The news that Ian Hutchinson is being included in the TT 2018 line-up will have been received with mixed emotions by fans everywhere. Some delighted, others desperately concerned. Everybody would, of course, love to see this great rider on the Glencrutchery Road next month but, my guess is, not all want to see him  involved in a battle with his great rival Michael Dunlop.

I am with them.

Hutchy is one of the greatest TT riders of all time. Winning five races in a week, as he did eight years ago, is unlikely ever to be beaten. He has nothing to prove. But, more than that, he is a hero to thousands not just for his TT victories but as much for the amazing fortitude, courage and sheer doggedness in coming back from the most appalling injuries and winning yet again.

His recovery from his Silverstone crash - ironically a ‘safe’  circuit - has  been called a miracle. Not at all. It was to do with Yorkshire stubborness, defying the surgeon to remove his leg; overcoming the complication of another break and a never-give-in attitude to overcome a multiplicity of operations. Plus the skill and persistence of the surgeons who patiently got him to the point where he could manipulate modified controls, although one leg was virtually useless, and ride again.

Ride again he did but it took three years to return to winning ways, sensationally beating Michael Rutter  in the 2013 Macau Grand Prix.

More TT wins were to follow, two in 2017 taking his tally to 16 but then came the fateful Senior TT of June 9 and his crash on the Mountain which broke the same leg again.

“I was lucky,” he commented dryly. “It could have been the other one...”

The other TT great, John McGuinness, will not be competing. The injuries he sustained while riding for Honda in the North West 200 last year prevent him from taking part. He has not given up but, like Hutchinson who, ironically has replaced him in the Honda team, there are many who wish he would.

What makes them do it? That is the question which crosses many minds when thinking even of perfectly fit riders. There is no one answer, the two most likely being that racing, particularly the TT, and winning are akin to a drug. Nothing else can deliver the same buzz. And there is also the naive belief, which encourages us to take risks: “It won't happen to me.”

But occasionally it does. And you only get so many chances.