Where lead-out man Mørkøv goes, Quick-Step wins follow
Where lead-out man Mørkøv goes, Quick-Step wins follow
Mark Cavendish made it look simple as he eased across the line to become the first-ever British winner of Milano-Torino, and it was simple, thanks to the combination of his speed and Michael Mørkøv’s lead-out expertise.
Having been tucked in the Dane’s wheel around the final corner, he was delivered perfectly to the final 150m, at which point he jumped and left Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) and Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) behind to seal his third victory of the year already.
“I’m really happy. I’m back with Michael Mørkøv again, and it was just dialed, which it has to be for a one-day race because there’s only one opportunity,” Cavendish told VeloNews after the finish. “They send most of the sprint team with Fabio Jakobsen most of the year, so there’s a solid base of a sprint team for me here, and you’ve seen it’s just incredible.”
Mørkøv was absent for Cavendish’s opening victory of 2022 at the Tour of Oman but was present at the UAE Tour as the British sprinter won his first WorldTour race since last summer’s Tour de France.
Meanwhile, Michael Mørkøv has also found the time to help Fabio Jakobsen take two stages at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in February before another stage at Paris-Nice earlier this month.
With both Jakobsen and Cavendish vying for the position of Quick-Step AlphaVinyl’s number one sprinter, it’s once again the case that whoever the fast man on the Belgian team happens to be, they’ll win as long as they’re on the wheel of the Danish lead-out specialist.
“It’s the first time I raced Milano-Torino and I’m super happy. I like winning races,” Cavendish continued. “I’ve already won Milan-San Remo and now I can say that I’ve won Milano-Torino as well. Normally this is just a hilly race, so to see my name next to riders who have won this race, that’s quite special.”
Michael Mørkøv isn’t staying in Italy for this weekend’s Milan-San Remo, however, and in the absence of Julian Alaphilippe, Fabio Jakobsen will be handed the opportunity to sprint for the win in what will be his Monument debut.
