THE HARDEST JOB IN CYCLING - The art of the lead-out

With more sprints at the 2023 Tour de France than in recent years, Tom Davidson speaks to the race's main lead-out men to find out the tricks of the trade

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There is one race finale that keeps Michael Mørkøv up at night. It was the last day of the 2021 Tour de France, and Quick Step’s star lead-out man was guiding Mark Cavendish round a sweeping right-hand bend, onto Paris’s Champs-Élysées. Until that point, the Tour had gone almost perfectly for the double act. Dreamlike, really. With Mørkøv as his pilot, Cavendish had dashed to four stage wins, taking his tally to 34, and matching the all-time record to which only Eddy Merckx previously laid claim.

On that blue-skied Sunday in Paris, however, Mørkøv believes his teammate should have surpassed it.

“We were in like seventh or eighth position,” the Dane recounts. “He was in my wheel, like he was the whole Tour, but at the Place de la Concorde, he deviated away, and he went to the wheel of [Wout] van Aert.

“I strongly believe that he did it because he was a bit concerned about securing his green jersey, more than being 100% focused on winning the stage. Then he left me out of the game. I was sitting there and I couldn’t help him. Sometimes, when the media is talking about the record, I think that we could have ended it right there.”

The race results show a victory for van Aert, while Cavendish finished third, boxed in in the finale.

It is testament to Mørkøv’s belief, both in his own ability and that of his sprinter, that he wants to win every flat race he contests. Rarely, if ever, does he get to lift his own arms in victory, though. When the race ends, the Dane watches on while his sprinter gets whisked away for media interviews. It is his team-mate's name that is stamped in the history books, and another title is added to their list of palmarès, which typically stretches further than any other type of rider.