The world’s best road racer has won 15 races on the deadly TT roads and remains determined to do it his way

“I’m the one putting my life on the line so it has to happen the way I want it to happen,” Michael Dunlop says bluntly on the Isle of Man while preparing for this year’s thrilling yet dangerous series of TT road races. Dunlop lays down the law in regard to this rare interview and all other personal interaction because from Saturday, and during six days of deadly racing, he will reach speeds in excess of 200mph as he pushes his motorbike to the limit on ordinary roads and mountain passes that have taken the lives of 256 riders over the years.

Dunlop is one of the most intriguing yet prickliest men in sport. He has won 15 TT races and will surely go on to break the record held by his uncle Joey, the greatest road racer in history, who won 26 times on the Isle of Man before being killed on his bike in 2000. Dunlop also lost his father, Robert, Joey’s brother, at the North West 200 in their native Northern Ireland in 2008. Since we did this interview, Dan Kneen, who rode alongside Dunlop for Tyco BMW, died on Wednesday evening in practice for the TT.

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