Mark Cavendish and his QuickStep Alpha Vinyl team have suffered a major setback at the Giro d'Italia with news the Manx rider's lead-out Michael Mørkøv is out of the race after falling ill.
Mørkøv, who also worked very well with Irish rider Sam Bennett during his two years at the team, is by far the best lead-out rider in the sport. At 37-years-old he shows no signs of slowing, winning an Olympic gold medal in the madison in Tokyo last year.
He helped Cavendish to victory on stage 3 of the Giro in Hungary last Sunday and was also instrumental in launching him yesterday on stage 6, though the British rider had to settle for 3rd on the stage behind winner Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and runner-up Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal).
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Mørkøv had only planned to ride 13 stages of the Giro, at which point he was due to abandon so he could rest up to take on lead-out duties at the Tour de France. The fact he is now out of the race, just halfway through his planned stint, is a blow for Cavendish, though he still has Bert Van Lerberghe and Davide Ballerini for the sprints.
QuickStep Alpha Vinyl confirmed Mørkøv's withdrawal from the Giro in a brief statement ahead of Friday's stage 7.
"On the advice of the team’s medical staff, Michael Mørkøv won’t start today’s Giro stage after developing fever overnight," it said. "Everybody at Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl wishes Michael a speedy recovery."
