Mark Cavendish lead-out man Michael Mørkøv leaves Tour de France after testing positive for COVID-19

Michael Mørkøv, Astana-Qazaqstan's lead out expert and key lieutenant to Mark Cavendish, has abandoned the Tour de France ahead of stage 12 after testing positive for COVID-19.

The Danish rider doesn’t have what Astana Qazaqstan described as ‘essential symptoms’ but the team’s medical staff took the decision to pull Mørkøv from the race ‘to protect his health from long-term effects the virus could provoke in the future.’

A number of riders have fallen and abandoned the Tour de France in recent days but it is not known if this is due to COVID-19. However a number of team staff and riders from Ineos Grenadiers, Jayco-AlUla and Bahrain Victorious, have been wearing masks to limit the risk that riders and staff can catch and pass on COVID-19.

The EF Education-EasyPost riders wore face masks as they rode to the sign-on podium on Thrusday.

In a statement issued on Thursday morning, Astana-Qazaqstan stated, "Yesterday evening and this morning Michael Mørkøv was tested positive for COVID-19. Despite the rider feels good and doesn’t have essential symptoms, the medical staff of Astana Qazaqstan Team took a decision to stop the rider, first of all, to protect his health from long-term effects the virus could provoke in the future."

Mørkøv announced he will retire from professional cycling at the end of 2024 after also racing on the track at the Paris Olympics for Denmark.

The 39-year-old Dane has enjoyed an illustrious career that saw him become Olympic and World Champion on the track, alongside being one of the best lead-out riders of all time.

He started his WorldTour career with Team Saxo Bank in 2009 and went on to ride for Katusha and Patrick Lefevere’s QuickStep teams between 2018 and 2023, where he helped the likes of Elia Viviani, Sam Bennett, Fabio Jakobsen and Cavendish to multiple sprint victories.

There is no COVID-19 protocol in place at the Tour de France but a number of riders, including Tao Geoghegan Hart and Sepp Kuss were hit by the vira at or after the Critérium du Dauphiné and were forced to miss the Tour.

Tadej Pogacar admitted on the eve of the Tour that he tested positive for COVID-19 during a June training camp but only suffered mild symptoms.

Bahrain Victorious riders were seen travelling to stage starts individually by car instead of together on the team bus and wore face masks according to Flemish website Het Laatste Nieuws. Fred Wright suffered massively to finish stage 11 but was outside the time limit, while Matej Mohoric and Pello Bilbao also suffered during the stage.

"We have tested and there are no positive Covid tests but some riders are not feeling great.” Mohoric told Sporza on Thursday before the stage start.

The Slovenian rider confirmed that Bahrain Victorious are taking extra precautions.

"It’s better to do that when you don't feel 100 percent, right?"

There is rising concern but not panic in the Tour de France peloton about the return of COVID-19.

“I also see that Ineos-Grenadiers wear face masks in the support vehicle, we don't do that, but we do keep the necessary distance from outsiders and our riders are also not allowed to sign autographs for fans. We are not taking any special measures. There is no reason to go bananas yet,” Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe senior directeur sportif Rolf Aldag told Het Laatste Nieuws.