Fourteen-time winner Peter Hickman returns to the TT fully fit after a qualifying crash ruled him out of last year’s races.

The popular Lincolnshire ace has also denied that he’s becoming a ‘crasher’ after other high-profile offs at this year’s Daytona 200 and at the Ginger Hall in TT 2024.

Speaking to Media Isle of Man’s John Watterson ahead of this year’s event, the 39-year-old said: ‘I’ve still got some nerve damage in my shoulder, but overall I can ride a bike pretty well - that’s not really a problem at all.

‘I’m looking forward to getting back and putting the demons to bed.

‘Lots of people think I’ve turned into a crasher all of a sudden, but crashing is part of racing and I race probably more than most people.

‘I do the full British Superbike Championship, Daytona 200, North West 200, Macau Grand Prix and TT in all classes. You name it, I race it and do it.

‘I don’t have that many crashes, but when you do ride bikes you will crash - that is very much part of the game.

‘I think because people haven’t seen me crash in the public eye as much as has happened recently they think that all of a sudden I’m crashing a lot more.’

Last year, Hickman came off his 8TEN Racing BMW Superstock machine at Kerrowmoar near Sulby, an incident that resulted in the session immediately being red flagged.

He was taken via AirMed to Noble’s Hospital where he was treated for chest, back, shoulder and facial injuries before being discharged a couple of days later.

Explaining what caused the crash, Hickman added at the time: ‘I crashed just after the Kerrowmoar left, through the next right. Unfortunately it was a component failure, so it wasn’t actually my fault.

‘The team are doing some more analysis on it at the minute, but it wasn’t the fairing which was speculated as the cause at the time of the crash.

‘It wasn’t oil either. I know a lot of people thought they saw smoke. Unfortunately it was a bracket that holds the exhaust in place. It didn’t come loose but it seems like it broke and pushed the exhaust into the rear wheel and popped the tyre.

‘That’s what caused the crash.’

Hickman lines up on 8TEN Racing BMWs in the big bike races, his trusty Triumph 675 in the Supersport races, while campaigning a PHR Performance Yamaha R7 in the TT’s new Sportbike class.

- Don’t miss Media Isle of Man’s free TT News supplements inside the Isle of Man Examiner and Manx Independent over the next two weeks.

Each edition will be packed with features, reports and all the latest news from this year’s TT festival.