfast on 9 May and then with two more stages on Irish soil.

Although it is uncertain whether he will enter the Giro, in which he took the points jersey last year only to be severely bested by Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) in the Tour, Cavendish points out, it is probably the closest one of cycling's three Grand Tours will come to the Isle of Man where Cavendish hails from.

"I don't know yet whether I'm doing it, first I'll see what my form is like in a couple of months, but it's on very similar terrain and similar weather to the Isle of Man," Cavendish reflects.

At present, however, no final decision on Cavendish’s participation in the Giro and its three stages in Belfast, Armagh and Dublin has been made. As far as his race itinerary is concerned, Cavendish only knows for certain he will take part in two early-season races, the Tour of San Luis in Argentina, which started on Monday, and then the Tour of Dubai early next month.