When Michael Morkov answered the phone a week ago on his way to the Danish National Championships, everything seemed incomprehensible.

The journey was across the Great Belt Bridge connecting the islands of Zealand and Fün. This 18-km crossing is often used by Danish commuters and feared by those preparing for the finale of the second stage of the Tour de France.

"It's really unreal to think about that, having just driven over the bridge in a car," Morkov laughed. On Saturday afternoon, the exposed bridge will be a key image of the Tour's opening road stage, but it will not necessarily be a major challenge on the 202-km ride from Roskilde to Naivoa, the site of the music festival of the same name.

"First of all, it is not certain that the entire peloton will reach the bridge. As a resident of Rodoble, on the edge of Copenhagen, he knows better than anyone the vagaries of racing in flat New Zealand.

"I think the first stage of the Grand Tour will be very hectic because there are a lot of little nervous roads and a lot of pedestrian traffic. We know from the past that these days can be very difficult and dangerous. Of course, the bridge itself is a beautiful monument to the finale. And if even the slightest breeze blows that day, the bridge will be exposed to that wind."

In the event of a group finish, Fabio Jacobsen would clearly have the advantage, and Quick-Step Alphavinir was already expected to occupy the front of the peloton on such a day. Yves Lampert had unexpectedly won the time trial in Copenhagen on Friday.

Lampaert's maillot jaune means that Quick-Step Alphavinir has something tangible to show for the Tour, but the Patrick Lefebvre-led team will expect more. They have won the group sprint in every Tour for the past 10 years.

The fast men have been replaced by Mark Cavendish, Matteo Trentin, Marcel Kittel, Fernando Gaviria, Elia Viviani, and Sam Bennett, but the beat continues relentlessly.

"Every sprinter knows that this team is one of the most likely to win races, including the Tour. 'To win a sprint, of course, you need the best sprinters, but sprinting is in the DNA of this team.'

"The roster always includes a good lead-out man, a good rider who controls the breakaway. The team is always built around sprinting."

With world champion Julian Alaphilippe still recovering from his crash in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Quick-Step's emphasis on sprinting will be even greater this time around. Meanwhile, there was a lot of noise from the outside world during the season that Mark Cavendish would be selected ahead of (or alongside) Jacobsen and could break the record for Tour stage victories.

In fact, Jacobsen was ranked number one in the team's sprinting power rankings for the entire year, and the team's chief lead-out, Morkov, wanted to think that his appointment was a sign of the status of the two men. Jacobsen led Cavendish to victory on stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia.

Just as Jacobsen and Cavendish had made no secret of their desire to compete in the Tour, the two had also made it clear that they would appoint Morkov as their pilot at every opportunity.

"Of course, I'm very honored and it's a real honor to have two sprinters like that asking me for help. Of course I'm very honored, and it's a real honor to have two sprinters that good ask me for help." In the past there was Viviani, Jacobsen, Hodeg and Sam Bennett. I always managed to run with all of them and win with all of them."

Olympic Madison champion Morkov, who is universally agreed to be the outstanding lead-out man of the peloton, was relatively late to his calling: when he first entered the Tour with Saxo Bank in 2012, he spent most of his first week in the polka-dot jersey, and he was the only one to win the race. He then spent most of his first week in the polka-dot jersey. After that, he worked on the flat to shelter Alberto Contador.

It was only when he moved to Katusha in 2016 and teamed up with Alexander Kristoff that his true calling became apparent.

"I raced for seven years in Bjarne Riis' team, mainly with Bjarne for GC in the Tour. But after I got together with Alexander Kristoff from Katusha, I became the lead out man."

In the process, he meticulously studied tapes of NFL players as they joined their new offense; he sought out all the bunch sprint videos on YouTube and immediately got to work on his new role.

"I realized I had to work with Christophe, who was one of the most successful sprinters at the time, and I started watching different sprints and races on YouTube. "At the time, HTC, especially Cavendish and Renshaw, were the benchmarks for sprints and lead-outs. [But aside from them, there weren't that many organized teams or leadouts. I soon realized that there was great potential to turn this into a profession. And with the skills I had developed on the circuit and in the Madison race, the role was a perfect fit for me"

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Within two years, Morkov was courted by Quick Step, and in his first campaign in 2018, he helped Viviani win seven stages at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. He led Viviani, Bennett, and Cavendish to stage wins. Jacobsen is simply the runner-up, but all sprinters, in fact, sprints require different kinds of effort.

"I try to analyze the situation in every sprint and see what is required of me, because I believe you can always find a way to make the sprint work for you. Sometimes it is important to lead the sprinter in the last 200m," Morkov said. [Sometimes, like Cavendish's first stage win last year, I lead the sprinter in the last 200 meters and Cavendish goes solo. It's important to understand the difference between sprints."

The sprints are different.

When Cavendish tied Eddy Merckx's record at last year's Tour in Carcassonne, Molcove's leadout was so strong that he himself finished second in the stage. But the leadout man must focus on the task at hand.

"Of course, if Marc had stopped pedaling last year in Carcassonne, I would have won the stage. 'I'm in the Tour de France to lead the sprint and lead the sprinters to victory. You can't go into a sprint thinking like that."