An Olympic and world champion on the track and the best lead-out man in pro cycling, Michael Mørkøv refused to abandon on today's stage 15 at the Tour de France and instead ploughed on to finish over an hour down.
The Danish rider, who was in trouble from the start and was dropped just 20km into the race, rode the stage on his own and fell 30km behind the main peloton. However, while he knew it was very likely he was going to be outside the time limit - which he was - he was clearly determined to make it to the finish and not climb off.
At the finish in Carcassonne the podium presentations and media interviews were all long over when the 37-year-old QuickStep Alpha Vinyl rider crossed the line on his own with the broom wagon behind.
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However, a group of spectators remained in place and loudly applauded and cheered Mørkøv as he finished, as captured in the video below.
He was 65 minutes down on stage winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who claimed victory in a bunch sprint. For his part, Mørkøv said he was very disappointed but said he gave it his all.
"Once I got dropped on a small bump, I knew it was going to be a long fight, but I stayed focused and believed in myself and in my chances of making it," he said.
"I kept calculating and pushing hard despite knowing time wasn’t on my side, but then, with 15 kilometers to go I realised that my Tour was over. At the end of the day, I am not disappointed, because I did everything I could.
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"My only regret is that I leave my team in just six riders with one week to go, that makes me sad, but I am confident they will continue fighting for good results."
18.51 and 1km to go - hero ?????? pic.twitter.com/aKJ4VqgTdW
— Aredhel K J (@aredhel82) July 17, 2022
