His third consecutive win at the Copenhagen Six Days, with log time track partner and former Saxo Bank teammate Alex Rasmussen, closed a successful winter on the track for Michael Mørkøv (Saxo Bank-SunGard). The Danish rider now hopes to translate some of the form he has built on the boards of Europe to its tarmac, as his road season is about to begin.
Mørkøv has hardly put his track bike away but his road bike is about to see its first competition, the 25-year-old told feltet.dk.
“I going to ride the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal from the 16th,” he said. “Then there is a training camp with the team in Mallorca, and then I’ll start Tirreno-Adriatico and the spring season.”
Coming off the track, and specifically the six days season where they spin relatively small gears, Mørkøv will have to acclimatise himself to the different demands of road racing. As still a young and relatively inexperienced road racer though, many of his next races will be all about learning.
"First, I just need to find my road legs,” he said. “In the classics, I’ll gain some experience, since it is the first time that I’ll ride them."
Once the big one day races are out of the way, Mørkøv will move on to some of the shorter stage races, where he hopes he can become competitive.
"What I think I’ll be riding later this year is [Four Days of] Dunkerque, the Tour of California and the Tour de Suisse,” he explained. “I will see if maybe I can follow more in the mountains and maybe try aiming for some general classifications.
“I think I rode some really good individual stages last year and I have moved to Italy in the years to develop myself in the mountains. If I can be able to ride in the mountains and still ride a good time trial, then I can start aiming at some general classifications. That is what I think I can ride.”
While he is hoping to do well in a number of races, Mørkøv stresses that there is little pressure on him to get results at this stage of his career. The Saxo Bank-SunGard team strategy will be one of racing on behalf of the best performing rider of the day.
“It is quite safe,” explained. “I will also ride some races where maybe I can ride for my own chances if I have the legs for it. It is always about supporting the best man on the team and there are plenty of good riders in our team; although a few stars have left the team.”