Michael Mørkøv will retire from professional cycling at the end of 2024 after an illustrious career saw him become Olympic and World Champion on the track, alongside being one of the best lead-out riders of all time.
The Dane announced the news this morning through trade team Astana Qazaqstan, where he has spent his final year with Mark Cavendish and played a big part in the Manxman’s record-breaking 35th Tour de France victory on stage 5.
Mørkøv, 39, started his WorldTour career with Saxo Bank in 2009 and went on to ride for Katusha and multiple iterations of Patrick Lefevere’s QuickStep teams through 2018 to 2023, where he helped the likes of Elia Viviani, Sam Bennett, Fabio Jakobsen and Cavendish to multiple wins as lead-out.
He also had great success on the track, where, alongside Alex Rasmussen first and then Lasse Norman Hansen later in his career, he managed three Madison world titles and Olympic Gold in the same event.
“Hello, all cycling friends. I want to share with you that I have decided that this year 2024 will be my last year as a professional bike rider,” said Mørkøv in a video released by Astana.
“I'm very proud of what I've achieved as a track cyclist, as a road cyclist, being a part of the biggest races in the world, being a part of some of the biggest teams as well. Being surrounded by great teammates and I’ve made a lot of friendships during the years.”
Mørkøv, known as one the most seasoned professionals in the bunch and a real hard worker, believes he maximised every bit of potential he had throughout his 16 years at the highest level.
“I'm very proud of what I got out of my talent, to be honest,” he said. “I was never the most talented rider as a young rider, but I really managed to work really hard, and I feel I achieved all what I could achieve.”
On the road, Mørkøv also had individual success as a three-time Danish national champion and Vuelta a España stage winner, which he took in dramatic fashion on stage 6 of the 2013 race when the sprinting bunch reeled in a late Tony Martin attack just 50 metres from the line in Cáceres.
But his success with Cavendish has been the highlight in recent years, not only piloting the veteran sprinter to Tour de France wins in 2021 and 2024 but also being his right-hand man in battling time cuts and chasing on at the back of the race to keep him in it.
With ‘Project 35’ achieved, Mørkøv and Cavendish’s final Tour has already been a success, leading the Dane to call it the most enjoyable of his nine participations yet.
“I have to say that I have enjoyed this Tour much more than any other Tour because I really try to soak everything to me - the experience with Cav, taking an early decision, it just makes me enjoy this season a lot,” said Mørkøv, who also gave big praise to his wife and family.
“Especially my family is, of course, really happy with my decision. My son is a bit sad because he likes to have a cool dad, and he's afraid that his dad is not so cool when he's not a bike rider anymore,” said the Dane.
“I have to thank my wife 1000s of times, but I cannot thank her enough, actually, for making it possible for me to be a professional bike rider and have a family and kids at the same time.”
Mørkøv will ride his final races on home roads and home boards at the end of the season but for now, he’s still got ambitions to achieve in 2024, notably more success with Cavendish at the Tour, Track Worlds in Ballerup, Denmark and the Paris Olympics where he will ride track and the road race with Mattias Skjelmose, Mikkel Bjerg and Mads Pedersen.
“Of course, I have a lot of big goals to achieve still in this Tour de France, at the Olympic Games, at the World Championships on the track in Ballerup in October,” Mørkøv concluded. “But maybe it will only be at my very last race in Copenhagen that it will strike me that now it will really be the last time that I pin on my numbers.”
