Tag: Danish Professionals

He’s a versatile man that Michael Mørkøv; world champion on the track, Grand Tour stage winner, Cobbled Classics breakaway specialist, Six Day vedette, Danish Elite Road Race Champion, Classic podium finisher – and now arguably the best lead-out man in the business; right hand man to the man with the most successes this year, QuickStep’s rapid Italian Elite Road Race Champion, Elia Viviani, with 17 winner’s bouquets in 2018.

Quickstep's win total for the year now stands at 24 with the victories not just down to one man but spread across the team – remarkable. How do they do it? To find out, we got in touch with our old friend and key leadout man in the QuickStep machine, Michael Mørkøv - who was instrumental in Jakobsen’s most recent triumph and similarly ‘pilot fished’ Hodeg to a stage win in the Tour of Catalonia – to get ‘the word’ from the horse’s mouth.

In a classic Six Day finale points shoot-out with the result not confirmed until the finish line, classy Home Boy Michael Mørkøv paired with the current Capo of the Six Day boards, Belgium's Kenny De Ketele to land his seventh Copenhagen Six Day at midnight on Tuesday on the wide boards of the 250 metre Ballerup track.

He's been one of the outstanding track riders of the last decade, world champion four times across three disciplines‎ - scratch (twice), madison with Michael Mørkøv and team pursuit. ‎There's been a raft of national, European and World Cup titles and podiums not to mention an Olympic team pursuit silver‎. On the Six Day scene he's won in Berlin, Bremen, Copenhagen, Ghent and Grenoble. ‎And that's before we mention his road palmarés - two stages in the Dunkirk Four Day, the GP Herning, Philadelphia... But Alex Rasmussen has called 'time' on all of that and will race this season on a low key domestic programme.

The unluckiest man in Paris-Roubaix? Trek's Suisse legend Fabian Cancellara with that nasty crash? But how about Katusha’s former Danish Elite Road Champion Michael Mørkøv, puncturing out of the break from which Matt Hayman went on to win the race...

This time last year I was traveling the world, sourcing suppliers for a new Planet X clothing range. One year on and we have made some giant steps forward. Not only has all the hard work paid off, with the new Planet X 365X clothing range now available both in store and online, we are also proudly supporting the Danish Professional cycling team Christina Watches - as official technical sponsor.

Here at VeloVeritas we try to keep our eye on who’s on the ‘up.’ Sometimes the tips come from our pals Dave or Vik and the Flanders kermis circuit – but other times they can be pretty obvious. Magnus Cort Nielsen hails from Horsens in Denmark and rides for the Cult Energy Continental team.

After a quieter spring than he’d perhaps have liked, and the disappointment of not making the Saxo Tinkoff Tour de France team, Michael Mørkøv bounced back in the best way possible with a stunning victory in the Danish Road Race Championships on Sunday.

We thought it would be good to speak to a man who was in the thick of the action at the Tour of Flanders last Sunday, across those cruel cobbles and over the brutal bergs. Step forward Saxo-Tinkoff’s Michael Mørkøv; team pursuit flyer, Six Day star, polka dot jersey wearer in the Tour de France, and Classics escape artist.

Today is ‘D Day’ for Alex Rasmussen, will JV let him put pen to paper and welcome him back to the Garmin fold? Or will the man from Odense and his manager have to go back to the drawing board to get the talented Dane back in the peloton? The way the UCI has handled the case would be laughable, if it had not been so tragic for the versatile and likeable Dane.

"The 'Rutland' is a bit of lottery!" That's what many riders say; but not 2010 winner Michael Berling. He's been top four three times in the last three years - we thought we best have a word with the man VeloVeritas works for every year at the Six Days of Copenhagen.

You know when you're getting old when 'young guys' you were with on their first race come round to retiring. At the Copenhagen Six Day 2009 we saw Danes Alex Rasmussen and Michael Mørkøv take their home Six for the first time. I was lucky enough to be working for them as their 'runner'... Let's look back to 2009 and some great memories.