Michael Morkoff has earned a reputation as one of pro cycling's best lead-out men. This past July, he led Quick-Step Alphavinil sprinter Fabio Jacobsen into the vast and lonely terrain of the high mountains.

The Alps are the toughest place for sprinters. In this Tour de France, coupled with the white-hot pace imposed by the likes of Tadej Pogachar and Jonas Vingegaard, the high mountains feel more like the lower reaches of hell.

"The racing in this year's Tour is very extreme," Morkov told Cycling News in Saint-Etienne on Saturday. 'The early stages of the race were super fast. The stages in the Alps were tough for us.

Morkov struggled to keep up with Jacobsen's pacing and coaxing on stage 11, the Tellegraphe, Galibier, and Granon passes, and to keep to the time limit. They reached the final climb just in time to beat the time limit, just over 40 minutes behind the Vinge goal. A day later, they were back in the lead on the Alpe d'Huez, with almost the same time difference as the winner, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers). This may not be the fast men's Tour, but that doesn't mean they are getting a break.

"Of course, during the day we are concerned about the time limit. We don't know what the time limit will be before the first athlete finishes, so we can only guess what will happen.

"We were under pressure all day to stay within the time limit, but as we approached the last climb, we knew the time cut off when Jonas won the stage. From then on I was able to manage my energy to finish within the time limit."

Riders like Jacobsen, Mark Cavendish, and Alexander Kristoff put the utmost trust in his judgment to guide them through the whirlwind of bikes, bodies, and swearing. In the mountains, his natural calmness and ability to calculate on the spur of the moment make him a valuable Sherpa.

"I just try to encourage and motivate Yakov and make him believe in my calculations," says Morkoff.

"Of course, I try to run as slow as possible so as not to push him too far over his limits."

The idea is to preserve Jacobsen's fast muscle fibers as much as possible for a day more suited to his talents. The problem, of course, is that this year's Tour gives little chance to sprinters. When the route was announced in Paris last October, it already seemed likely, but the reality is even more grim than initially calmly expected. Only twice in the Tour has there actually been a group sprint, and both were on the opening weekend in Morkov's home country of Denmark.

Since then, there have been group finishes, but pure sprinters like Jacobsen, Dylan Groenewegen, and Yasper Philipsen burned out before the finale. On paper, Friday's stage to Saint-Etienne was an opportunity for the sprinters. In reality, however, a combination of undulating terrain, fatigue, and a breakaway of motivated strongmen put a stage win out of reach for Jacobsen and his team

"We had high hopes for Saint-Etienne, but we came so close, especially after the Alps stage the day before, We knew it would be a very difficult course to bring in a sprint," explained Morkov. Our chances in this Tour are limited. 0]

Last year's Tour was a productive race for Morkov and Quick Step, with Jacobsen helping Mark Cavendish win four stages and Julien Alaphilippe winning the opening stage to temporarily take the maillot jaune. This time, Quick-Step took the yellow in the Yves Lampère time trial.

Since then, however, the team has struggled. Their Tour has already been a success thanks to their rapid progress in Denmark, but they will soon be forgotten after the bread and butter. The Grande Pearl already feels much longer than it did two weeks ago.

"At some point the pressure to win will start again, but we knew that winning one in the first sprint would be very important for us. But to win the first sprint is very important for us. But at the moment it feels like a long way off," said Morkov. The team tried to sprint in Saint-Étienne on Friday, but circumstances prevented them from doing so.

"If it had been the first stage of the Tour, we could have gone for a group sprint, but after three very hard days in the Alps, you could see in the peloton that many riders were tired."

On Sunday, the Tour heads south from Rodez to Carcassonne. Carcassonne is where Morkov, who led Cavendish to a record 34th Tour victory, finished second a year ago. The walled Carcassonne has traditionally favored the sprinters, but there is no guarantee that Jacobsen and his team will contend for the win in this most intense of races. Then again, only the final stages at Cahors and the Champs-Elysées after stage 15 might offer a group finish. The fast men will quickly run out of road.

"I think it's 50-50," Morkoff said. 'Of course, the finish is flat, we know it well, and I think it's a good sprint. The whole course is pretty hard. It's certainly not easy. We have to see what we can get out of this stage."

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