Danish rider gets Worlds road and time trial start after being excluded from Vuelta
A bad week for Saxo Bank rider Michael Mørkøv just got better; the 25-year-old Dane was told on Thursday that he would not be able to start the Vuelta a España on Saturday because he was not included in the team’s long list in advance. Today though, he and teammate Alex Rasmussen have been given the news that they are to take the final two places in Denmark’s team for the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
“Alex and Michael have both been riding a brilliant autumn, and are thoroughly good riders” said Danish head coach Lars Bonde. “The first X5km of the World Championships from Melbourne to Geelong is quite flat, and here we can make great use of Alex, who can also help in the first laps of the Geelong circuit.
“Michael is a very useful rider and I dare to take him, even though he is not allowed to ride the Vuelta a España. He has fantastic training discipline and I know that he will come to Australia well prepared.”
The two Saxo Bank riders will join three teammates in Matti Breschel, Anders Lund and Chris Anker Sørensen, plus Lars Bak from HTC-Columbia; with the withdrawal of Danish trial champion Jakob Fuglsang from the World championships, both Rasmussen and Mørkøv will also ride the time trial.
Mørkøv was understandably very happy with the news. “As I’ve said before, I will be focusing more on time trials in future and my goal is to ride the time trial in the World Championships in Copenhagen next year,” he told feltet.dk. “Therefore it’s really great that I will already get the chance this year so I can scrape together some experience; so that I know what I can do in a World Championship time trial.”
He is also very happy with his role as a support rider to more experienced team captain Matti Breschel in the road race.
“It’s something I’m really looking forward to,” he said. “Although I’ve been on the same team as Matti for two years, I’ve not ridden many races with him. But he’s a rider that I’m always glad to work with because he is so good and he can get the job done. So I look forward to helping him in the World Championships.”
Denmark team for World Championships:
Lars Bak (HTC-Columbia), Matti Breschel, Anders Lund, Michael Mørkøv, Alex Rasmussen and Chris Anker Sørensen (All Saxo Bank).